When Dwight Howard made the decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers and sign with the Houston Rockets as a free agent last summer, he was bucking the same league-wide trend that he had followed not long before.
The power play he pulled on the Orlando Magic to get to the Los Angeles Lakers in Aug. 2012 was classic NBA star stuff, not all that different from the way players like the Brooklyn Nets' Deron Williams and the New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony went from smaller markets in Denver and Utah, respectively, to bigger ones.
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But Howard's follow-up chapter – the one where he left approximately $30 million in extra earnings behind in order to pursue rings and happiness in Houston – was an entirely new twist. The question now, of course, is whether he blazed a trail that Anthony and others like him will take in the future.
As Anthony ponders the merits of leaving the woeful Knicks (21-36) and all their dysfunctional ways behind in free agency this summer, there's no better blueprint to consider following than the one drafted by Howard.
The 10-year veteran made a basketball decision that has benefitted his personal business last summer, signing a four-year maximum contract deal with the Rockets that was the longest permitted by league rules rather than the five-year deal that was both allowed and offered by the Lakers.
Seven months later, the Rockets entered Tuesday with a 38-18 record that is an eight-game improvement from this point last season and good for third place in the loaded Western Conference.
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Howard, whose image has taken such a beating in these past few seasons, finds himself receiving well-deserved praise for his part in the Rockets' successes while wondering if this may not be the way Anthony ultimately decides to go.
In an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday, Howard said he has discussed this fascinating dynamic privately with Anthony on several occasions. While he doesn't yet know what Anthony will do, his view of what's important in this process has clearly not changed: focus on the winning, and the rest will follow suit.
"He has been in the league for a long time," Howard said about Anthony. "He hasn't made it to the Finals and at this point in his career he wants to win. You can see it every night when he plays. I know he has to take a lot of shots and all that stuff, but he just wants to win.
"I can't say (what he'll do). That's on him. He's got to decide. (But) he can't be what everybody else wants. In this situation, you've got to take your heart out of it…So I'd just say for him, take his heart out of it and think with his head and think about business."
And therein lies the part that should make Knicks fans nervous. While conventional wisdom says that being in the Big Apple is always better for a player's brand, Howard's experience offers evidence to the contrary.
"If you don't win, you're not going to get all the (off-court) stuff you want anyway," Howard said. "I saw that last year (in Los Angeles). I was in the biggest market for the NBA, and we lost, so those (companies) aren't going to be coming to you for losing.
"When I was in Orlando, a small market, and we were winning. I was very popular with a lot of different deals on the table. So it's moreso about winning, and you've got to put yourself in a position to where you're winning basketball games and you're having fun doing it. Losing is not fun, and Melo wants to win."
it actually looked like the Thunder out there on offense
at the complete indifference on defense by everyone not named Serge though
