Dwight Howard Takes His Talents to Houston

It’s been a whirlwind year for Dwight Howard here at B-Court All-Star. Last July, I correctly predicted Howard would eventually wind up in LA for the 2012-2013 season. Prior to the season, I mistakenly (like so many others) predicted big things for him and the Lakers. I picked apart his on-court wardrobe decisions, and I wondered aloud whether he was in fact worth a max contract …well, it turns out at least someone thinks so, as Howard opted to leave the Lakers and sign a 4 year $88 million deal with the Houston Rockets.

Judging Howard’s decision on its own, I think it was a smart move for him. Howard clashed with both Kobe Bryant and Coach Mike D’Antoni, and the Lakers appear to be a mess from an organizational standpoint as well. Now, was Howard as much to blame for those 2 individual clashes as Kobe and D’Antoni? Probably…but given how the Lakers are being run, the way the roster is currently constructed, and Kobe’s injury, the Lakers don’t appear to be a great destination at the moment aside from the fact that, hey, they’re the Lakers. In the Rockets, Howard joins a young flexible roster with another young budding superstar, and he’s got the chance to win right away.

So, considering all of that, Howard’s decision was actually a no-brainer regardless of what buffoonery comes out of Shaq’s mouth or any other ex-Laker greats. I’m not necessarily buying the Dwight couldn’t handle the spotlight of LA angle either because, as noted above, from a basketball standpoint LA-over-Houston just doesn’t make sense. But none of that means Howard came out of this smelling like roses either.

He claims to be a leader, but in his 1^st 2 stops, Howard has shown himself to be a coach-killer and a crappy teammate. He says he wants to be the guy and have the ball in his hands at the end of games in the clutch, but he still has no real post game to speak of, and he actually avoids the ball like it’s made of plutonium in crunch time because he’s a God-awful free throw shooter. And he wants offenses to be run through him instead of playing pick-and-roll, but you really can’t run your offense through him in terms of dumping the ball into him in the low post (see previous sentence). In that way, D’Antoni’s system should have at least been perfect for him if not anyone else (maybe not Kobe, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, or the Lakers role players, but him) just as he was the primary screener in Orlando as they spread the floor with shooters. Instead Howard sulked and complained that he was being misused.

When Howard is healthy, happy, and motivated he would probably still be number 3 in the world today (after LeBron James and Kevin Durant) as players that GMs would want to start their teams with. Even with all those blemishes I just brought up, he’s still a singular force in today’s NBA in terms of his shot-blocking, rebounding, and finishing around the rim…but we haven’t seen a healthy Dwight Howard in a couple of years now. He showed flashes at the end of this past season, but you still have to wonder if he will ever fully regain his pre-surgery form.

With all that being said, I still like the move from Houston’s perspective as well…that is, if Howard keeps his mouth shut and just plays. Why? Because James Harden, that’s why. Having played behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for a few seasons, Harden seems content to go about his business without much fanfare. Howard can play the glamour-puss role for the Rockets, and Harden can just ball. If coach-killer, teammate-thrower-under-the-bus Dwight Howard can stay away, the Harden-Howard combo might be a match made in heaven. If a few weeks into next season, we hear rumors about Howard complaining about his role in the offense and his touches, then, Houston, we’ve got a problem…and yes, I know that is probably as cheesy and cliché a line that I could possibly end on, but I haven’t posted anything in about a month. Cut me some slack.