
- #Who did dwight howard play for last year full
- #Who did dwight howard play for last year professional
In the end the best response to Brandon Knight's YouTube infamy and Twitter demise came from Knight himself. Mike Prada of SB Nation made a convincing case that Knight did not, in fact, make the right play. Deadspin, as you might imagine, was solidly in the pro-ridicule camp. Then, of course, there was the backlash to the backlash. Maybe Knight wasn't making the smartest play, but it's hard to fault a guy for being willing to risk public humiliation trying to stop the opponent from scoring. As many pointed out, most notably Yahoo! Sports analyst Adrian Wojnarowski, Brandon Knight's sin was doing his job on the defensive end. Indeed, Knight's fall to the floor after his entirely futile attempt to stop Jordan does indeed somewhat resemble a particularly hammy extra dropping dead in an action movie.īecause this is the age of the internet, the jokes at Knight's expense jump-started an immediate backlash. On Twitter the hashtag #RIPBrandonKnight started trending. On Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Detroit Pistons guard attempted, and failed, to contest DeAndre Jordan's Dunk of the Year.Īs sometimes happens when a player gets posterized, Knight became the punchline of the night. We are no longer accepting nominations for Dunk of the Yearīrandon Knight's Sunday was so lousy that he sprained his ankle the next day and it was still a major improvement. A few more of those games could go a long way. On Tuesday night, with all eyes on him, Howard came through with one of his best games in a Lakers uniform, scoring 39 points and 16 rebounds in a 106-97 win over his old team. If Howard is truly concerned with how the public sees him, and by all accounts he very much is, he is going to have to follow LeBron James's example and come through in big games. You can't take all the credit and not accept any of the blame."Īt this point there's nothing really Howard can say or do off the court that will rehabilitate his image. That would be the most negative thing I can say, but that's the truth. "I would be more surprised when Dwight starts taking responsibility. Redick, the Magic shooting guard who was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the rebuilding process, was, if anything, even more blunt:
#Who did dwight howard play for last year professional
Jameer Nelson was quoted in the Orlando Sentinel as saying "when are you going to take ownership and stay out of the media in a professional manner?" (Note: This line about staying out of the media may have more sting if Nelson wasn't, well, speaking to the media.) J.J. There may be no more telling fact about how Howard is perceived by his fellow players than how quickly and bluntly Howard's former teammates responded.
#Who did dwight howard play for last year full
"My team in Orlando was a team full of people who nobody wanted, and I was the leader and I led that team with a smile on my face". This "homecoming" would have been contentious no matter what, but Howard, who has an almost uncanny ability to make bad situations even worse, didn't help things with this comment:

The Lakers, despite being stacked with Hall of Famers, are trying to sneak into the playoffs as the number eight seed while the Howard-less Magic have been forced into an indefinite rebuilding phase. Both franchises have been struggling since the trade. Tuesday night, Howard returned to Orlando for the first time as a member of the Lakers.

The way Howard left Orlando tarnished his public image, earning him labels such as "difficult" and "coach-killer", a reputation that has only gotten worse during his brief time with the struggling Lakers. The Orlando Magic, eventually tired of this behavior, finally traded Howard to the Lakers over the summer, but not before they fired the team's head coach and GM in one last attempt to placate Howard. Once the Magic's franchise player, Howard wore out his welcome in Orlando by demanding to be traded at times and making public gestures hinting he was willing to stay at other times. There was no official announcement or ceremony, but over the past year Lakers center Dwight Howard has done everything in his power to earn that dubious honor.

When LeBron James finally won his first championship last year, it seemed to mark the end of his reign as the Most Hated Superstar in the NBA.
