We’ve been down this road before — it’s not really new news that Dwight Howard wanted to go to the Nets, the Magic didn’t really want to send him where he wanted to go, he ended up with the Lakers and now thinks that is what the universe intended all along.
But, he said it on the radio in New York, so it’s news again. Somehow.
Howard was on ESPN Radio in New York with Stephen A. Smith and here are the money quotes, via ESPNNewYork.com.“I did want to go to Brooklyn. That’s a place where I told the Magic that I really wanted to go,” Howard, who was ultimately dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers, told Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco on ESPN New York 98.7 FM. "[But] I was traded to the Lakers, and I think it was a blessing in disguise.
”... I think there’s a reason why everything happened the way it happened. So far it’s been an unbelievable experience for me. ... It’s like a dream come true.”
So, there’s a reason he had a back injury that required surgery?
Howard also talked about how he felt blamed as back-and-forth news dribbled out about the his potential trade to Brooklyn, and how that led to misperceptions of him and what he wanted.
“I think a lot of it was people just felt like I was going back and forth with the whole thing,” Howard said. “But the business side, people don’t understand, when you’re doing business you have to be a shark. You have to demand things. If you don’t, people will run over you, and that was a lesson that I learned.”
The thing is, that’s on you. Your agent admitted to being one of the big leaks in the talks, as he tried to pressure the Nets into making a better offer and the Magic into taking it. Howard’s camp was very noisy. And while that may not have been him directly it was the people around him that hurt his image.
Now, he just needs to keep his head down a little, have fun, play hoops and win. Do that and the public will come back around. They always do for winners.