What if Dwight Howard was a Raptor?

Today is when, supposedly, Dwight Howard will finally decide where he’s going to play Basketball next season. One NBA franchise not in the midst of the Dwightmare is Toronto’s own Raptors. Al Dannity says that’s unfortunate as it might have been the perfect fit.

Let’s get a few things out there straight away. First off, I openly acknowledge that Dwight Howard won’t be a Raptor. Toronto is not a destination city for free agents and it won’t be until three things happen: (1) The Raptors are consistently good for a few seasons, (2) NBA players realise it’s actually a good place to live, and (3) The Raptors show some sense in managing their salary. Dwight Howard will not have thought about Toronto. Well that’s not entirely true, I’m sure he thought about it as a place where he might have fun. Dwight’s thought about every NBA city this way. The problem for D12 is that he needs to stop worrying about his image. The best way to fix public perceptions is to take care of business on the court.

The Indecision is not the most discussed part of the on-going Dwightmare. It’s not even the ugliest. That would be when he put his arm around Stan Van Gundy moments after SVG told reporters that Dwight wanted him fired. It is however the most important. Dwight Howard, for the first time in a long time, has to make a commitment about where he wants to play Basketball. Money and salary cap situations limit his options but there isn’t a team in the NBA that wouldn’t add Dwight if they feasibly could. Yes, that includes Orlando.

So let’s go into the land of make-believe for a second. Imagine the Raps have the cap room and figure out a role for Jonas Valanciunas with Howard at centre. Now all we need to do is work out how D12 overcomes the first two clauses I cited earlier. Well with reason (1) it’s easy enough. Howard would be the star and have enough of a supporting case to be a contender. He wouldn’t need to be going on to a team already playoff-hardened. That leaves (2), why would Howard want to live in Toronto?

For starters, it’s not small and Dwight would be the star. Yet at the same time he wouldn’t be the star in a hard-core NBA town. The Raps fall down the list behind the Leafs and Leaf-haters in terms of hard-core support. Howard would be able to have fun without being under a microscope. The coach clashes wouldn’t be an issue. Dwayne Casey doesn’t have the pull of SVG. It’s not that Howard could bully his coach; it’s that his immense ego wouldn’t feel the need to do so. This makes far too much sense. Howard could live his fun-time life while actually being in a situation where he would want to focus on his game. Pity the salary cap won’t allow it. The mid-level exemption probably wouldn’t lure him north.