Farewell Superman
Dear Dwight,
I never loved you. I never hated you. I’ve always respected you. I can see where Magic and Laker fans come from when they call you names such as “Dwight Coward” or “Supergirl” (leave it to sports fans to conjure up unoriginal and sexist nicknames).
You tried to please the fans of Orlando by staying another year, only to turn on your head coach when things went south. Then you acted immature and lied behind your smile and had an interview which was the embodiment of cringe. But before the milk turned sour, let’s not forget how fun the dunk contests were when you participated, or how you’re the all time leading scorer for the Magic, or how you averaged 26/13 (70% FT shooting) against LeBron’s heavily favored Cavs in the ECF and had dominant 40/14 game to lead the Magic to the finals for the first time since the original Superman.
In Los Angeles you were supposed to play at a peak Superman level, but you had a back injury (which you played through and still led the league in rebounds) along with the myriad of other injuries Nash, Kobe, Gasol, and Artest endured. When the dream team crashed, you were the scapegoat. You weren’t serious enough, you didn’t want it enough. You brought life to basketball. Kobe’s life is basketball. The personalities didn’t match, you knew LA wasn’t the optimal fit, but the backlash you’d receive by not re-signing with the Lakers would be explosive.
That didn’t stop you from leaving. A second franchise spurned by Dwight Howard. Once the lovable giant of the NBA, you’re now a part of the league’s dynamic supervillain duo featuring James Harden.
The first season you made us instant threats to contend. People can criticize all they want about Los Angeles or Orlando Dwight, but Houston Dwight always tried his best and stepped up when it mattered most. In the Portland series, Harden was suffocated by Wesley Matthews and disappeared, so you went on to average 26 ppg 13.7 rpg 2.8 bpg to pick up the slack. We were .9 seconds away from a game 7, but Lillard drained one of the most heartbreaking shots in recent memory (I’m not going to link it, I can’t trigger the fans like that) to cut our season short.
Year two you patrolled the paint and anchored a top 10 defense. Houston was the 2nd seed in the west and in round 1 against the rival Mavs your buddy Josh Smith helped coordinate an airstrike that would define the series. Then in the second round, coming back from down 1–3 the Rockets faced elimination in LA against the Clippers. During that incredible game 6 Harden was on the bench, but not you. You were locking down the paint and leading the team to one of the most memorable comebacks in franchise history. Although the eventual NBA champs from Golden State took care of business within 5 games, you still ended as the 2015 NBA playoffs leading rebounder. No one gave us a chance to get to the western conference finals, but you did.
Now heading into your third year with Houston, we have our sights on the Larry O’Brien. The addition of Ty Lawson filled in our positional need and we kept the same core. This is our year. It’s championship or bust. Halfway into the season and it’s bust. Looks like our run is over. We always knew there was an expiration date when we signed you to your deal. An aging big headed into his 30s on a team that is performing half as well as they did last season. I just don’t see Morey committing a max salary to you, had things been different, had we signed Bosh and retained Parsons or even just played up to our potential this year I probably wouldn’t be writing this letter. But sometimes things just don’t work out and we can’t do anything but move on.
Who knows, maybe after the All-Star break you’re still on the team and the Rockets pull of another magical regular season run, make some noise in the playoffs and this whole letter will be for nothing.
However, on the more realistic situation that you’re gone either by the trade deadline or end of the season, I just wanted to let you know that you will always be appreciated in Houston. You never quit on us. Even now as the team is imploding, you will not go gently into the night. Although you’ve never won an NBA finals series, I understand what you mean when you say that you’re a champion. The haters and naysayers can’t take away the fact that you’ve achieved:
- 3x Defensive Player of the Year
- 5x leader in rebounds
- 2x leader in blocks
- 8 All-NBA teams
- 28th total all time rebounder
- 22nd total all time blocked shots
A ring would be icing on the cake, but even some of the best players have never played in a finals game. Some haven’t even led their team past the first round. You’ve done your best and I can’t fault you or the team for deciding that it’s time to change directions. Hopefully you land on a contender for another shot at the ring you deserve.
I’ve worn my Houston Rockets backpack before you joined the team. I’ll continue to wear it once you’re gone, and every day I carry it around, I’ll also carry the magnificent memories you’ve given me during your time in Houston. For this, I thank you Dwight.
