LOS ANGELES — The Nets’ pursuit of Dwight Howard was perhaps the longest courtship known to man, or at least the longest since the Nets pursued Carmelo Anthony. Both ended in disappointment for the Nets, but Howard admitted Friday he was virtually positive he was Brooklyn-bound last season.
“I thought I was,” Howard told The Post following the Lakers’ morning shootaround in El Segundo, Calif., admitting he kept thinking that “until I got traded to the Lakers. I really did, almost certain.”
Howard, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds in Friday night’s 114-102 victory over the Suns, acknowledged the whole process was as smooth as a West Virginia backwoods road. His biggest mistake, he claimed, was trying to please everybody while the Nets tried to work a deal for him, despite his ability to opt out of his contract over the summer.
The Nets, on at least two occasions, thought they had a deal done. In February, the game’s best center reversed fields and signed on for one more season with the Magic, who eventually traded him to the Lakers after the season. Howard still plays “what if?” but he quickly and repeatedly says he’s happy as a Laker.
“I do think about it. I think about the whole situation. If I didn’t sign, where would I be?” said Howard, who brought even higher title expectations to the Lakers with his arrival. “But everything happens for a reason. There was a reason I signed. There was a reason I went through everything I went through. It was something I needed. It made me a stronger person, made me a better person.”
It also made the Nets and their fans ticked off to no end.
Howard said he was determined to avoid what LeBron James endured during his free-agent fiasco. But Howard stepped into the same problems — some worse, many of them through his own doing.
“Before last season, I was struggling with wanting to please everybody, make everybody happy,” said Howard, whose Lakers face the Nets Tuesday at Staples Center.
“I saw what LeBron went through with the whole Cleveland situation and I said, ‘Man, I don’t want to go through that’ and I ended up putting myself right in the same situation.
“I really didn’t want to make anyone upset so I said, ‘I might as well sign.’ At end of the day I wasn’t even happy. I came to realize I can’t please everybody. Everybody is not going to be happy with whatever decision I make.
In the end, the Magic made the decision for him, trading him to the Lakers. The consensus holds the Magic did not want Howard in the East one bit.
“I’m very happy here in L.A. This whole situation for me is really amazing,” said Howard, who said his back is fine after offseason surgery. “Everything I’ve experienced has been a blessing.” and I’m happy that I was able to overcome those obstacles that I went through this summer.
“I had no control over where I was going to be traded once I [re-signed]. It wasn’t up to me at that point. I had given up all my rights. People were saying I was holding the team hostage and this and that, but there was nothing I could do except wait until they decided what they wanted to do. It’s a blessing I ended up here. I never expected to be here but now that I’m here it’s the best thing that ever could have happened to me.”
* A tale of three centers: Howard, the latest sensational big to wear the purple and gold, was expressing his admiration for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had a statue of him doing his memorable sky hook unveiled outside Staples Center last night. Kareem’s support “means a lot,” Howard said.
Then it was mentioned to Howard that Shaquille O’Neal insisted the criticism and jabbing he has done of the current L.A. center was not personal but meant constructively.
“I’d rather talk about another subject,” Howard said flatly.