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?
