Is Dwight Howard a Dumbass? An Objective Analysis

            Carmelo Anthony. Shaquille O’Neal (multiple times). Pau Gasol. Vince Carter (pathetically, but he still accomplished his goal). Kevin Garnett. Leaving the NBA for a second, John Elway. Eli Manning. Roger Clemens. Jaromir Jagr. These are all players who were A-Level talents at their professions who managed to force a trade. It shouldn’t be that hard. Superstar player utilizes the media to share his displeasure with his current situation, holds his team’s future hostage, with the team eventually blinking and moving him for anywhere from $0.25 to $0.75 on the dollar. Teams eventually have to blink because unless they are a large market that can attract free agents, they need to get back something for the loss of a superstar. Otherwise, they make one last run with their star and then watch him go (see: Cleveland Cavaliers, 2010).
            Incredibly, Dwight Howard, far and away the most talented center in the NBA, fucked this up. Everyone who followed the league for the past year knew that Dwight wanted to land in Brooklyn. With a chance to opt out after the 2012 season, it seemed like a slam-dunk that he would end up there eventually. The Nets didn’t have the necessary pieces to complete a midseason trade (thank the balky feet of Brook Lopez for that), but all Dwight had to do was wait 3 months for the season to end to leave. This could’ve happened without Brooklyn gutting half of their roster to acquire him. All that was required was patience. Unfortunately, “Superman” took one of the worst blind leaps of faith in sports history.
            Shortly before the deadline, Dwight agreed to not opt out of his contract, which would allow Orlando to obtain the rights to him through the 2013 season, and stripping him of the chance to hit the open market this summer. How does a player who has been pining for a trade suddenly opts in to another year with the trade he wanted to leave? Here’s a conversation that No Credentials is fairly certain occurred between Howard and former Magic GM Otis Smith back in March.

Smith: I can’t trade you to New Jersey. Have you seen their roster? It’s dogshit.

Howard: Ya I understand.
Smith: But here’s what I’m going to do. I want you to opt in for next season.
Howard: Why would I do that?
Smith: Because I promise I’ll trade you this summer to Brooklyn. We can make one more playoff run. It’ll be a sign and trade, you’ll get an extra year of max money, we’ll find a third team to participate to sweeten the deal…who doesn’t win?
Howard: You promise?
Smith: Promise.
Howard: Okay.

            One slight hitch with this plan…Smith got fired along with just about everyone else in the Orlando management staff (including Dwight’s best friend, Mr. Stan Van Jeremy, I mean, Stan Van Gundy). Stuck with a new GM that is hell bent on acquiring draft picks and inexpensive young talent (he’s a former member of the Thunder’s front office, so would you expect any less?), Brooklyn became an even less likely destination via trade. Stunningly, Dwight went to the NBAPA to accuse the Magic of “blackmailing” him (I thought blackmail was something that only happened in Michael Douglas movies) into opting in. Tired of building failed three and four team trades (the Cavs would’ve pulled the trigger on a deal last week if they didn’t start getting backlash for helping to build another super-team in the NBA), Brooklyn went ahead and resigned Brook Lopez for four years and $60 million (in other words, about $15 million too much for a seven-footer who can barely average six boards a game), taking the Nets’ most valuable trade chip off the table until at least January (there’s a time-period where a newly signed player can’t be traded).

            Is Dwight Howard a moron, assuming he opted in for next season under the pretense that he was going to get traded this summer? Yes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist (or for that matter, a fifth grader) to figure out that Orlando’s ownership was going to clean house. Not knowing the motives or ideals of an unknown GM, it would’ve been best for Howard to stand pat, play out last season, and then join the Nets through free agency (again, assuming that that is what he wanted all along). It’s a shame the Nets and Dwight won’t get together anytime soon. They deserved each other.