Dwight Howard Discussion: The Taiwan Terror

Instead of trying to see the vast majority of other's viewpoints he still makes excuses. "How can somebody who's won community assists awards, blah blah, be bad in the locker room? It doesn't go together. How am I a bad teammate?"

The fact is he has not changed fundamentally. There will come a time this season when he opens that gaping hole in the middle of his face that serves as a mouth to someone and starts complaining. "How can a guy with almost 60% career FG% get 10 touches a night?" It's coming. Luckily for him we are so hurting for true centers so much and McGee's fragility, he will get some time no matter what. Maybe a Rondo/Howard bench would be productive and shut him up.

 

Reminds me of Dane Cook’s Karen joke.

 

Reminds me of....... Dwight Howard.

 

Good thing we can cut his a** once he inevitably becomes a "bad teammate".

Here's to hoping he actually plays his role and doesn't start complaining about not getting touches.

 

The thing is, the delta between Dwight today and our expectations of Boogie pre-ACL is not that great. We literally just need him to shut the f**** up and not be a locker room cancer. That's it. And yet he's such a mental midget we're all sitting here on pins and needles worried about how this is going to go.

 

After the age of 30, teams shouldn't have to worry if you are a ticking time bomb.

But he is. But we do.

:Vogelshocked:

Buckle Up

 

Just watched another one of those interview videos I hadn’t gotten around to yet.

Dude literally said, “Why would Stan do that? At the time it hurt, but like I said, just another one of those things that made me stronger.”

About how he tried forcing Stan Van Gundy out of Orlando.

Wow.

 

You guys are totally overreacting. Here's what we know: We can release him because he has an unguaranteed deal.

Dwight knows this. He also knows that if you screw up with the Lakers, your name will be plastered all over the media and teams will want to stay away with you. When Dwight was younger, he was able to b******* his way out and convince others because he was still athletic and contributed to his team. Now, at his older age, teams will want to stay away from someone who isn't contributing to their team as a veteran but also, brings in drama.

I'm giving Dwight a chance because he has NOTHING to lose. Dwight gave up more guaranteed money to play for the Lakers. He could have sat with Memphis, made his money, probably have more playing time and opportunity to score, etc., than he would have with us. Yet, he chose us. Dwight may act like a clown but if he can do what many expect him to be able to still, he will be a huge asset for us. People change and I'm willing to bet Dwight will prove most of his doubters wrong. Remember, this is likely his last opportunity if he screws up and that is enough to make anyone realize the faults in their way.

 

I’m not overreacting, because I don’t disagree with most of what you said.

I can think he’s still a clown while also thinking it was still a good low-risk/high-reward move to sign him.

 

I was feeling pretty safe about him with all that BBP said above and @Helljumper with his truth of it being low-risk/high reward.

Until he started doing all these interviews and began spinning once again all his justifications and explanations of being misunderstood. Hope to be proven wrong but he IMO shoulda just kept his head down and let his play speak. Rather than going on the redemptive media tour now.

Still .... I will be glass 3/4 full on this and keep fingers crossed because he physically can still bring so much and is capable of eating big minutes if needed.

 

I didn't catch your original comment about him so it wasn't directly targeted towards your post. It's just a huge overreaction because he's easy to dislike. The problem with Howard is he's sensitive but him finally admitting that he understood what Kobe meant about him being soft this year and the fact that the reality hit in which this is likely his last chance will solve a lot of the issues people have had with him. He genuinely seems like a good dude but fans turned on him quick after the LAL stint. He rarely, if any, had people disliking him during his Orlando days. He's spoken in an interview that he didn't really have a lot of friends and how he was always a bit weirder than most individuals so that explains why he's sensitive to criticism.

 

I haven't really seen anybody overreacting here. Dwight's problems have always been mental and the main one was his inability to accept his own limitations and the role that best suited him. Yes we Lakers fans may be a little biased due to his first stint here, but it's not like he showed any kind of improvement in any of his later locations, even though each and every one had been preceded by him claiming how much he has changed and grown.

I think all of us here see the potential and wish for him to prove us wrong and just be a dominant force under the rim for 20-25 minutes a game and basically shut up for the season. If he can do that, we are in a great position and I would love nothing more than him turning into the next Metta World Peace and become a fan favorite. For that to happen though, he has to prove he has changed his demeanor rather dramatically, which is not an easy thing to do at this age.

The reason I am sceptical is, so far - to me at least - he has shown absolutely no sign of having changed. On the contrary - all the recent intervious make me even more afraid of the same old Dwight turning the locker room into a mess. What exactly is the message in all those interviews? That he has "changed" is only a statement, all he's saying at the same time shows rather a person that feels misunderstood by everybody. That doesn't sound like somebody that has understood his mistakes and learned from them, rather a person that wants to finally be understood and liked. If he doesn't see what he did wrong, how can he improve?

All of that being said, I have been able to convince myself that signing him is not the worst thing that could have happened to the Lakers (we could have gone for Gortat, so there is that) and there is actually a fairly decent chance that LeBron, Green and the other veterans can reign Howard in when necessary. Call me cautiously optimistic. Now it's on Dwight to PROVE he can contribute without a negative impact on the locker room. Here's to hoping he can do that and well...

 

Too little too late. Kobe ain't in your corner.

 

legit question: did howard ever call up kobe and say sorry? i think people underestimate the power of simple acts, and something tells me howard, of all people, wouldn't understand/be able to accomplish this.