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Dwight Howard has it all. Height, speed, athletic prowess and a freshly penned four-year, $88 million contract.
He has polarised opinions throughout his career, often looking like Bill Russell defensively but just as often going missing offensively down the stretch.
So what do we make of the man they call D-12? Is he a superstar, or just a really good player who has been unable to take his chance on the biggest stage?
Does he crave winning in the way that Michael did, or Kobe does?
Howard jumped from high school straight into the NBA in 2004-05 and averaged a double-double out of the blocks for an Orlando team reeling during a lean spell.
He improved those numbers in his second year as the Magic quickly became relevant again behind this 20-year-old sensation that was controlling games defensively.
Howard’s popularity continued to grow in 2007-08 as he was named to the All-Star game as the Eastern Conference starting centre and donned the Superman cape as he stole the show at the dunk contest, reviving an event flagging in interest.
As well as being a fan favourite, he was thriving on the court averaging 20 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks a game.
2008-09 was a watershed season and arguably the high point of Howard’s career as he recorded his first ever triple double, led the Magic to the Southeast Division title and won the Defensive Player of the Year award.
In the playoffs, Howard then led the Magic to the NBA Finals by disposing of Philadelphia, Boston and then league-MVP LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Surrounding Howard with Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson was a recipe for success and despite falling the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, the future seemed bright in Central Florida.
And at the front of the charge towards NBA glory was Howard, who at this time was widely recognised as the second best player in the league behind James.
But as quickly as success came, it was downhill from there for Howard.
Despite leading the NBA in blocks and rebounds for the second consecutive year in 2009-10, becoming the first person to do that twice in a row, the Magic lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals.
2010-11 saw a first round loss to the Atlanta Hawks and in 2011-12, while his on-court performance remained of a high standard, off court Howard was becoming a distraction.
He vocally sought a trade as he believed the Magic weren’t committed to building a franchise to support him. This behaviour could have been construed as selfish, and was a sign of things to come for Howard.
In August 2012, Howard was traded to the bright lights of Hollywood and joined living legend Kobe Bryant at the Lakers.
Sections of the NBA world saw this as a match made in heaven, as two of the NBA’s brightest stars would take the Lakers back to the Promised Land with the help of All-Stars Paul Gasol and Steve Nash.
Howard took his time preparing his back for the 2012-13 season after having a herniated disc the year before, and during this time he hurt his shoulder too.
When he finally took the court, he was criticised for his laid-back attitude and an apparent lack of passion, with Bryant taking him to task on and off-court and his terrible free-throw shooting often rendering him ineffective late in games.
Howard was accused of displaying immaturity as he tended to speak without thinking, and showed a lack of leadership as the Lakers looked to him for direction after Bryant tore his Achilles late in the season.
History will tell that he failed dismally and a season to forget ended in a first round sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, with Howard being ejected late in the fourth quarter of what was to be his last game in Laker purple in Game 4.
On July 5, 2013 Howard signed with the Houston Rockets; whether or not tears were shed in California is up for debate.
All NBA fans sit by waiting impatiently for the next chapter to play out and all eyes are on Howard.
When defining a superstar in the NBA, there are many things critics take into account – leadership, crunch time performance, consistency and the will to win.
While Howard has been statistically consistent, he has been far from a leader for the majority of his career and is very limited offensively.
While dominating at the rim, he has never developed a reliable mid-range game and his free-throw woes are well documented as he sits well below 60% as a career percentage.
This has rendered him ineffective in crunch time, and that cannot be overlooked.
But above all that, Howard has never embraced the big moment or sought to be the main man when the game was on the line.
The top tier of NBA superstars love the big moments, and want to be the centre of attention on court – in Dwight’s case, he has been the Walking Headline but for all the wrong reasons.
A quick look at Orlando gives an insight into life post-Howard. It was believed that losing Howard would cripple the Magic, but the franchise is shaping as being a better place post-Dwight around as it builds around young talent acquired via trade in Arron Afflalo, Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris and Mo Harkless.
As for the Lakers, history says they will recover and forget the Howard debacle, as they did not allow themselves to be dictated to by a player who clearly didn’t fit the role of face of the franchise.
Dwight Howard is not a winner, nor a player who defines a generation.
And he is definitely not an NBA superstar.
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