When Dwight Howard inevitably suits up for another team in the coming months, Orlando Magic faithful will be left angered and frustrated, demoralized and perhaps even vengeful. Afterall, in the span of 15 seasons Magic fans will have lost the services of Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy Mcgrady, Grant Hill and subsequently Dwight Howard, who will undoubtedly suffer the wrath of the Orlando faithful, while the true culprits GM Otis Smith and coach Jeff Van Gundy, continue to operate unscathed inside their bubble of self-appreciation.
Yes, fan’s anger should at no time be directed towards D12, as he has been everything the city could have hoped for after losing Tracy McGrady, which was on the heels of losing Shaquille O’neal; Dwight has led the NBA in rebounding for 5 seasons, blocks twice; is the 3-time reigning Defensive Player of the year; has finished top 5 in MVP voting for 5 straight seasons including runner-up to Derrick Rose in 2011, and has played 574 of a possible 581 games to start his career which is far more than can be said of Shaq, T-Mac or Hill.
Upon his vaunted 2004 arrival, the team has had great seasonal success (3 division titles, a conference title, a trip to the NBA finals and 5 straight 50+ win seasons) yet continually comes up short despite Howard’s downright dominating playoff averages bordering on 20ppg 15reb 3blk and 60% fg, so therein must lie alternative reasoning.
From an outside perspective, it would appear that the Magic, under Otis Smith, and after having been handed one of the best big men of any generation, is lost when provided an opportunity to add talent and build around his prized big man. Instead he has saddled the team with a consortium of also-rans named Hedo Turkoglu, Vince Carter, Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas and of course Rashard Lewis whose albatross contract to this day, undeniably handcuffs the team from adding significant talent. Despite two massive overhauls to the entire roster, the star player is unhappy and after asking – no begging – for the coach to trust him with the ball, and making suggestions, to improve the roster, (to no avail) showing that neither Smith nor Van Gundy put any stock in Howard’s involvement whatsoever, Dwight has subsequently demanded a trade, and expects to be moved sooner, rather than later. Can you really blame the one player who through it all has dominated like few before him, and given the fans every ounce of his ability and never taken a night off?
The answer is no.
You can however continue to blame Otis for a whole lot more that has gone wrong with the personnel and the “Big Baby” acquisition is a quintessential example because it represents, at it’s finite core, Smith’s inability to use valuable assets to acquire the necessary pieces to build around Howard; Trading away blue collar contributor Brandon Bass who incidentally is having a career year in Boston, for “Big Baby” Davis, a player who notoriously lives up to his namesake more than his game, and is currently having his worst season ever, is just another miscalculation in a long line of errors for the oft-mistaken Otis Smith.
Stan Van Gundy too is accountable for the impending Howard departure. While it is unfair to call him a bad coach–he has consistently coached his teams to the playoffs and boasts an NBA championship (with Miami), an Eastern Conference Championship, Finals Appearance and 5 straight 50+ win seasons, all with the Magic-Yet somehow it does not take any exorbitant calculation to decipher the obvious flaws in SVG’s system; the under-utilization of Howard and over-emphasizing of role-players (See Ryan Anderson, JJ Redick, Turkoglu et al) to a point of outspoken frustration from the big man who simply, and justifiably wants the ball.
Is it any question that Howard is unhappy with his touches? Entering his 8th season D12 has only twice before led the Magic in Field Goal Attempts. Last season it was Vince Carter, before that Rashard Lewis, before that Jameer Nelson and who can forget Steve Francis jacking it up in Dwight’s rookie season. None of them shooting anything near a career .578, and aside from Carter, none of them will ever enter the Hall-Of-Fame discussion outright dominated by Dwight Howard. Ironically, the one unexpected bonus amidst the litany of downright questionable additions has been Ryan Anderson, an afterthought in the Vince Carter trade, who has emerged as a legitimate inside-outside threat and currently leads the team in shots attempts, (15) and points (19.7). The problem is that Hedo Turkoglu, and Jason Richardson and JJ Redick also both take 10-12 shots a game leaving Howard with the leftover scraps, usually cleaning up an errant shot for an easy put-back.
It is a testament to his finish when you consider he averages 18ppg, yet he could and should be averaging closer to 26ppg at the expense of the teams’ role players, which is always a recipe for success on a winning team. Imagine Tim Duncan circa 2002 deferring to Malik Rose and Bruce Bowen equally, or Hakeem Olajuwon circa 1994 deferring to Robert Horry and Mario Elie. It’s ludicrous as it is comical. This fundamental flaw in Van Gundy’s system, to neglect the biggest dominant presence on his team, is the number one reason Howard has been and a system that sees the ball to come his way more often.
Looking at the numbers, now in his 8th season Howard has career averages of just 11 shots for his career. (This year he sits at 11.9) How can that be? Clearly a gross impropriety as nowhere in the history of the NBA has such a transcendent inside presence been so neglected in an offensive system. Which leads me to remark that Jameer Nelson has been consistently the worst (read least effective/ Least conducive to winning) starting point guard in the NBA for the majority of his career, and has pushed Howard to dream of life on another team, with an all-star point guard where he can trust the ballhandlers to get him the ball, which makes the non-drafting of Rajon Rondo even more explicit because it’s not just about Howard not getting the touches, which is squarely on the coach’s shoulders, there is nobody on the team that is even capable of getting him the ball, which falls to the management department and Otis Smith.
Consider the following;
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averaged 20-25 field goal attempts over his first 6 seasons as a Milwaukee Buck and 16-20 fga in his next 11 seasons with the Lakers. It wasn’t until the age of 40 (FORTY!!) that he first dropped below 13 shots a game, and Howard, now in his 8th season has only managed to take more than 13 shots once! More telling is that Kareem averaged 11 MAKES per game–as many attempts as Howard takes per contest.
Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 18-20 fga during his prime, and 17 over his illustrious career. Consider that Olajuwon’s LOWEST per game fga average (as a starter) was 13.5 as a 36 year old in the 1998 lockout season. Compare that to Howards BEST per game average of 13.4, last season.
The Strike of 98 also limited David Robinson (averaged 15-18 pre-strike) to 10.8FGA, the Admiral was 31 that year, Howard is 26 and has fallen below the 10.8 threshold 4 of his first 7 seasons!
The List goes on…
Shaq averaged 16 fga for his career, and never less than 13 until the age of 34…
Patrick Ewing averaged 16 a game and not until age 37–his last as a starter–would he drop to a lowly 12.7FGA, which today stands as the third highest of Howard’s career.
Tim Duncan 15.6, even Elton Brand has managed 14.5,
Perhaps it is considered a generational gap, yet a quick survey of current-generation dominant players still shows a major discrepancy. Al Jefferson manages 16-19 a game and (as a starter) has never shot less than 12.7 per contest.Andrew Bynum, on a team with established superstars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol still manages to get 15 looks a game. Yao Ming averaged 13.3 and as high as 17.1, before injuries derailed his career.
Howard knows he deserves more, and the team has not answered his call. Adding shoot first Glen Davison the team is NOT a solution, heck it’s not even an improvement. Brandon Bass is a superior defender and inside banger. Davis is an errant shot or turnover waiting to happen, and if Big Baby is the only response Otis Smith could muster for his disgruntled big man, then the team truly has no hope of keeping Howard around past the trade deadline. Dwight is rightfully disenchanted with the entire organization, even if the fans aren’t happy, they must direct their anger to the appropriate sources. The GM has continued to surround him with shoot-first players who refuse to pass and cannot defend, has yet to acquire a top flight point guard to distribute the ball with precision and poise, and the coach has failed in Howard’s estimation to execute an inside-out offense that respects the talents and dominant ability of the inside man.
One only need review Otis Smith’s long line of transactions, including and over-paying for talent, bad draft strategy, drafting Redick ahead of Rajon Rondo, Fran Vazquez ahead of Danny Granger (which incidentally would have negated the need to add Rashard Lewis at his astronomical price-tag, freeing up tens of millions of dollars to spend on other talent), swapping draft picks for money, assigning his own assistant coaches, and trading away gifted (and cheap) role players like Courtney Lee, Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass and Trevor Ariza for over-priced, over-hyped veterans passed their primes in Vince Carter and Jason Richardson. Sure hindsight is always 20-20 but this conglomeration of unheralded moves screams of mismanagement and it is painfully clear to fans here, here and here that the team wins in-spite of his moves and that he simply must go.
It might even be too late for Otis to salvage the team, it appears he has little recourse but to trade Howard for whatever he can get, and as fans and media opine, and opposing GM’s understand, the longer the season goes, the less guarantee his new team will have, the less the Magic will net in return. But it should come as no shock to fans, media or the team as Howard has made his interests clear, and the team, although constantly being retooled, has yet to provide him with the offensive touches he rightfully warrants. Similar to how long-time friend Chris Bosh was positioned last summer, Dwight Howard is entering a sensitive stage of his career where morality and manhood are trumped by self-purveyance and righteousness. And like Chris Bosh, Howard is a man of self-respect and dignity and he will take care of business for as long as the Magic employ him, and hopefully like Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard will be beaming with excitement and basking in the glow of team unity and franchise success, while wearing an alternate jersey.
So, when Dwight Howard leaves Orlando whether by trade or via free agency, don’t blame the most imposing big man to come along since Shaquille O’neal, blame, Otis Smith, blame Stan Van Gundy, blame the greedy reserves trying to get their moment in the sun. Howard has paid his dues and given everything to the franchise. Can they say the same in return?
The answer again, is no.
The only solace for Magic fans is that good things seem to happen in threes, and if that means the Basketball Gods will again shine on the Magic in 2015 for a shot at the #1 pick, then perhaps there is another dominant force who may one day man the middle in Orlando. For the fan’s sake, it might be worth praying that it doesn’t happen until Otis Smith and Van Gundy have left the building, which may be on the heels of the best big man in recent memory walking out the door without a second thought.