Dwight Howard Haters ... Why the Hate?

Dwight Howard announced late last week that he would be signing with the Houston Rockets to join an up and coming team that, while likely not the favorite going into the next season, will certainly be a team that can make waves and have a shot at the title. I know that in the last season or two Howard has seemingly replaced perennial MVP LeBron James as the most hated player in the NBA and that hatred has only been magnified by Howard opting to leave the Lakers, the most popular team in the NBA. 

However, I’ve got to ask the haters. Why are you hating on this guy? This is probably going to be a controversial statement, but Dwight Howard has been one of the NBA’s five best players of the last decade. He’s a triple-time NBA Defensive of the Player of the Year Award winner and likely isn’t finished with that award; he’s a perennial All-Star and a guy who probably should’ve won a previous Most Valuable Player Award. He’s the best center in the game, bar none, and probably has the best personality of any generally hated player I’ve ever seen. Those are all reasons why you should respect Howard, but not really reasons why you shouldn’t hate him. After all, people hate great players all the time.

Here are the two main reasons you shouldn't hate him:

The biggest reason people seem to loathe Dwight Howard is because of his indecisiveness. The guy has shown a big propensity to not be able to clearly make up his mind. But, my question to his haters is … can you? Most of the people I know, particularly of my generation – which makes up a large number of today’s sports fans, can’t make up their minds about the smallest of everyday things like what they want to eat or watch on television. Yet, many of these same people expect that Dwight Howard should automatically or quickly make up his mind on the biggest decision of his life? Come on, guys, you’re being a little bit too harsh on the big fella.

The second reason – or newest reason – many people seem to hate Howard is because he’s perceived to have jilted everybody’s seemingly favorite team the Los Angeles Lakers and Lakers fans are aimlessly offended that he’d do so – it is America’s team after all. But, here’s what Lakers fans and any other fans annoyed that Howard would leave L.A. are failing to realize … the Lakers are a sinking ship and one that’s sinking incredibly fast at that. This team is not going to be a playoff team next year – hell, they were barely a playoff team this year with Howard and a mostly healthy Kobe Bryant. It’s a team that there’s really no telling when they will be competitive again. And, if you’re a free agent looking to make an incredibly large sum of money and want to try to win a title at the same time, it’s simply not the place for you to be right now. Signing with the Houston Rockets was simply a good career move for Howard and if you can’t see that you’ve probably got your biased sports fan blinders on.

So, there’s really no reason to hate Dwight Howard based on his play (he’s one of the best in the league), there’s no reason to hate him for his indecisiveness (it really is rampant in this country among many) and there’s no reason to hate him for bolting on the Lakers (he made the smart move). So, again, I must ask the Dwight Howard haters … Why the hate?