The Dwight Howard Stain
Have you ever had someone express frustrations about multiple situations involving different people? One of my rules of thumb is that the law of averages dictates the problem has to be with the person doing the complaining. Call it the common factor rule, often referred to in math terms as the lowest common denominator.
I know nothing, but conclusions drawn from this Rockets fan observing Dwight play every game as a Rocket for three years, cross-referenced with quotes, articles and similarities in his behavior over time has a reasonable chance of being at least somewhat evidence-based, right?
I wish Daryl Morey and the Rockets would tell their side of the story. Dwight sure as hell has been telling his side with his interview tour. Inside the NBA, Dan Patrick, Mike and Mike, the infamous May 23rd ESPN interview with Jackie MacMullan, and I’m sure a whole lot more. Morey comes in for a lot of criticism, but it’s my observation that he usually is very fair with his players. When Tracy McGrady was being an absolute tool about his situation in Houston, nobody would have faulted Morey for trading him to whatever NBA Siberia was at the time. Instead TMac landed in NYC where he had a chance to show off what he still had left on a big stage. And Morey could have held Chandler Parsons to the last year of his rookie contract, but instead exercised the team option, giving him an opportunity to get paid.
Everyone knew when he signed his deal, Dwight would opt out after the third year when the new TV deal kicked in and the salary cap would rise dramatically. Everyone also knew Daryl Morey wasn’t going to pay a 31YO center max UFA dollars. This was the deal behind the deal. He could have secured more money with a longer term by re-signing with the Lakers. Dwight chose to bet on getting another contract after the one he signed with the Rockets.
The first two years of Dwight Howard as a Rocket were fine. He grinned, missed free throws, dunked, blocked shots. The team made it to the Western Conference Finals in year two. Then came the player option year. Thankfully, there probably will not be a Dwight option year with the Hawks. We should be spared another childish sports drama regarding what Howard will choose to do. And the offices at Atlanta Hawks HQ will be spared a gigantic shit stain on the carpet like the ones Orlando, Los Angeles and Houston has.
My financial advisor tells me to think about money for now versus money for the future. Overpaying for a player in the NBA is spending that money for the future right now. A franchise has to measure the risk against its confidence about the resulting team. Morey would have tied-up the Rockets future by matching the Mavs offer to Chandler Parsons if Chris Bosh had signed. Harden, Bosh and Howard made it worth the risk to overpay for Parsons. However, overpaying for a Dwight Howard at this stage of his career is not something that Daryl Morey does. Not after a 41–41 season with so many variables and unanswered questions. This is a keep your powder dry situation.
I have listened to multiple Daryl Morey podcast interviews. He is not shy about communicating his approach to player contracts. I knew this was the deal when Dwight signed in 2013. And I probably knew it because Houston sports radio and Kornheiser or Wilbon said as much. So a homer Rockets fan like me knew Morey would not offer Howard a max deal in year four, yet it seems as if Dwight didn’t really get it. I got it, but Dwight did not. He seemed all butt hurt this past year. Dude, it’s not personal, it’s business. A multi-million-dollar business. Haven’t we seen this movie before? There was the original and the sequel both set in Orlando and the reboot set in Los Angeles.
I believe Dwight really liked Houston. He did amazing charity work, the Rockets had Kevin McHale as their coach and brought in Hakeem Olajuwon to work with him. Was it actually possible he thought he could stay where he was happy — avoiding being ridiculed for indecision about where to sign for a fourth time in his career — and also get paid Kevin Durant free agent dollars? And surely James Harden’s $200 million deal with Adidas announced right before the season started didn’t help. After 12 years in the NBA, what global brand endorsements does Howard have? Dwight’s professional behavior has made him undesirable if not toxic. Nobody wants a malcontent man-baby promoting their brand!
How plausible is this imagined conversation between Rockets GM Daryl Morey and Dwight Howard’s (longtime, now former) agent Dan Fegan as training camp was beginning this past season?
Fegan to Morey, “Dwight has been very happy in Houston, and would love to come back.” “We would love to have Dwight back as well. We’ve invested a lot in his development. If your client wants to continue to be a Rocket, there’s a provision in his contract to opt in for a fourth year.” “My client’s market value is much higher than that fourth year salary.”
After a long uncomfortable pause on the call, Morey asks, “Is your client thinking that he will be offered a maximum contract to remain with us, after opting out in this summer?” Fegan responds, “Is that an unreasonable expectation?”
Another long pause, followed by Morey asking, “How old will Dwight be in the 2016–2017 season? What is his free throw shooting percentage, again?”
Do you have a family member or very close friend who suffers from depression, substance abuse issues, or some other mental health deficit? When you are in close proximity to someone whose choices and behavior are incoherent, as much as you all try to move forward, it weighs you down. It puts a ceiling on how present and fully committed you can be. There is a finite amount of attention available to direct in a day and these issues take up an inordinate amount of it. What I saw this year was an emotionally dysregulated, perhaps even depressed Dwight with the rest of the team attempting to cope with that. Succeeding with one superstar dragging the rest of the team down was never going to be possible. There were so many signs from watching every single game this past torturous season:
- ESPN cameras caught Dwight and Rockets coach Greg Buckner having a heated discussion, one-on-one separate from the rest of the team during a timeout.
- Mark Jackson called his effort “Unacceptable” on ESPN during a game for not running out a play.
- Multiple team-only meetings to “clear the air.”
- Multiple “OK, now we’re serious. The air has been cleared.” comments from Jason Terry and others.
- Multiple, “We have to put aside our egos,” comments from Howard.
In addition to my observation a read of the interview with Jackie MacMullan was overflowing with examples of someone who is at best not very sophisticated in his thought process and at worst engages in the magical thinking of a12-year old.
“There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me. It left me thinking, ‘This is not what I signed up for.’ …I went to [Rockets general manager] Daryl [Morey] and said, ‘I want to be more involved.’ Daryl said, ‘No, we don’t want you to be.’ — Dwight
He’s a 30+ center who you can’t post-up because the vast majority of the time he either coughs up the ball once he dribbles with his back to the basket or the opposing team just fouls the crap out of him. You want to be our ninja in the post? Make your damn free throws.
“[Former NBA big man] Clifford [Ray] got me on the phone with [former Celtics center] Robert Parish. Robert told me, ‘Don’t allow what other people do affect your performance. You have to be stronger mentally to overcome those situations.’ Those two guys made me realize I need to get locked in with the mental part of the game.’’
Dwight had Hakeem Olajuwon as a consultant, but he had to bring in somebody else? That is insulting for a Clutch City fan like me. From a behavioral pattern perspective, synthesize bringing in Clifford Ray after already having had the tutelage of Hakeem and McHale with Dwight having two different sports psychologists.
“I have a sports psychologist I used in Houston and I have one in Minnesota.”
If he has two or more experts around him, he can view one of them as the one showing him the light and the other(s) as part of the external forces that keep his life from being what it should be. He’s projecting. This guy needs full-on five-day-a-week on-the-couch psychoanalysis.
“When they fired Mike Brown [after five games], they asked me what coach I wanted. I said, ‘Phil [Jackson].’ They said, ‘Well, we don’t know about Phil.’ So they went out and got D’Antoni, and I’m thinking, ‘Well I guess what I say doesn’t matter.’”
Phil Jackson is too smart to come back to coach an aging Kobe and man-baby Dwight Howard. Saying “I want Phil” and getting back “We’re not so sure” is much more likely to be a frank professional business exchange, than your bosses disregarding what you say. Grow the fuck up.
“I used to shoot 1,000 shots a day…. I’d practice and practice them but then I’d be so afraid to take them in a game because I was so worried I would miss. I hate messing up. I hate failure. …[WNBA star] Tina Thompson …said, ‘Dwight, you’re gonna miss. Everyone does.’ But I want to be perfect”
“There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me. It left me thinking, ‘This is not what I signed up for.’’’
Now we’re way down a self-destructive incoherent behavior rabbit hole. If you’re thinking about opting out, your previous season is a salary drive year. Yet in an interview after having a mediocre season statistically, Dwight Howard admits to not playing hard and being afraid to shoot. That’s not the way to increase your perceived value to teams that might want to sign you.
Some enterprising journalist should compare the Dwight Howard option years in Orlando, L.A. and Houston. Dwight was tossed in his last game as a Laker. Isn’t the thought of Kobe hobbling back out on to the floor of the Staples Center on crutches when he realized that he and Dwight were about to be the only players in the locker room just the juiciest?! Howard was T’d up twice two games in a row on back-to-back nights and was tossed late again during his last year in Houston. What other behavioral similarities are there?
The 2011–12 Orlando Magic regular season record was 37–29, the 2012–13 Los Angeles Lakers’ record was 45–37 and the 2015–16 Houston Rockets record was 41–41. All of those seasons were Dwight Howard player option years. Stan Van Gundy, Mike Brown and Kevin McHale. All just a coincidence. Forget the common factor rule.
Cleaning up from a Dwight Howard sized shit-stain on the carpet takes many years. Ask the Magic. Ask the Lakers. Bringing back Houston’s NBA team to championship caliber will be Daryl Morey’s greatest challenge.
