Dwight Howard Should Never Be Labeled Soft Again

From the minute Dwight Howard limped to the bench in Game 1 of the Houston Rockets Western Conference Finals vs. the Golden State Warriors, people wanted to know how long he’d be out. They saw the ice and the wraps, they saw that familiar grimace and they assumed the worst. That was all expected — the ugly part arose when Dwight was listed as a game-time decision for Game 2.

Take a look at Howard spraining his knee, which luckily resulted in no structural damage.

Once that MRI came back negative, the speculation began. When I tried to search Twitter for “Dwight Howard” tweets, it was no surprise that the next two terms that came back were “Dwight Howard Status Game 2” and “Dwight Howard Soft.”

It’s amazing. After putting up a gutty 19-point, 17-rebound performance in a 99-98 Game 2 loss (in which he played 40 minutes), the hot take cannons were still firing on all cylinders, with people claiming Howard should have been more aggressive.

Ignore the fact that he held the Warriors to just 40 percent (4-for-10) when he was defending the rim. Ignore the fact that he made 72.7 percent of his 11 field goal attempts. Apparently if you don’t take 30 shots per game and you’re a center, you must be soft.

It’s asinine. It’s disgusting. We should be celebrating the fact that Howard sprained his knee and was able to go out and put up the performance he did. He’s averaging 16.6 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.4 steals per game during this playoff run. Let’s look at the list of players to do that, with a minimum of 14 games played:

• Tim Duncan 2002-03
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1973-74
• Shaquille O’Neal 1999-00, 2000-01
• Kevin Garnett 2003-04
• Bill Walton 1976-77
• Elvin Hayes 1978-79
• Dwight Howard 2008-09, 2014-15

Yeah, so he’s soft as Charmin yet he’s favorably compared to three current Hall of Famers and three certain first ballot Hall of Famers. Among the players listed here, Howard’s 2014-15 represents the most steals per game in any of these seasons, with 1.35.

So to recap — Howard sprained his knee less than 48 hours previous and suited up and played a very solid 40 minutes to continue a historically good postseason run, only to have the haters continue to throw shade at him.

Let’s be honest, though. Dwight couldn’t give two sh*ts about what the fans think about his trials and tribulations. Remember this photo that came out when there was a reported feud between Kobe Bryant and Howard?

Matt Moore of CBS Sports reported that even Rockets coach Kevin McHale jumped on the “throw Dwight under the bus” bandwagon, with this quote:

"“You have to have some part of you that feels you can contribute no matter what shape you’re in.”"

This is the coach that lumbers back and forth on the court as if he’s got two legs and a hip that’s been completely ravaged by years of abuse — oh wait — that’s exactly the case. In fact, McHale made Complex Sports list of NBA careers ruined by injury, because of McHale’s refusal to sit despite a broken navicular bone in his foot — which ended his top playing days much too soon.

A large part of the attack on Dwight’s toughness comes from Shaquille O’Neal, who has loved to throw barbs at Howard throughout the years. There’s no confusion over how O’Neal feels about playing through pain. In a conversation on TNT about Derrick Rose (after his comments about sitting out to protect his future), Shaq agreed with Charles Barkley and made a comment about playing through pain:

"“I don’t know about that (Rose’s commitment to the Bulls), but I was taught that if you can walk, you can play. Imagine this: Kevin McHale, you see how he walks? Phil Jackson, you see how he walks? You see how Chuck walks? You see how I walk? But guess what? It was worth it.So when you make comments like that, sort of makes you look soft.”"

If doctors told me I’d never be able to live a normal life if I kept typing — and I still kept typing — people would call me an idiot. I wouldn’t be celebrated like some kind of gladiator, I’d be the target of all sorts of vitriol because I was the fool who decided my current profession was more important than my ability to hold my children without pain.

So why does Howard get so much flak? Is it because he’s been banged up in recent years? Have we forgotten that Dwight appeared in 567 of 574 (98.7 percent) of games in his first seven regular seasons? Should we forget that during that seven-year run that only Andre Miller — 2000’s ironman and player of 632 consecutive games — is the only player to have appeared in more games (four more)?

How about the fact that since Dwight has come into the league (2004-05), only 13 players have appeared in more games and only four (LeBron James, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan) have played more regular season minutes than Howard’s 28,812.

This is a man who gives his all on and off the court. In addition to the beatings on the court that would force most of us into a catatonic state at home, Dwight finds time to make change in the world, as the face of the Breathe Again campaign, with a mission statement “to promote total awareness of our environment in order to move forward in true resolution as a society.”

In Howard’s letter to those who support Breathe Again, he finishes with a powerful message that shows the kind of perspective that Howard has:

"The four tenants of Breathe Again are to inspire, motivate, educate and spread love. We want you to share your stories on our website. We want individuals to use our forum to ask for assistance and offer assistance to others. We will team up with leaders in education to bring access to educational materials from some of the best minds in our country. These are not hand-outs, they are hand-ups.In conclusion, I understand that we all have different challenges and that we all see the world through the lenses of our own experiences. It is important to understand that others have their own struggles and that you are not alone. When you are frustrated, instead of allowing yourself to turn to violence or despair; stop, take a breath and BREATHE AGAIN."

Dwight is a man that should be celebrated at this point. Instead, we get machismo spat in our face from journalists like this (and he happens to be the president of the Professional Football Writers of America):

Really nice message there. I guess DeMarre Carroll should’ve rubbed some dirt on his knee and got back in the game. It’s that kind of attitude that causes guys to be in rehab more than they’re at home with their children.

Howard went through the rigors — played through the pain — and still got hammered by people calling him soft. Want to attack his style of play and point out that he’s not the offensive juggernaut that O’Neal was in his day? Fine. But that’s not being soft — that’s just being a notch below the most dominant center to ever play.

Next: The 30 Best Centers of All-Time

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