Now 33 years of age and apparently humbled, this season marks a crossroads for the career and legacy of one Dwight Howard, who’s now back with the Los Angeles Lakers
There are so few times in our individual lives where we get the opportunity to define or redefine ourselves for many years to come, or possibly for eternity. As former Lakers coach Pat Riley once told his team when they were playing the Celtics in the 1985 NBA Finals, “There comes a time when you must plant your feet, make a stand and kick some butt.”
That time is now for Dwight Howard.
We all remember how his first stint with the team went in 2012-13. It started with some optimism that Howard could become the next in a sterling lineage of great Lakers big men. But his free agency that summer was looming, and the season was marred by a gnarly rash of injuries and a lack of chemistry between him and Kobe Bryant.
Since then, Howard has bounced around from team to team, and in the interim, he had a separate feud with James Harden while playing for the Houston Rockets. When the Atlanta Hawks traded him two years ago, their players reportedly celebrated wildly.
Through the years, Howard has developed a reputation as a toxic locker room presence and a me-first prima donna. But when he worked out for the Lakers in August and met with their coaching staff and a few of their players, he reportedly sounded humbled and looked to be in great shape physically.
The fact that he’s back with one of his former teams, and that said team has the opportunity to win the NBA championship sets up an immense opportunity for him.
If he misbehaves or doesn’t give an honest effort on the court, or both, it will permanently cement his legacy as one of the more talented players of this era who didn’t have the intangibles or integrity to go along with it.
But if he consistently displays a team-first attitude and brings the effort defensively and on the boards while running the floor hard both defensively and offensively, setting good screens and playing his requested role in the Lakers’ set offense, people will start to take note.
If he does all that and the team wins the NBA title next June, it could become one of the better redemption stories in recent NBA history.
For inspiration, Howard can look at the story of Bob McAdoo. Like Howard, McAdoo was a talented big man who had earned plenty of individual honors early in his career.
McAdoo was said to be one of the league’s first-ever jump-shooting bigs and could hit Js from the perimeter like few others in his era. That skill earned him three straight scoring titles and the 1975 regular season MVP.
But he played on bad and mediocre teams every year, which led to him gaining a reputation as a selfish gunner. As the 1970s became the ’80s, McAdoo started having injury issues, and when the then-New Jersey Nets refused to play him early in the 1981-82 season, it looked like his career was over.
Well, the Lakers desperately needed a backup center after a disastrous injury to Mitch Kupchak, and they took a flyer on McAdoo by acquiring him on Christmas Eve. It turned out to be a yuletide miracle not only for him, but also for the Purple and Gold.
McAdoo, who had always played major minutes and was a featured offensive player on every squad he had every suited up for, was asked by Riley to come off the bench and defer to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He did just that, and ended up playing a key supporting role in the Lakers winning the world championship that same season, as well as another one in 1985.
It’s safe to say that since 2013, Howard has been one of the most hated NBA players amongst Lakers fans. It’s also safe to say that if he changes his ways and doesn’t regress, and especially if the team wins it all, fans will offer him a mea culpa and start showering him with some love and good vibes.