Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Dwight Howard: Flip-flopper, or selfless nice guy?

Ah yes, the ongoing Dwight Howard saga. Even way off in Mars, the story has grown rather wearisome. So, I will dispense with the usual recap and get down to usual uniquely-skewed Martian viewpoint.

What if just about every one of you critical of Dwight for repeatedly changing his mind have it completely wrong? Let's see, run both of these scenarios through your thinking cap and see which one makes the most sense:

Scenario 1: Dwight Howard, the affable lovable smiling character we've known, is torn between feelings of loyalty for the NBA city that's cheered him from day one, and a desire to start anew on a new team. He doesn't want to leave Orlando high and dry (like a certain other franchise center did over a decade prior), so he requests a trade, allowing the team to get value upon his departure. The trade deadline comes, but the team, unhappy with the offers that've come their way, doesn't pull the trigger on any deals. So, again, rather than leave the team for nothing, Dwight signs an extension, giving the team one more trade cycle -- the summer of 2012 -- to make a deal for him.

Scenario 2: Dwight, the uber-selfish Orlando hater we've all come to know, can't wait to leave the team and city, so he demands a trade. The trade deadline comes and goes, but the team is either unable or unwilling to find a deal for him. Dwight, by some random act of coincidental timing, suddenly rediscovers his love for all things central Florida, and decides to stick it out for another year, and signs an extension. Then, two months later, he again morphs back into Bizzaro-Superman, decides that he's fed up with everything from Mickey Mouse to the inability to pay state taxes, reverses course yet again and demands a trade.

Hmm.

Everyone is so incredulous that someone could (supposedly) change their mind repeatedly in such a short period of time. Well humans, is it not possible, that perhaps, just perhaps, it sounds utterly ridiculous because...it never happened? Is it not at all possible that Dwight's biggest flaw is simply trying to please everyone? For being too self*less*? That for example the alleged 'blackmail' comment was in reference to a reneged promise to trade him as quickly as possible for a reasonable offer to (one of) his choice destinations?

Just something to chew on, if you ever get tired of masticating on his name that is.

- Disclaimer: nothing of the above is a hard-set opinion on past events. Just something to make us all think: does what I believe even make a bit of sense?