Dwight Howard didn’t have much fun last season. It was obvious. And for Howard if basketball isn’t fun — if he isn’t smiling — he is simply not as good. The energy is not the same. It’s one of the many reasons he and Kobe Bryant didn’t mesh, why Los Angeles and Howard didn’t mesh.
Dwight Howard was introduced in Houston Saturday and looked relaxed and comfortable talked about winning and having fun at the same time.
“I made this decision for me,” Howard said in a press conference streamed online. “I want to be happy. If you can’t be happy when you’re playing, it’s not fun. I want to get back to being that guy who was playing and having fun but at the same time dominating.”
Howard wasn’t dominating last season in Los Angeles, he returned far too soon from back surgery and was a shell of the player from Orlando. That helped lead to a spiral in Los Angeles — the Lakers struggled (due to a coaching change and a rash of other injuries, too, it was more than Howard), which led to more questions to Howard about why he was struggling, which led to him being unhappy, which led to him not having the same energy or playing well, which exacerbated the Lakers struggles… you get the idea.
That smile on Howard’s face, combined with the a level of play that did not make the game easy and fun, frustrated Lakers fans used to Kobe’s scowl and demeanor. In Houston, Howard was unapologetic.
“I do love it, I do love to smile and have fun but I take what I do very seriously…” Howard said. “But you only have one life, so if you’re frowning and you take life too serious you miss out on the good things in life. I’m not going to miss out on those opportunities by always having a frown on my face.”
Rockets coach Kevin McHale was good with that attitude.
“You can do both,” McHale. “Back in college there was a guy from East Lansing named Magic Johnson who was kicking my tail in college, he kicked my tail in the pros too, but he smiled when he was doing it. He was out there and he had fun.”
Magic could do that because he won. And that’s what it comes down to with Howard — if he wins in Houston he gets to write the script.
Howard didn’t handle his adversity well the last two years, in Los Angeles or with the exit from Orlando. Right now it’s all puppy dogs and rainbows in Houston. He and the Rockets are on their honeymoon. But adversity will come and the question is how will he handle it?
With a smile, we can guess that much.