SH Blog: Howard hated being only player people knew from Orlando, says no one cared about Magic

Whenever Dwight Howard talks to the media these days,  something seems to go wrong. This has been especially true when the topic is about the Orlando Magic.

The Los Angeles Lakers center raised plenty of eyebrows last week after bringing up how he led a group of guys no one wanted in Orlando. Howard, of course, backtracked from the comments, stating he was misunderstood and that it was blown out of proportion. Truth be told, there really wasn’t a whole lot to misunderstand. “Guys no one else wanted” does not translate to “underdogs”.  It’s that simple. Nevertheless, here is a clarification of what he meant to say, from Sam Amick of USA Today:

“My whole thing that I wanted to get out about the situation … was just the fact that we were underdogs,” he said. “We were underrated. We were the team that nobody cared about. The only people who supported us were the people in Orlando. Nobody cared if we won or lost, and I hated that. I hated the fact that we hardly had any TV games. I hated the fact that we weren’t known. I hated it to the point where I was (upset) that I was the only player that people knew from Orlando.”

Huh?

So to sum up that quote, Howard really craved for the attention of folks who either didn’t live in Orlando or closely follow the game of basketball? Where is this idea of “I was the only player that people knew from Orlando” coming from? Everyone knew who Rashard Lewis was.  The man was getting paid more than Howard himself! No one may have considered them stars by any means – and they weren’t – but is there really anyone that couldn’t identify Jameer Nelson or Hedo Turkoglu? Sure, if you asked some old lady at a grocery store who doesn’t follow a lick of basketball.

More importantly, it’s disappointing to hear Howard say “no one cared whether Orlando won or lost except for Orlando” like that’s a bad thing.  The support of his home team should be the most important, but he was clearly never satisfied by it. Is this his idea of “apologizing” to the city? And yes, he did apologize to the city of Orlando and its fans:

“In Orlando, I handled a lot of stuff the wrong way,” he said, sitting at his kitchen table. “If any of those people in Orlando are upset with how I did it, I apologize for the way I handled it and the way it was handled in the media. “I really just got caught up in wanting to please everybody else. I really love that city. That was the hardest thing to do was to leave that city because I basically grew up there. That was my whole life. Orlando was it. I did not want to leave all that behind — the city, just everything about it. The fans. But I wanted a change for my life. I just felt like there was something else out there for me.”

It’s ironic to hear him say that he loved the city and the fans, when clearly, everything outside of it meant so much more. At the end of the day, Howard wanted to taste the glory of being in a big market, which is exactly where he is now in Los Angeles. The man got what he wanted, and that’s perfectly fine. He just can’t have it both ways, though, and needs to end this talk of complete contradiction. We all know Howard’s desire to be liked by everyone, and maybe he believes saying some of these things will ease the minds of the people in Orlando. If that’s the case, he’s in for a very rude awakening when the Lakers visit the Magic on Tuesday night.

Maybe that’s just what he needs for closure, so that maybe he can finally stop talking about his time in Orlando like he was the victim.

Onto other news from around the league: