ORLANDO, Fla. — If Patrick Ewing said it once, he said it a half dozen times yesterday.
“If it’s up to me, he’s going nowhere,” Ewing said, referring to the best big man in the NBA, Dwight Howard.
But it won’t be up to Ewing, an assistant coach for the Magic. But the Knicks legendary center has cautioned Howard about what playing in New York — in this case, Brooklyn — could be like compared with Orlando, where, though he is the daily center of attention, he isn’t the daily center of attention for seven newspapers, six radio stations, five TV crews and a partridge in a pear tree.
“You are under a constant microscope. Every day,” said Ewing, who entered as one of the most widely anticipated players in history after the Knicks won the first-ever NBA lottery in 1985. “I told him playing up there is a lot different from playing here. The amount of media scrutiny is a lot different, for example.”
Despite what anyone advises, the ultimate decision will be Howard’s. If Howard, who leads the Magic against the Nets tonight, wants to play in Brooklyn with the Nets, he will. He might be a bit poorer — say upward of $25 million which would be the approximate difference from five free agent seasons with Orlando and four with anyone else — but if leaving is what he wants, he can make it happen.
Teams may take the ultimate risk and trade for him before the March 15 deadline, but Howard needs only inform his suitors his heart belongs to Brooklyn. All indications are Howard prefers the Nets.
Nevertheless, the Magic won’t simply give him away because that’s what he wants. They must get value in return. One big damper on a trade with the Nets was Brook Lopez’s broken right foot suffered last week. Big men and bad feet are trouble.
Orlando granted Howard’s camp permission to speak with three teams — the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers — about a possible trade. But the Magic want to talk to 29 teams to find the best deal for the Magic. Logic dictates it can’t let Howard go to free agency. The Mavericks appear ready for a free agent run at Howard and hometown hero Deron Williams, who nevertheless is one of the Nets’ best recruiting lures. Howard, though, sidestepped the topic yesterday when he declined to talk anything Nets.
“We’re not talking about the Nets right now,” Howard said. “We’re talking about the Magic, that’s the team I play for.”
“Me and Deron have talked for a couple of years. We did play with each other in the Olympics. I talked to a lot of guys, not just Deron,” said Howard, who then named present and former teammates. “I’ve talked to Jameer [Nelson]. I’ve talked to Gilbert [Arenas]. I’ve talked to Big Baby [Glen Davis]. I’ve talked to a lot of guys and everyone wants to get together and play. But as of right now, the only thing that matters is this next game, coming out and playing, and getting this job done.”
Though Howard won’t publicly tip his hand, Nets fans could not have made their intentions more obvious Tuesday when they chanted “We want Dwight” and “We want Howard” throughout the game, which was an abysmal 106-70 loss to the Hawks.
Howard said what he saw was ugly — but not what he heard. Or didn’t hear.
“I had the game on mute,” he said.