Howard looks to get career back on track with Wizards

With the NBA season fast approaching, TSN.ca takes a look at the big storylines around the league heading into a campaign filled with intrigue in both the Eastern and Western Conference. Today, we look at the fascinating career path of Dwight Howard, all the way from his beloved “Superman” status to someone looking to recapture his reputation with the Wizards.

It’s becoming all too common. Another season, another new beginning for Dwight Howard. At least he seems to have a sense of humour about it.

“Actually, I was joking with one of my trainers earlier today,” Howard said at his Washington Wizards introductory news conference in July. “I thought it would be fitting. We were talking about how I started with the Magic, learned Magic for eight years. Travelled to La-La Land. Learned how to work with Rockets. Went to learn to fly with some Hawks. Got stung by the Hornets. Throughout all of that, it taught me how to be a Wizard.”

It was a tough lesson, one that saw Howard fall from one of the most beloved players in the NBA to a player on his fourth team in as many years.

He's as accomplished as almost anybody. Howard is an eight-time All-Star, a three-time defensive player of the year and has averaged double figures in points and rebounds in each of his 14 seasons. He is the NBA’s active leader in rebounds and blocked shots and is one of just two players in NBA history to average more than 17 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks a game for his career. The other is Elvin Hayes, and Howard has already surpassed him in career win shares. It feels like Howard still has something to prove, but as someone destined to garner serious Hall of Fame consideration, he shouldn’t have to. Yet here we are.

As he begins yet another new chapter with a Wizards team also looking for a breath of fresh air, here is a look back at the lowest of lows and the highest of highs from Howard's career.  

Like LeBron James the year before, Howard declared for the NBA Draft as a teenager after a storied high school career and was selected with the first pick by the Magic in 2004.

Orlando was ready to embrace a new star. The club traded perennial All-Star Tracy McGrady to the Houston Rockets that off-season, so it was Howard’s team right from the get-go. He didn’t disappoint. As an 18-year-old, Howard was the youngest player to average a double-double, recording 12 points and 10 rebounds a game. While the Magic struggled, Howard’s rookie season set the stage for a memorable marriage. Howard’s scoring and rebounding jumped significantly in his sophomore season and he made his first All-Star team the season after.

If he hadn’t before, Howard hit stardom for real in 2008. He decided it was time to show everyone why he was nicknamed “Superman” as All-Star Weekend descended on New Orleans. The myth was that big-men couldn’t win the dunk contest because they didn’t jump as high – maybe true in some cases, but not with Howard.

After an impressive first dunk, Howard took things up a notch in Round 2. Teammate Jameer Nelson brought out a cape with the trademark Superman ‘S’ while Howard removed his jersey to reveal a matching S-branded undershirt. The crowd erupted. Magic Johnson cheered courtside. Kenny Smith lost it on the television broadcast. And that was before the dunk.

Cape and all, Howard got a running start and caught a lob pass from Nelson behind his head in mid-air. The timing was perfect and Howard threw down one of the most memorable dunks in history with the exact mix of athleticism and theatrics the contest was designed for. He scored a perfect 50 for the dunk and won the title over Gerald Green, claiming 78 per cent of the fan vote.

Fans loved him. The year after in 2009, he received 3.1 million All-Star votes – still a record to this day by almost half a million. Behind one of his strongest seasons ever, the Magic won their second straight division title and made it all the way to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1995. Even though they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers, it didn’t seem like a matter of if they would get another chance at a title, but when. When general managers responded to a 2009 NBA.com poll about which player they would most want to start a franchise, they chose LeBron first, Howard second. He was a superstar, the league’s best defensive player and was one of the most likable personalities in the NBA. Which is why it’s so difficult to pinpoint where things went wrong.

When Howard signed a contract extension with the Magic in 2007, he joked that like Mickey Mouse, he would be in Orlando forever. But the Magic failed to replicate their playoff success from 2009 and things seemed to fracture, particularly with head coach Stan Van Gundy. He requested a trade to the New Jersey Nets in December of 2011, but initially backed off after meeting with Magic officials. Still, the drama lingered.

In April of 2012, a report emerged that Howard wanted Van Gundy fired. Soon after, Van Gundy admitted to reporters at a game day shootaround that the report was true. Seconds later, Howard made his way into the scrum and awkwardly placed his arm around Van Gundy, reiterating a desire to focus on the coming game. Once Van Gundy left, Howard didn’t directly answer questions about his head coaches’ admission. They lost by 16 that night and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs. It was clear – Howard’s time in Orlando was up. 

After another trade request, he got his wish. Howard was dealt to the Lakers in a massive four-team trade that was supposed to re-kindle the Lakers’ title hopes alongside Kobe Bryant. But that pairing didn’t work either. Multiple reports indicated that Bryant and Howard never got along and in an interview from 2015, Bryant insinuated that Howard had trouble dealing with the “combative” nature of the Laker locker room Bryant felt was necessary to go deep in the playoffs. Howard was ejected in the fourth quarter of the deciding game as the Lakers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round and was seen shouting at general manager Mitch Kupchak as he left the court. Howard later said he was voicing frustration about officiating and was not angry with Kupchak.

Next stop, Houston. Things actually started pretty well in 2013. Howard improved his scoring average from the season before and averaged 26 points and nearly 14 rebounds during the playoffs that year. But it didn’t last, and after two more seasons, he’d worn out his welcome in Houston.

“[James Harden] is not the kind of guy who is going to say ‘Yo, man, you got a problem?’ and I’m not either,” Howard told NBA.com’s David Aldridge. “When I don’t like what’s going on, I tend to shut down, put my headphones on and ignore everything. I don’t talk about things. That happened to me in L.A. It happened to me again in Houston. I should have communicated better.”

Howard later admitted to Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated that he considered retiring after the 2014-15 season, citing a loss of joy playing the game he once loved.

“Some players will tell you they don’t care what other people think. They’re lying. We all care,” he told Jenkins.

Going home didn’t work either. Howard, an Atlanta native, signed a three-year $70.5 million deal with the Hawks in 2016. He played just one season there, posting his lowest scoring average since his rookie season and was traded after the season. Hawks’ point guard Dennis Schroder openly questioned his effort last year, accusing Howard of only playing hard against former teams.

Howard played last year with the Charlotte Hornets and had his bright spots, including a 30-rebound game in March, but was traded once again after the season in a salary dump with Brooklyn. Howard finally got the move to the Nets he wanted toward the end of his time in Orlando, but it was almost seven years too late. He was bought out soon after the deal was finalized.

So here’s Howard, once again, hoping for a fresh start. Fittingly enough, so are the Wizards. Centre Marcin Gortat was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the off-season amid rumours of a feud with point guard John Wall, so Washington needed a presence in the paint.

Howard is nursing a lower-back issue that has kept him out of preseason action, but the injury isn’t expected to sideline him out very long. The Wizards have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons but haven’t advanced past the second round. They’ve been below average in relative defensive rating (a team’s defensive rating relative to the rest of the league) the last two seasons. An interior presence like Howard could go a long way to helping solve that.

Team president Ernie Grunfeld agrees.

“[Howard is] someone who could be a force on the defensive end and on the offensive end. Someone who is proven in this league already and someone who can be a real physical presence, which we felt like we were lacking,” he said in July.

Grunfeld is right. Howard can be a physical presence. He can help on both ends of the floor. He’s done it for years. But can he do it again considering all he’s been through?

“All of us have something to prove and we want to do it together,” Howard said. “I feel like this city and this team is a place where I want to end my career.”

At 32 – 33 in December – Howard’s days as a No. 1 option are likely long over. He won’t be as good as he was in Orlando. He won’t be as popular, either.  But that isn’t his focus anymore.

“You really have to put your ego to the side and focus on one thing and that’s winning. I was once told to put the ego in the back pocket and focus on the front, focus on the chest, which is the team. I think’s what we have to do.”

It’s easy to say, harder to do. Howard knows better than anyone.