I had the chance to catch up with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard at the Atlanta airport the other day. He was on his way back to Orlando after suprising his Mom on Mother’s Day. No one in his family knew about the planned trip and he suprised her in Church just before the word got out. If there’s one phrase to describe that it would have to be, a parents’ dream kid.

We went on to talk about his pick as the number one player in the NBA draft straight out of high school a few years ago. The first time that ever happened. I still remember how humble he was during our recruiting show that year expressing his desire to play in the NBA and not expecting to be the top overall pick. To think that was three years ago and he’s now a veteran in the NBA and just signed a five year extension and he’s only twenty one years old.

Speaking of age, I brought up the Javaris Crittenton situation (Javaris was the point guard for Dwight in high school at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy) and now the possiblity that Javaris could come out after one year at Georgia Tech. Dwight told me they speak a lot but he never tells Javaris what to do and vice versa. They respect each other’s decisions on basketball and Dwight knows Javaris will make the right decision for him and his family.

After a few wide eyed fans walked by in the terminal, (hey Dwight Howard they motioned) I asked him about his favorite sport other than basketball; Boxing: yea I thought Floyd Mayweather Jr would win that fight against Oscar De la Hoya.” he told me. Mayweather was too strong and he was undefeated, Dwight said.” Shows you what I know I told him, I picked De La Hoya to win it.”

He was a bit irritated the Magic were swept by the Pistons in the playoffs this year and felt the team could have done better. Chauncey Billups was tough and their whole team was strong.” He was curious to see if the Bulls would end being swept by the Pistons in the seocnd round of the playoffs.

I asked about his game and how he used to work with assistant Coach Clifford Ray when he first got to Orlando. He told me Coach Ray was an incredible interior coach and taught him a lot abou positioning inside and how they used to shoot 500 hook shots with the left hand and 500 hook shots with the right hand. He credit Coach Clifford Ray (now an asssitant coach with the Celtics) with helping him maintain his inside fundamentals at the pro level. You know Al Jefferson the celtics forward?” Dwight asked, I said yea we had him on our recruiting show.” Dwight said coach ray has really been working with Al and has helped his game a lot.”

Dwight knows all about help. He helped his Mom with one huge suprise on mothers’ day and he’ll be helping kids from all over the State of Georgia when he returns to the Atlanta metroplitan area in July for his camp for kids. And to thinbk some people would say HE’S just a kid at age 21. far from it.” mature beyond his years. Thanks for the time Dwight, you’re a star in more ways than one!

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One Response to “Chillin’ With Dwight”

1. Dwight Says:
   April 29th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

   DWIGHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT….U hugged him didnt u

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