We need some games soon, because I am weary of talking about Dwight Howard leaving the Lakers.
But not everyone is done talking about it — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was talking about it. Kareem and Howard have never meshed well. Which is putting it kindly. They are civil, but very different people with different views on a lot of things.
Kareem is promoting his new book and went on ESPN’s First Take and said this:
“Dwight is an extraordinary athlete, he has incredible athletic ability, but basketball is a game where the most important muscle you use on the court is the one between your ears. Dwight’s basketball IQ is not up to speed for him to be a dominant player. He has problems at both ends of the court, he doesn’t have a go-to move. I had to prepare Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to play against Dwight in the playoffs in 2009 for the World Championship and it was an easy job, because if you take certain things away from him he doesn’t have an answer for it. So he needs to develop some skills, at both ends of the court, that would enable him to consistently contribute to a winning effort, and he hasn’t done that.”
Speaking to Dave Zangaro of CSNHouston.com, Howard responded on Friday.
“Well you know, I don’t pay any attention to that stuff,” Howard said on Friday just off the floor of the Toyota Center. “I did hear about it but everybody is entitled to their own opinion. When I joined the Lakers, I was the greatest center and then when I left, I was the worst, mentally I wasn’t capable of playing center. I understand that a lot of things are said out of emotion but I would say that if he has anything to say, I’m here in Houston. We can talk man to man. That’s how I feel about it…
“I mean, it’s emotion and the fact that I left the Lakers. It is what it is,” Howard said. “I’m in a great place right now. And there’s no need for me to go back and forth with him. The one thing I would say is that he’s old enough that whatever I do, doesn’t even matter to him.
“I mean, he’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If I’m Kareem, I’m like ‘why?’ Four championships, five championships, whatever (note: six). I’ve been in Airplane, did movies with Bruce Lee. I’m not worried about the young whippersnappers, you know. Just wish him good luck. But people do things different and when I’m done playing I’m going to do whatever I can to help the next generation get better.”
Howard has said he likes working with Hakeem Olajuwon better because Olajuwon’s game was more about quickness than Kareem’s and Howard knows his greatest asset is quickness. There’s something to that, but he also certainly could have learned from Kareem, who was an incredibly fundamentally sound player.
Whatever. Lakers fans hate Howard and they will boo him when the time comes. Howard will say he doesn’t care but he will feel a little stung. And eventually everyone will move on.
Then we can start talking about games. Finally.
