Sources: Dwight doesn't see himself as a Rocket next year

can we trade him on draft day for a bag of chips?

 

Dwight is the second most effective and efficient offensive player on this roster. For you to argue that point in favor of guys like Ariza, Brewer, Jones, etc. getting more shots instead of going to Howard is stupid and not worth my time to further explain it to you. Keep staring at stats and metrics that you cannot rationalize properly.

 

Kobe Bryant explains why he never got along with Dwight Howard
By Jesus Gomez @JejeGomez_PtR on Feb 26, 2015, 11:51a 119


Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Kobe Bryant said he tried to show Howard how to win a championship, but Howard didn't want to deal with the challenge.

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Kobe Bryant is no longer afraid to speak his mind. He was never shy about his opinions, but previously tried to maintain an aura of mystery around his persona that just isn't there anymore.

During his media appearances to promote his new documentary "Muse," he has scolded his teammates for celebrating an overtime win against the Celtics and said the new collective bargaining agreement was designed to stop the Lakers. Recently he conducted a fantastic interview with USA Today's Sam Amick in which he talked about everything from his relationship with Lamar Odom to cold-calling Vogue editor Anna Wintour to pick her brain.

Among all these new revelations, there's a familiar theme Kobe touched on: Dwight Howard and his ill-fated stint as a Laker.

Kobe and Howard reportedly never got along as teammates and had a dust-up this season when the Lakers met the Rockets, Howard's new team. Kobe took offense to Howard throwing his elbows after getting a rebound and called him "soft," among other things. He later apologized, saying Howard is "a Teddy bear."

It's obvious there's no love between the two. In the interview Bryant reveals how that rift started:

I tried teaching Dwight. I tried showing him. But the reality is that when you have a perception of what it is to win a championship - and most perceptions of what it's like to win are a very outgoing, very gregarious locker room where you pick each other up and you're friends all the time. That's the perception. And I think that's what his perception was of what the idea is. But when he saw the reality of it, it made him uncomfortable. And it's very tough to be able to fight through that, to deal with that challenge. And I don't think he was willing to deal with that uncomfortable and combative nature.

It seems that all the reports about Howard not being happy with the locker room culture Bryant had established were correct. Howard is more comfortable with a laid-back approach, while Bryant is as old-school about taking the game seriously as any player. Bryant said during an appearance on the Grantland Basketball Hour that he has no regrets about how things transpired when Howard was a Laker, which is understandable considering how dissimilar they are.

Howard is now with the Rockets, where he shined in the playoffs last season. An injury has limited him this year but the team will make the postseason again and is looking like a contender. Kobe is out with injury as well and the Lakers are having one of their worst years in franchise history. However, he's optimistic about the possibilities they will have this offseason with a likely top-five pick and cap room to sign free agents.

Their marriage clearly wasn't meant to be, as Kobe has said again and again. They are both better off now, even if their breakup was messy.

 

This is untrue.

DD

 

Everywhere Dwight goes there has been chemistry issue and fans complaining "not using him the proper way". In Orlando, Dwight got his coach fired and left his team in a very ugly way. In Lakers, he famously couldn't get along with Kobe. In Houston, we are once again hearing that the team is the problem, in stead of Dwight himself. No wonder no other team wants him on their roster any more. This guy is just pure cancer.

 

Dwight is probably going to break up with Harden (younger broad) as well

 

People who say we should have used Dwight more often in offense is just willfully ignorant or deliberately lying, Anyone with functioning eye sight could see with each passing year, his offensive game got uglier and uglier. He was never an elite offensive player anyway (career average is only 17.9, only averaged 20+ ppg 4 times and never once 25+ ppg), and now he's in serious decline, there is absolutely no reason to think that Dwight taking 20 shots per game would have solved our issues, if anything it would have made things much worse.

 

Kobe has a mind of the champion. Dwight just wants to goof around and collect his paycheck. Dwight's body got older but his mental age stayed the same, and never matured into a complete player. Time to move on. I guarantee we will play much better once he's gone.

 

Is it possible that a coaching change would change his feelings about the situation?

 

i believe what kobe said is totally correct, but that's when coaches need to find a way to make players work together as a unit depsite personal difference toward winning a championship, IMHO, i think both styles would have merits in certain scenarios, under Mchale, DH had a laid back atmosphere in the lock room where he is comfortable with, but the problem with this approach is when things go sour, DH is not able to tighten up his concentration because he is been that relaxed for too long

 

I'm not Dwight fan, honestly... but I can't stand this crap Kobe spews.

SOME championship locker rooms are like the ones and culture Kobe permeated. SOME championship locker rooms are NOT.

See the Spurs. See the Rockets. See the Mavs. See the Warriors. Etc.

I think the commonality is that all championship teams have GREAT, AMAZING players who really, deeply, care about winning and are professionals in that regard.

It's hard to tell if Dwight falls into that last camp - truly, deeply caring about winning - but the fact that he doesn't want to be an ******* like Kobe was most of his career says nothing about anything.

 

agree. good post.

 

i bet if you asked Pau Gasol how Kobe trained him how to win he would laugh at you.

 

I think sports history is full of winning teams who enjoyed their locker room atmosphere and had each other's backs. What Kobe doesn't understand is you're supposed to band together, not take out your aggression / arrogance on your own teammates.

I think he's probably right about Howard, but I think both guys are flawed locker room guys. In the end it's up to the coach to control the atmosphere and the GM to find a mix of players who can counterbalance each other.

 

Orlando Coach: Dwight Howard wants me out

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Stan Van Gundy said he knows his franchise player, Dwight Howard, has asked that he be fired as coach of the Orlando Magic, and get this: Van Gundy claimed his sources are better than any reporter's.

"I was told it was true by people in our management," Van Gundy said Thursday, just hours before the Magic lost to the New York Knicks 96-80. "So right from the top."

In what had to be one of the most bizarre game-day scenes in NBA history, Van Gundy confirmed a WKMG-TV report that Howard is pushing for his ouster, and did so right before the center walked through a circle of news media members and embraced his coach.

"They haven't told me anything," Van Gundy said of Orlando management, "and they don't need to. I'm the coach right now, and I'm the coach until they decide I'm not the coach. It's 12:02 right now. If they want to fire me at 12:05, I'll go home and find something to do. I'll have a good day."


"That's what I just said," Van Gundy responded. "We've got to be worried about winning games."

Howard and Van Gundy exchanged a little small talk about the Knicks game before the coach asked reporters: "Are you guys done with me? You talk to him now."

 

I heard different, but...

 

Dwight has never once accepted personal responsibility for his failures throughout his career. It's always the coach, the teammate, the locker room culture, blah blah blah. Dude, if you can't seem to get along with people everywhere you go, maybe it's YOU who's the problem, not other people.

 

I'm sure Deandre Jordan looks like an efficient offensive option as well considering all of the lobs and dunks. But no one in their right mind would feed him in the post and let him create for himself. The type of shots matter. Howard can't hit a mid range jumper, his post game is atrocious, and he seems disinterested in the pnr. He can dominate in certain match ups especially when he creates deep position but feeding him the ball like he was Barkely or Olajuwon is NOT efficient or effective.

 

this is the truth. Dwight is so limited. We all know he is not worth the max so he can just walk away. It would be best to not even try to convince him to stay because he is just not buying into sticking to his roles

 

You saying dwight howard is more effecient then brewer taking 3s is supposed to make us believe that he is still a SUPERSTAR? You do realize almost everyone in the entire country knows brewer is trash, ofcourse he is more efficient then brewer, that doesent make him a superstar you give 20 million or more too.
Dwight howard is a defensive superstar but an offensive scrub, he only offers one thing on offense and thats dunks. If you watch the games like you say you
Then you know for sure dwight has givin up on this team and its fans. he doesent do anything that involves running.
So do you expect fans to sit and defend someone who has givin up on us and our team?
Hes getting paid 20+ mill and hes pouting about not getting touches? He cant even get his FT shooting up to 50% and he demands touches?
Hes weak mentally and will always be, god gave him all his talent (height,athelticisim) al he worked on was his strength. Everything else is gone, no basketball IQ, no fundamentals, poor ft shooting, poor screens set, doesent box out properly and relies on his atheltic ability.
All these things can be improved by sheer work and practice, and yet he still doesent know how to do any, or worse isnt willing.
You can say what you want about dwights first two years, but i wouldnt be surprised if he was on his best behavior so he doesent continue to get ridiculed even here, but the last 2 weeks of watching him play is making me think thats the real him all along
Good guy, great community presence, great natural ability,low basketball IQ, not focused enough, a very weak mentality...quitter mentality.