ESPN Page 2 article on Dwight Howard

[Wolverine]

Eric Neel has written a Page 2 article marveling at the potential greatness that is my biz-oy Dwight "Double D" Howard (as in double-double).

And he's right ... if anyone can take over and dominate this league in the respect Tim Duncan does, it's not Wade or LeBron or Carmelo ... it's Dwight.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/061226&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

[Reality]

yeah all the talk of Greg Oden being the next Tim Duncan and he has already arrived in the form of Dwight Howard.

I hope Orlando already has a replacement in mind for China Doll Grant Hill.
Poor multimillionaire just cant seem to make it thru a season.

[Skandery]

Poor multimillionaire just cant seem to make it thru a season.

I'm not one to defend the rich and privelaged on a regular basis but this was completely classless, Reality.

Grant Hill is one of the genuinely good people in all of professional sports.  I think he showed resilience and character to still be putting his body through the grind of an NBA season after all the complications and problems he's been through.  His contract is guaranteed and there is no reason in the world why he couldn't have said, "well guys, enough's enough, it didn't work, see ya later bye" like 4 years, ago.  You act like the borderline criminal negligence of Orlando's "medical" team that let the surgery get infected in the first place was Grant's fault.  He got the hernia last year while over-compensating for his bad ankles because he had the desire to  compete and honor his contract, and there is talk this year of the wear and tear he's putting on his hip and knees because he continues to overcompensate to this day.  Knowing he almost has to to be able to give his team the production it expected from a max dollar player.  Reality, get some facts straight before you go painting everybody with the same brush stroke.   

[Reality]

What are the facts on his ankle before he came to Orlando?
I thought everyone went into the Orlando surgery with eyes wide open and it was Hill who pushed it.
Could and did Grant spend any of his multimillions to do some independant medical research before the surgery?
You're right, I'm not shedding tears for someone who had 40 million bucks in his pocket and needed ankle surgery for possible NBA continuance.  BooHoo.
Tell that to the Iraqi kid who caught shrapnel and needs surgery because he now has one ankle.

Hill, like Allan Houston, Zo Mourning and others could step aside and let their teams build a winner.
After they had already sucked down 40+ million.  Or was it 60 70 80?
And I'm all for the players, not the owners.  Not in situations where they already got multimillions.
The "classy" move by Hill would have been to step down, allow his salary to be used on better/other/perhaps younger players and thank Detroit and Orlando for the tens of millions.

[westkoast]

Poor multimillionaire just cant seem to make it thru a season.

I'm not one to defend the rich and privelaged on a regular basis but this was completely classless, Reality.

Grant Hill is one of the genuinely good people in all of professional sports.  I think he showed resilience and character to still be putting his body through the grind of an NBA season after all the complications and problems he's been through.  His contract is guaranteed and there is no reason in the world why he couldn't have said, "well guys, enough's enough, it didn't work, see ya later bye" like 4 years, ago.  You act like the borderline criminal negligence of Orlando's "medical" team that let the surgery get infected in the first place was Grant's fault.  He got the hernia last year while over-compensating for his bad ankles because he had the desire to  compete and honor his contract, and there is talk this year of the wear and tear he's putting on his hip and knees because he continues to overcompensate to this day.  Knowing he almost has to to be able to give his team the production it expected from a max dollar player.  Reality, get some facts straight before you go painting everybody with the same brush stroke.   

I agree 100% and don't have much to add (since you got it all Skand) except that he doesn't have to even try to play.  His contract is guarenteed even if he sits on the bench.  He has a serious injury that is never going to go away.  Should he just quit and never play again?  Or should he at least make an attempt to earn the money that he would get regardless?  The guy was a hell of a player.  It is actually quite sad that us NBA fans don't get to watch him moreso then Orlando losing money on him!!

Dwight is the truth!  Nice to see a player kind of shoot to the top of the NBA out of nowhere.   Although I do not know if he can dominate quite like Tim Duncan.  IMO Duncan is and was a much better defender.    I don't want to take anything away from Howard considering that he has helped turn the franchise right around but he needs to play this way for MANY MANY seasons to be considered Tim Duncan-like.  Of course if they go deep in the playoffs this year we cannot deny Dwight.