Dwight Howard must take the next step toward superstardom
Mike Bianchi
SPORTS COMMENTARY
1:26 AM EDT, May 27, 2009
Get used to it LeBron.
Get used to it Kobe.
Get used to NBA.
This could be the beginning of your worst Dwightmare.
One more win.
One more win over the Cleveland LeBrons and Dwight Howard will finally begin to be treated like the superstar he is.
One more win.
This is the only way the NBA will know that maybe it is marketing the wrong superstar.
This the only way Nike will know it should have locked up Dwight years ago, put him in that puppet commercial and instructed the world to witness his greatness.
Are you kidding me? After Tuesday night's nail-biting, heart-palpitating 116-114 Magic overtime victory shoved the Cavs to within the brink of playoff elimination, Phil Knight isthisclose to realizing that not signing Dwight will go down as Nike's biggest mistake since being tied to child-labor sweatshops in Pakistan.
What Dwight did Tuesday is what superstars do: he took over the game when it mattered most. He scored the first three buckets in OT on dunks. He calmly swished two free throws with 21 seconds left to all but seal the game. He scored 10 of the Magic's 16 points in the extra period and finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds.
"Dwight's a beast in the middle," LeBron said.
"He showed why he's the most dominant player in the league," Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu said. "He was huge in overtime."
Much has been made during the conference finals of LeBron and Kobe getting the Hollywood treatment from ESPN, Nike and even NBA officials. It has obviously bothered Howard, who on his blog earlier this week at DwightHoward.com even went so far as to mock the NBA's fixation with LeBron and Kobe.
Here's what Howard wrote underneath a headline that blared, "IT'S TOTALLY DISRESPECTFUL!!!":
"We find it really disrespectful that everybody seems to be pulling for LeBron and Kobe to get to the Finals. Every time I look at TV, it seems like that's all anybody is talking about. It's like nobody is even giving us a shot at winning this series and we've used it as motivation. … Hopefully, we can mess up those plans of getting Cleveland and L.A. in the Finals. If the li'l ol' Magic make it, what will they say then?"
Dwight then closed his blog entry with another dig: "Aiiight, ya'll, I guess I gotta go watch another one of these LeBron and Kobe commercials on TV."
Is there any question Dwight -- an afterthought in the MVP balloting and a forgotten man in the playoffs up until now -- believes he is getting shortchanged in the superstar department? If not, he got yet another reminder in the third quarter of Game 4. Dwight was grabbed and hacked and nearly tackled on his way to the basket by Cleveland's Anderson Varejao. He sank the bucket anyway, but in the aftermath preened over Varejao. Incredibly, he was immediately whistled for a technical foul -- his sixth of the postseason. One more and he will have to serve a mandatory one-game suspension.
"I am starting to feel a little bit like Dwight is a marked man," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I guess it's no problem when you grab a guy by the neck as he's going up, but it's a problem when you celebrate the basket."
When I asked him the other day whether NBA refs give him the same leeway as the league's other superstars, Dwight paused for a long second, smiled and tellingly said, "No comment."
Of course, it's all up to him and his team now to change the perception. If he and the Magic can close out the Cavs, the league might finally start to realize that Dwight – not LeBron – is the one who is poised to be the NBA's most dynamic, dynastic champion of the next decade.
"The only way to get anybody's respect is by winning the championship," Dwight said.
All you have to do is look at the recent history of the NBA to figure out that big men are more important to building a championship contender than perimeter players. The closest thing to a dynasty the NBA has had in recent years is the San Antonio Spurs, who were built around big man Tim Duncan. Kobe has still not won a title without Shaq, but Shaq won one without Kobe. Wade won a title with Shaq, but hasn't won one without him. LeBron has never won a championship even though he's considered the best player in the league.
And think about this: LeBron is year older than Dwight, has been a pro a year longer and was actually more advanced than Dwight when he entered the league. Most NBA experts will tell you that it takes big men longer to ripen than perimeter players. Translation: You think Dwight is a monster now? Just wait until he actually develops more of an offensive repertoire.
All who are ready to anoint King James need to realize that he must first overcome Orlando's Magic prince. Isn't there a chance LeBron, who has now lost 11 of 15 to Dwight, may never win a championship as long as Dwight is in the league?
Isn't it entirely possible that LeBron could turn out to be Karl Malone, one of the greatest players of all-time who happened to be unlucky enough to play in the era of Michael Jordan?
One more win.
If Dwight wants to be treated like the superstar he is, he must now finish off this series against the NBA's ultimate superstar.
