By MICHAEL DAUBER

STAFF WRITER

Over the summer thousands of Laker fans burned Dwight Howard in effigy when he decided to take his talents to the Houston Rockets. The move came after a miserable campaign with the Lakers that resulted in a first-round exit in the playoffs, an appearance only made possible by the nightly heroics of Kobe Bryant during virtually every game since Early January. Dwight never truly got along with Kobe, or Coach D’Antoni for that matter, and decided to sign with a team that he felt would use him more to his liking. But is this really as bad for the Lakers as everyone says?

The troubled superstar never really fit in with the Lakers. For starters, Howard insists that he is a post-player, a traditional back-to-the-basket center. D’Antoni traditionally runs a pick-and-roll offense, which involves using Howard as a meat-shield and lobbing him the ball at the net. While the latter is much more effective, especially given Howard’s athleticism, Howard stubbornly refused to participate with enthusiasm, forcing issues for the two main guards, Nash and Kobe. In addition, Howard couldn’t perform in the post like he said he could; the man can only shoot hook shots with his left hand and only at roughly 50 percent. I think I saw him make two right-handed ones the entire year.

Then there’s the free-throw issue. I think Dwight might have an even worse reputation than Shaq at this point in this area, despite the fact that the latter once shot 0 for 13 at the line. Teams could simply foul Howard all game if the Lakers managed to get within ten points in the second half of games. When I look back on it, the Lakers probably lost about ten games to Howard’s horrendous bombs. Good riddance.

Then there’s the turnovers. Howard is a klutz. A complete klutz. Maybe his hands are too big, I don’t know. But if you can’t hold onto the ball, stay off the court. Not only did he have his own turnovers, but he dragged everyone else’s stats down too. Turnovers are attributed to the last person to touch the ball, not the player who messed up. So in reality, about half of Kobe’s three turnovers per game this last year were actually due to Howard broadcasting the pass and then failing to make the catch.

Enthusiasm? Please. While not necessarily as bluntly effective as decreased turnovers and increased shooting percentage, chemistry has a lot to do with how teams do. If you want to see a perfect example of the lack of enthusiasm Dwight brought to the table in LA, take a look at the impressive comebacks the Lakers made against Toronto, Atlanta and New Orleans. While Kobe made bucket after bucket, even making three three-pointers in under two minutes against Toronto, the bench and the fans went wild while Howard looked like an abandoned puppy and walked back up the floor with his head down. Even Celtic fans would have enjoyed Kobe’s performances, but Howard sulked around as the rest of his team celebrated.

So at the end of the day, is Howard’s departure really such a bad thing? This Laker-lover says no, but not because I’m sad that he left. By the time his ESPN fiasco finished, I was relieved that he was gone. The over-grown man-baby created so many media and chemistry issues for the team and delivered enough sub-par performances to make paying him to fail simply unreasonable. The Lakers acquired a bunch of players in the off-season that the league generally regards as garbage. In their first pre-season game, the new-look, Kobe-less, Gasol-less, Nash-less Lakers won; Howard lost his game. LA is better off without him; he never helped much anyway. I say good riddance, and take your free-throws with you.