Howard signs a 2 year deal for the tax MLE with a player option per Woj

[NatP4]

He just doesn’t get it lol. No one is calling him a bad person, he’s always seemed like a nice easy going person that likes to joke around, but the guy could be a FORCE as a rim running pick and roll big that rebounds and protects the paint. Instead, he decides he wants to be an inefficienct post up chucker that sabotages the offense to yolo iso and turn it over every other play or launch a mid range brick.

We all have that one dumbass friend that likes to take an occasional horrendous shot from 30 ft in a pickup game and airballs, that’s Dwight.

4 different teams have called him a cancer, where there’s smoke...

That being said, like Dat, I’m optimistic by nature and believe this is going to work out and Dwight is going to focus and play hard as he realizes he’s in the twilight of his career, last chance to win a ring, he’s on a small contract for the first time, and the biggest reason, he will literally be spoon fed easy layups by Wall all game. We have a good enough established core/culture from Wall Beal and Otto, that Dwight will have be option 4.

[closg00]

More on Dwight from the WP
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/07/13/wizards-new-center-dwight-howard-i-would-never-try-to-destroy-a-team/?utm_term=.fc62e0a1d454

Dwight Howard says he isn’t a bad teammate.
On Thursday, the same day the Wizards officially announced his signing, Dwight Howard said he’s bringing his “chocolate shoulders” to “Chocolate City” and urged fans not to believe everything they’ve heard about his reputation as a locker room cancer.

“My vibes is always good,” a shirtless Howard said during a half-hour Instagram Live session that consisted primarily of video of the 32-year-old center working out.

“I’ll address that any day. I ain’t no bad person. I ain’t never been no bad person in the locker room. All this stuff is just lies to try to justify why I was traded, or why I left the team. But anybody who knows me, who’s been around me, on and off the court, I ain’t never been no a–hole, I ain’t never been no mean person. I would never try to destroy a team, but that’s a narrative that they always tried to say to me because they couldn’t say nothing else. At one point they were saying I was a great teammate, that I smiled too much on the court. But I smiled my happy a– all the way to the Finals.”


Howard, who spent the first eight years of his career in Orlando, led the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009. He spent one tumultuous season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012-13, during which he clashed with Kobe Bryant, before signing with the Rockets. Howard then spent three up-and-down seasons in Houston before bouncing to the Hawks and the Hornets over the last two years. After Charlotte traded Howard to the Nets in a draft-day deal last month, there were reports of chemistry issues between Howard and his teammates. SiriusXM NBA Radio analyst and former Wizards center Brendan Haywood reported the Charlotte locker room “hated” Howard. However, his coach with the Hornets, Steve Clifford, said of Howard, “If I thought that he would be a problem in the locker room, when Michael [Jordan] and I talked about it, we would have never brought him to Charlotte.”

[Dwight Howard’s best and worst qualities match the Wizards’. Buckle up.]

Meanwhile, John Wall, who had his issues with former Washington center Marcin Gortat, expressed optimism that Howard would help improve the Wizards.


“I think it’s great,” Wall told The Post’s Candace Buckner at a Summer League game in Las Vegas before Howard’s signing was official. “I think it’s an opportunity to see how it pans out, to have an athletic big and somebody who’s going to re-correct their career. I think it should be fun and exciting for us. Hopefully he comes in with a serious focus and mind-set [that] he wants to get better and help our team. We’re about to sit back and see what happens, but I think having him and Austin [Rivers] — giving us another scorer off the bench — those guys and Kelly [Oubre Jr.] getting better can definitely help us out.”

Speaking of Oubre, Howard, who has worn No. 12 for all but one year of his career, is apparently interested in his uniform number.

“Y’all gotta tell Kelly, man, I need that No. 12, or it’s going to be 21 or 8,” Howard said during his Instagram Live session. “I’m trying to get [Rivers’s] No. 1 man, but y’all ain’t help your boy out. Don’t give me no crazy numbers. It’s either 8, 21, or No. 1.”


Howard suggested that he’d ask Oubre about making some sort of deal for his No. 12. Otherwise, it sounds like he’ll settle for No. 21.

“Let’s go Wizards,” Howard said on Instagram, shimmying his shoulders. “D.C., Chocolate City, and chocolate shoulders will be in the building, baby,” Howard said. “Oooh, Chocolate City. Chocolate shoulders.”

"I am not a crook"
~ Richard Nixon

Howard will no-doubt try to be on his best behavior initially, but he can't help who he is. Given Brook's incredibly weak personality and inability to confront and control his players, anything can happen. I'm hoping for accidental success.

[queridiculo]

The Wapo coverage is really cringe at times.

Title of this piece "John Wall asked for help, and the Wizards provided it. Now he needs to return the favor."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/john-wall-asked-for-help-and-the-wizards-provided-it-now-he-needs-to-return-the-favor/2018/07/13/41afd9f8-86cb-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html

Nobody is ever going to hold Grunfeld accountable.

[nate33]

“I’ll address that any day. I ain’t no bad person. I ain’t never been no bad person in the locker room. All this stuff is just lies to try to justify why I was traded, or why I left the team. But anybody who knows me, who’s been around me, on and off the court, I ain’t never been no a–hole, I ain’t never been no mean person. I would never try to destroy a team, but that’s a narrative that they always tried to say to me because they couldn’t say nothing else. At one point they were saying I was a great teammate, that I smiled too much on the court. But I smiled my happy a– all the way to the Finals.”

The crack about making it to the Finals reminds me a bit of Wall and Beal. Wall and Beal constantly proclaim themselves the best backcourt in the league but never seem to manage better than 5th place in the woeful Eastern Conference. Howard really does believe he is one of the very best centers in the league who can carry his team to the Finals, despite multiple seasons proving otherwise. Yes, he made the Finals 8 freaking years ago, but looking at his recent performances, his teams have won 36, 43 and 41 games. Howard needs to own that.

All that said, I don't think that Howard is a jerk or a bad guy. But he (like Wall and Beal) needs to recognize that he hasn't been nearly as good as he thinks he is and he better start listening to his coaches, playing hard every night, and doing things the right way if he wants to win some games. Confidence is good. Delusion is bad.

Unfortunately, I'm not convinced that Scott Brooks will push the right buttons. Brooks is a pretty good player development coach and knows how to build confidence in a young player. But the problem with this team isn't lack of confidence it's too much confidence. Somebody needs to tell them that it's time to back up their constant boasting about how good they are. I don't think Brooks is the guy who will do that.

Just once, I'd like to hear Wall, Beal or Howard say something like: "the bottom line is that we weren't very good last year and I was a big part of the problem. I've got to change how I approach the game, become more consistent, more focused on defense, more focused on sharing the ball and making the right play. It's not about my personal success, it's about winning games." As it stands right now, I think that Wall and Beal truly believe that the problems with the team rest squarely on the shoulders of their teammates and not themselves.

[keynote]

"chocolate shoulders"? That guy is so corny.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

"chocolate shoulders"? That guy is so corny.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

Early candidate for least favorite Wizard

Sent from my LG-TP260 using RealGM mobile app

[payitforward]

He is just so misunderstood... it's tragic, really. & who better than I to understand & sympathize with him? For I, sadly, like Dwight, am misunderstood by those around me here, in this basketball (posting) place.

So, Dwight, my young brother, do not fret. I know it's not your fault. What's more...

I've got your chocolate back!!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

He is just so misunderstood... it's tragic, really. & who better than I to understand & sympathize with him? For I, sadly, like Dwight, am misunderstood by those around me here, in this basketball (posting) place.

So, Dwight, my young brother, do not fret. I know it's not your fault. What's more...

I've got your chocolate back!!

Year after year PIF, I’ve been throwing you lobbed, simple questions. All you’ve needed to do was to go along, write simply and clearly and throw down the obvious responses.

But no, you keep backing down “opponents,” insisting on a more muscular approach to scoring rhetorical points.

[Earth2Ted]

"chocolate shoulders"? That guy is so corny.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

Well that’s it- they’re gonna have to change Dwight bobble head night into Dwight chocolate night.

I guess whatever mold they were gonna use to manufacture him out of plastic, they can pour milk chocolate into it instead.

[dckingsfan]

CHOCOLATE BOBBLE HEADS ARE HERE!!

MIGHT GET ME BACK TO A GAME!!!

[prime1time]

So what's the issue with all of the negative rumors? Does it just come down to the fact that teams want him to play like Clint Cappella on offense and he wants post touches?

[Halcyon]

So what's the issue with all of the negative rumors? Does it just come down to the fact that teams want him to play like Clint Cappella on offense and he wants post touches?

“The locker room hated Dwight Howard,” said Haywood. “I’m not sure if Charlotte is rebuilding or if they’re just trying to get Dwight Howard out of there, but it was clear the locker room did not like Dwight Howard.

“It’s simply because of how he goes about his business day-to-day in that locker room,” Haywood added. “Now he’s not the guy going around slapping people in the face. But [he’s] hard to deal with, doesn’t accept responsibility, cries a lot, has bad tendencies, awful body language. So all these things contributed to why he was shipped out of Charlotte … People I talked to behind the scenes, guys were just sick and tired of his act.”

Also: https://www.theringer.com/2017/4/20/16045158/2017-nba-playoffs-dwight-howard-atlanta-hawks-1fab4ecca027
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/12/2/7318783/dwight-howard-hate-houston-rockets
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Dwight-Howard-so-disliked-in-NBA-locker-rooms

[payitforward]

He is just so misunderstood... it's tragic, really. & who better than I to understand & sympathize with him? For I, sadly, like Dwight, am misunderstood by those around me here, in this basketball (posting) place.

So, Dwight, my young brother, do not fret. I know it's not your fault. What's more...

I've got your chocolate back!!

Year after year PIF, I’ve been throwing you lobbed, simple questions. All you’ve needed to do was to go along, write simply and clearly and throw down the obvious responses.

But no, you keep backing down “opponents,” insisting on a more muscular approach to scoring rhetorical points.

I know I know -- & how often it is that I try to reform into true gentleness. How often I tell myself to go easy on my collection of compromised compadres who cannot help themselves if they don't understand the simple numbers to which a truly advanced intellect is able to reduce the already simple game of basketball

Spoiler:

with the help of an appropriate selection of illegal but readily available substances,

Yet, for some reason -- & despite the ministrations of innumerable psychotherapists & the memories of not innumerable but nonetheless numerous female friends (amigas, or even petites amies, one might call them: & one did) -- this simple task has proved to be beyond my concerted efforts.

For that reason, & for other reasons as well, but mostly for no reason at all, I bobble your lobs, your passes end up as alases, your every assist turns into my next miss.

& so, instead of being a super-max poster, I have declined to the sadly marginal status of a "muttering vitamin" contract.

If things continue in this vein, I may be forced to take a coaching job!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

He is just so misunderstood... it's tragic, really. & who better than I to understand & sympathize with him? For I, sadly, like Dwight, am misunderstood by those around me here, in this basketball (posting) place.

So, Dwight, my young brother, do not fret. I know it's not your fault. What's more...

I've got your chocolate back!!

Year after year PIF, I’ve been throwing you lobbed, simple questions. All you’ve needed to do was to go along, write simply and clearly and throw down the obvious responses.

But no, you keep backing down “opponents,” insisting on a more muscular approach to scoring rhetorical points.

I know I know -- & how often it is that I try to reform into true gentleness. How often I tell myself to go easy on my collection of compromised compadres who cannot help themselves if they don't understand the simple numbers to which a truly advanced intellect is able to reduce the already simple game of basketball

Spoiler:

with the help of an appropriate selection of illegal but readily available substances,

Yet, for some reason -- & despite the ministrations of innumerable psychotherapists & the memories of not innumerable but nonetheless numerous female friends (amigas, or even petites amies, one might call them: & one did) -- this simple task has proved to be beyond my concerted efforts.

For that reason, & for other reasons as well, but mostly for no reason at all, I bobble your lobs, your passes end up as alases, your every assist turns into my next miss.

& so, instead of being a super-max poster, I have declined to the sadly marginal status of a "muttering vitamin" contract.

If things continue in this vein, I may be forced to take a coaching job!

Lol.

You could be Dwight’s humility coach.

[AFM]

LOL at all the beta males crying over how big Dwight's shoulders are. All I hear is "I'm intimidated by big black beautiful men".

[ozthegap]

LOL at all the beta males crying over how big Dwight's shoulders are. All I hear is "I'm intimidated by big black beautiful men".

Man im so tired of this alpha male beta male crap. especially when the people calling themselves alpha males are from themselves usually are unemployed, cant take care of their marriages, kids, or hell can't even pay for their own damn gas. Forget about Alpha male, you can't take care of your obligations you aren't a man.

[AFM]

lol

[payitforward]

...If things continue in this vein, I may be forced to take a coaching job!

You could be Dwight’s humility coach.

Wow...! Thank you -- that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!

[Ruzious]

...If things continue in this vein, I may be forced to take a coaching job!

You could be Dwight’s humility coach.

Wow...! Thank you -- that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!

When you get the job, please explain to him why saying "I ain't no bad person. I ain't never been no bad person." can be counterproductive.

[nate33]

The crack about making it to the Finals reminds me a bit of Wall and Beal. Wall and Beal constantly proclaim themselves the best backcourt in the league but never seem to manage better than 5th place in the woeful Eastern Conference. Howard really does believe he is one of the very best centers in the league who can carry his team to the Finals, despite multiple seasons proving otherwise. Yes, he made the Finals 8 freaking years ago, but looking at his recent performances, his teams have won 36, 43 and 41 games. Howard needs to own that.

Does Wall read RealGM?

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