He's no longer the best player—and, as was often the case with the Magic, one of the only good players—on his team. He's not his team's one and only saving grace. He's not the leader.
Now, Dwight Howard is a cog in the L.A. Lakers machine. An incredibly significant cog, but a cog nonetheless. He is no more significant, however, than the guys surrounding him on the court. He's part of a team, and it's time to start playing like it—and talking like it.
The Lakers are in the midst of a stretch in which they've lost four of five. Their defense has been exposed. They're 9-12, 5.5 games behind the Pacific-leading Los Angeles Clippers. Despite the fact that no team should be judged on the way it plays the first couple months of the season, the Lakers have enough problems to worry about as it stands.
They don't need to be worrying about Howard's attitude, on top of it all.
Last week, during a shootaround, Steve Nash attempted to give Howard some free-throw shooting advice, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com's Dave McMenamin. Nash, after all, shoots a league-leading 90.4 percent from the line, while Howard shoots a paltry 46.9 percent. You would think that advice from a teammate who clearly excels in the area would be welcome.
But you would be wrong.
According to McMenamin, Howard said this of the exchange:
Listen, he was just suggesting some things, but it's not something that we've already talked about or anybody else has suggested. My mind cannot get clouded with everybody telling me how to shoot a free throw. I just have to go up there and shoot it my way and not get caught up in what everybody else is saying, because that's when I miss.
In some ways, Howard's thoughts seem legitimate. In most ways, though, he just sounds frustrated and defensive. And his teammate was just tryi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
