Jonnyroobs™ Centralized

Before I go on with this post, I wanna let all of you know that I have been a fan of Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, for years now igniting the blue and white - ever since I've lived in Orlando back in 2007 up until 2009. I will always have the utmost respect for Dwight Howard, his sense of humor/ personality and his God-given abilities that define him as one of the greatest big men to play the game. But I do have something to say about what's going on recently.

So the Orlando Magic are not doing well during the last few games (right after they were on that hot winning streak for a while). And what's on everyone's minds, especially the Magic fans, is Dwight Howard. Is he gonna bail out on the ballclub that has defined his stellar career for 6 years?

Every time they're losing, it seems more likely that his departure may be imminent (perhaps after All-Star break which is eerie in some ways because it does take place in Orlando). Could that be his last hurrah in Orlando? Only Dwight knows that.....

But what he doesn't know is that he's becoming his own worst enemy right in front of our eyes. He's being poisoned. Gone are his humble ways and instead, we're now facing a version that's yearns for more attention and exposure, notoriety and camaraderie (among other NBA stars in other respective teams). He wants it all, including that camaraderie part I just mentioned there. These days, the trend of having 2-3 good players on a team can have a chance to win the championship. Look what happened to the Celtics and the Miami Heat. They either won or have went close to winning it all. And Dwight Howard wants to leave Orlando for that very reason because the Magic GM Otis Smith doesn't have a good roster. He doesn't wanna start over and over with players he thinks aren't good enough. Dwight prefers to take it the easy route (the shortcut, pretty much) by teaming with high-caliber NBA talent and win it together somewhere else (other than Orlando - a city that remains supportive and faithful to him to this very day). Can't blame the guy especially who holds a great endorsement deal with Adidas and wishes to be so famous (anyone saw that MW3 commercial with him in the end? That's a sure sign). He wants to be a household name that everyone loves and retire successfully when its said and done with his NBA career. Maybe he'll try to emulate Shaq going mainstream with movies, shows, and music (other than taking on the 'Superman' persona from the once-Magic star of the 90s). So much expectations are weighing in on Dwight as he's heading toward the mid-to-late 20s in his life - and his time to win is now.

But...seriously....dude...if your heart is no longer with the city of Orlando and the Magic organization, its best to leave right now. Dwight, you say all these contradictory things saying you wanna stay, telling your faithfuls to buy your latest Adidas kicks, and even hold all these picnics to lure your fans -- but you gotta be truthful on how you feel. We don't want facades or ducking away mumbling or sobbing or what have you. Just the God-honest truth is what we all need so we can bury the hatchet. It would've been better off if you left early on this season rather than doing the wait-and-see approach on the timetable as to when you wanna leave.

It's too bad he can't turn out to be as graciously humble and a team-player first athlete like his Adidas-mate, Tim Duncan who wishes to remain with the San Antonio Spurs (and has stuck with them ever since). Duncan lets the game dictate the direction of his NBA career rather than being too much in the limelight doing too many commercials or being in movies, etc. Plus his intelligence speaking to the media mirrors to that of Tiger Woods, who is the greatest at his game, too. Duncan doesn't do the showboating thing. All he wants to do is win big with what he has even though they (San Antonio Spurs) may not have big names on their team. And he's done so twice already in his NBA career.

He's not like Dwight or some of these NBA divas now. He (Duncan) doesn't go knocking the door of the upper management or the GM trying to request for changes. First off, its not Dwight's business, really, on making changes. It's up to those guys to make the decision. He's just an NBA star assigned to the Orlando Magic and being paid by the owner there until his time there is done being dealt somewhere else. The Magic already fulfilled Dwight's request before in making some roster changes some of which have been unsuccessful (i.e. Gilbert Arenas) to make it further onto the playoffs and finals.

If Dwight took a paycut and is willing to go long-term with the Magic in team-building, that'd be awesome.

But that's not gonna happen. It won't. Free agency ruined most of the team chemistry with teams. As much as it poses as an advantage to teams that have struggled or almost went close to winning, it's a nail-in-the-coffin for most. It can take years to build the perfect team especially when their once big name stars head elsewhere to win the 'ship. It's sad. That's the state of the NBA today. Most of them wanna win big together, get the mainstream exposure and get big money contracts/ endorsement deals. Gone are the heydays of Magic, Bird, Jordan, Barkley, Isiah. Those guys (and their work ethics with their teams) have pretty much left long agos.