Stop Hating on Dwight Howard, He is an NBA Nice Guy

         I know this is going to hurt a lot of Lakers and Magic fans but Dwight Howard is not a bad guy. I am a hardcore Lakers fan, and I have no problem saying that, in fact, Dwight Howard is a great guy. Am I saying that from personal experience? Well, Yes. In my wild NBA fandom, I used to go to a lot of basketball games. I would go very early to try to get autographs and/or to just interact with players. Often times players would wave, smile or take the occasional  picture with the hot girl. Even rarer was when an opposing player would take the time out to autograph things, and more often than not, the only stuff that is autographed is stuff being held by that really adorable 5 year old kid.

           

Enter Dwight Howard. The day was December 8^th, 2008. That day happens to be Dwight’s birthday. The Magic were in LA to face the Clippers and I like most of the Basketball World was a big fan of Howard so, I bought a basketball and went to the game as early as possible. We watched howard warm up, and by the way, that alone was worth the price of admission.  About 30-45 minutes before tip players generally would wave and run into the locker room, not Dwight. There was easily a group of 30-40 people who wanted autographs, pictures, high fives, you name it, they were there and Dwight Howard obliged ALL OF THEM, Included in them was me, a 23 year old guy (older than Howard). Howard not only autographed the ball for me, but he also took a picture with my best friend who was 25 years old at the time.

 (Just to note this picture is of what I consider to be the greatest missed dunk ever, you can see me in the picture my mouth open on the right side of the net, next to the kid in the red sweatshirt) 

Here are the highlights from the night, At the end during the interview you will notice me and my friends hopping up and down behind Howard.

Conclusion 
So deep down to the core, Dwight Howard is a really nice guy. He doesn't feel better than anyone else, like many of the other NBA players I have interacted with. He loves his fans, he loves to be happy, he loves and wants to win. 

The Orlando Magic Need to Give it a rest.

I recently saw the Orlando Magic's 25th anniversary Media Guide. Here is the cover.....Tell me if you notice anything strange.

First off you must realize the obvious, Jameer Nelson never played with Penny, thats a joke of course, Dwight Howard is not on the cover! That is insane!! Now if you want to say it is because he left the team, then why is Shaq on the cover, did shaq do more for the Magic than Dwight? For G-d's sake they have several people that they are trying to portray as legends and they left out Dwight. Inexcusable. 

Review this little illustration below.

Now in no way am I saying that Dwight deserves the spot over Shaq, what I am saying is that if you are going to put Shaq on, how do you leave off Dwight. Dwight's accolades match Shaq's and even more-so he played with the Magic twice as long. I know Shaq revolutionized the team, but so did Dwight, The Orlando Magic were relevant in the 90's because of Shaq and relevant in the 2000s because of Dwight! Not to mention that Dwight Howard was almost always in the top of the list of Jersey Sales. 

Now, say they were really upset about how Dwight left the Magic. I think its completely overblown. Dwight Howard loved Orlando and his team and was torn, he stayed an extra year when he should not have, and why? BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD GUY and didn't want to upset people in Orlando. When he did finally leave, what the Magic got in return was way more than what they got when Shaq left. 

One area of this whole situation that needs to be understood is that every NBA players goal is to win a ring, Dwight Howard was/is no different. The Magic were in a situation where Dwight's best years would be wasted, and Dwight needed to move on. I think the way he did it may have hurt a lot of people, but that only happened because Dwight didn't want to hurt anyone (if that makes sense.)

Lakers Fans need to Relax

I am a Laker fan, and I saw it coming. Dwight Howard was never going to resign with the Lakers and he never should have. It should have been clear to Laker fans that Dwight wouldn't stay when he publicly said he wanted to play in Brooklyn. Additionally Laker fans owe some sort of thank you to Dwight. He was playing injured all season. If he was really this bad guy everyone tries to convince us he is, he would have made excuse after excuse to not play one game. Fact of the matter is that in the short time that he was with the Lakers he still lead the league in rebounding. He was unhappy and in a place he didn't want to be, and in my eyes never threw in the towel.

But he left the Lakers??!! Wouldn't have you? I know they are the greatest franchise in the NBA but they wont be great for a while now, with or without Howard there. Kobe is injured, Nash is old and Howard is not a superhuman, even Lebron needed Bosh and Wade, Dwight needed help and was man enough to admit it.

More reasons to Love Dwight as a Person and Player

-He still operates his charities in Orlando
-In 2009 he took 50 kids on a $20,000 shopping spree
-Dwight Howard Charitable Foundation
-D12 Foundation
-He is active on Twitter +Dwight Howard (he often does Q & A's with fans)
-He just wants to make everyone happy 
-He still throws down ridiculous dunks
-He was already a star when he participated in the Dunk Contest (ehem Mr. Lebron James) again proving he wanted to make fans happy.

Just stop the Madness

If you haven't already picked up on it, Dwight Howard is a nice guy. He deserves the respect of all of the fans of the Magic and of the NBA. He deserves to be on the cover of the Media Guide and he even should have his number retired by the Magic (sorry Tobias Harris.) Because he wants to win does not make him a bad guy, no one complains about Charles Barkley going to the Rockets. 

While you try to convince yourself that this whole article is garbage and that I am wrong, do yourself a favor, buy some tickets to the next time Dwight comes to your hometown, buy a ball and get to the game early. Let me know what happens next.

About me: My name is Steven Davis and I love Basketball and being creative. I am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV as well as a Sports and Health Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy