The news that free-agent center and noted fart enthusiast Dwight Howard has booked a meeting with the Celtics presents a massive conundrum for those of us who don’t want to mess with the team’s special chemistry but also recognize the contributions the 30-year-old man child — more like child man, to be precise — could make.
The Celtics have a roster full of likable players and a significant void at center. Howard has a significant void in likability — there’s a reason a player of his stature is headed to his fourth team in six years — but would be a helpful addition to the Celtics’ roster. So do you sacrifice chemistry for talent? Or do you pass on what he could bring because his flaws – on the court and off — aren’t worth the nuisance?
I’m tempted to stick to my stance from a conversation with one of my editors this morning in the immediate aftermath of the news breaking about the Howard/Celtics meeting:
Editor: He does give them something they don’t have right now.
Me: Yeah, a [super-mean synonym for jerk].
The reasons for preferring that Howard’s basketball journey takes him to another city besides this one are fairly obvious if you’ve followed his career. He’s duplicitous, and he’s really bad at it, as Stan Van Gundy can confirm.
He can be pouty and disengaged, and he’s not serious enough in big moments. (I still can’t believe the Magic ended the Celtics’ season in 2009.) He thinks of himself as a primary scoring option and demands the ball in the post, but he doesn’t have any actual post moves to speak of, other than that sort of running, half-hook thingy.
I’d never suggest he’s not a hard worker — no one is born with shoulders as cartoonishly broad as his — but his fundamental basketball skills haven’t improved noticeably in his 12 years in the league. They’ve actually eroded in other areas, and he seems blissfully undaunted by any of that. I guess making roughly $170 million so far in his career is justification enough for the direction he has chosen. But he could have been more.
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