For the past 12 months, NBA fans have watched as LeBron James’ career has fallen apart.
From “The Decision,” to the Miami Heat Welcome Party, to foolish quotes and finally, an epic Finals loss and post-game fallout, James has given a blueprint on how not to handle bolting an NBA team and going to a new one.
Dwight Howard has clearly been paying attention. Like James, many believe Howard wants to leave the team that drafted him for a better situation. He wants to go to a place where the team can win him championships on the court, and he can earn himself movie roles off of it.
At the same time, Howard is no villain. He’s got a winning smile, affable personality and likable charm. He appears in McDonald’s commercials, dons Superman costumes and appears that he genuinely just wants to have a good time.
Most followers of the NBA think Howard is destined to leave Orlando, but he has maintained that he wants to stay. He’s even given quotes like this…
“There’s no other place I’d rather be besides Orlando,” [Howard] said. “As of right now, that’s my home. I just want to stay in Orlando as long as I can.”
”… A lot of people want to see me go other places, but I want to stay in Orlando. I have a beautiful home there. There are beautiful people down there. My son is in Orlando. He’s getting a lot older and I want to be there to see as many moments as I can of his life.”
Howard is saying all the right things. He’s pledging his allegiance to the city. He says he wants to be there for the long haul. He’s giving the Magic fans reason for hope.
But he’s also giving himself an out. Unlike James, who leading up to his free agency said he wanted to stay and that Cleveland was his home, Howard is being real. Whether you believe Howard wants to stay in Orlando or not, he’s letting the team know right now what it’s going to take to keep him.
“I want to win a championship,” the All-Star center told NBA.com this week. “I think the owners have to really know that. That’s been my goal and my mission since I’ve been in the NBA — to win a championship. I don’t have side goals or agendas. My main goal is to win a championship. I want to have 14 other guys who feel the same way.”
Howard is the best center in the NBA, and he knows that NBA players — and big men especially — build their legacy on how many championships they win. He also knows that his current team is a far cry from the one that made it to the 2009 NBA Finals. This year they were bounced in the first round by an Atlanta Hawks team that they had swept the year before.
In the NBA now, stars can control where they play. Howard can eventually become a Los Angeles Laker or New York Knick if he chooses. At the same time, he’s seen how players like James have been vilified for how they leave their teams.
So Howard is putting the ball in Orlando’s court. He’s telling the Orlando management and fans exactly what it’s going to take to keep him. At the same time, he’s not going to string everyone along. If the Magic put a poor product on the court next year, at least everyone will know why Howard left.
James was lambasted not because he wanted to go to the Miami Heat, but the way he went about it. How he ripped out Cleveland’s hearts on national television. Going into “The Decision,” most thought he was coming back, because there was no way he’d actually humiliate the city on such a big stage.
Howard is making sure his decision is nothing like that. He’ll continue to say he wants to stay. He’ll keep a close eye on all of the moves the Magic are making. Behind the scenes, he’ll tell the Magic brass how he feels about all the personnel moves and whether he thinks his teammates are good enough for a title run.
And the Magic better listen. Orlando losing Howard would be on par with Cleveland losing James. The Magic instantly become a lottery team. They probably struggle to sell tickets and it ends up being the biggest loss the team has had in 15 years…when Shaquille O’Neal left the city for the bright lights of Los Angeles.
However it turns out, don’t blame Howard. He wants to win, and that’s certainly his right. He’s not holding up the Magic the way James did. If anything, he’s helping them. At the very least if they know they can’t compete, the Magic can try to trade Howard next year.
The Magic may lose Howard in 2012, after an early exit in the playoffs. They’ll have to rebuild and start from scratch. They’ll probably be a lottery team for years after Howard’s departure. Fans will be hurt, and we’ll certainly feel sorry for them.
But we’ll also know it wasn’t Howard’s fault.