The59Sound wrote:I think Howard is a pathetic crybaby who is too weak mentally to ever fulfill his athletic potential and not be poisonous to his team.
That said, it's unfair (in my opinion) to call this a redux of the Dwightmare. He's not forcing his way out of anywhere. He's an unrestricted free agent, and has every right to weigh his options and/or use the threat of leaving as leverage to get what he wants.
It seems likely that Vinny Del Negro was fired to keep a free agent Chris Paul happy, and I don't hear a lot of criticism about that. This is the one time (in free agency), in my opinion, when it's okay for a player to throw their weight around. And then once you've signed on the dotted line, shut the hell up and do your job.
I think you're right about Howard's personality, but wrong about him being too weak mentally to fulfill his athletic potential. If he's on a team that assuages his Ego, and he's healthy, he'll perform very well. It HAS to be the type of environment where he's "The Guy". Not saying it's a good thing. But in a place like Houston, that could work. You pair him with a laid back personality (And insanely talented) player like James Harden, you could see him getting back to his Orlando form. Now, Orlando didn't do a great job bringing him the pieces to be successful, but man did they do all they could to assuage his ego. Which is why he was such a dominant player.
I also share the sentiment on the lack of criticism of CP3 for the firing of Del Negro. But that's another story.
"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game I'd choose Michael Jordan; If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life...I'd take Larry Bird." - Pat Riley