Media Games and Hate

This may be a long post so you have been warned

Over the last 10 days or more of what was known as “Dwightmare 3” I noticed something quite peculiar about it all. There was one particular “news” outlet that was perpetuating the appearance that Howard was going to drag this out for as long as he wished. Many of the posters here – long time ones – felt the same way. Go ahead and look back in the now legendary Howard thread and go through there is an abundance of posts that had the tune of “he better not wait until July 10th” or “this could go on all summer long – I cant take it”

What made us believe that Howard would take a long time to make his decision? Granted his history would give a lot of credibility to that belief, but one thing that people, especially those in the public eye, try not to do is repeat the same mistake over and over. If Dwight was the type to go back and forth those closest to him, his agent, manager friends etc. would make sure that he would not make the same mistake again.

Objectively let us quickly go over the sequence of events for Dwight’s 2013 free agency

July “1st” – Met with Rockets late Sunday night and then Monday met with the Hawks and Warriors
July 2nd – Met with Mavericks and Lakers
July 3rd-4th – Retreated to Colorado to make up his mind on where to sign/be traded to
July 5th – Called teams up and told them he decided not to play there. Flew to LA to let the Lakers brass know in person and made his announcement to join the Houston Rockets.

That’s it – five full days to make one of the biggest decisions of his young career and life. Very few of us have probably had to ever make a decision of this magnitude in our lives and we wouldn’t have the public eye on us during that time. Compare that to LeBron’s decision which was announced on July 8th – Dwight announced his a lot quicker and handled it quite professionally.

But why is Bristol then screaming bloody murder! This guy is a waffler – he flip flops more than a fish out of water and so on and so on?

Here are some quotes from the Bristol Brigade :
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>First surprise of week on Dwight front: Sources say Golden State made real impression on Howard in their meeting and have become a factor</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/352496774142902273">July 3, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Then later we see this

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RT <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA">@ESPNNBA</a>: Warriors trying to clear cap space to sign Dwight Howard outright, via <a href="https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN">@WindhorstESPN</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine">@ESPNSteinLine</a>: <a href="http://t.co/KwthXsLcGs">http://t.co/KwthXsLcGs</a></p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/352927213831716864">July 4, 2013</a></blockquote>
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As explained by many on this board previously – if this was truly the case the Warriors would have had to shed over 30 million dollars in expiring contracts in a matter of a few days. For the Warriors to drop all those contracts they would have to trade away several first round picks and possibly one of their young guns in Barnes or Thompson. Possible? Yes. Probable? Most certainly not.

But now the Warriors are in play all of a sudden? When everything leading up to the free agency period just screamed Lakers and Rockets – it was now ESPN remember who added in the Mavs and now they are pushing the Warriors. To a point where it became a good thing for the Lakers to trade with a division rival

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Story w/<a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne">@ramonashelburne</a>, via ESPN sources, has Lakers conceding for first time sign-and-trades must be considered if Dwight indeed bolts</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/353017293384581121">July 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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First off Warriors moved the contracts and picks for Iggy it turned out (side note: any doubt who Mark Jackson’s insider source on the Nuggets was during the playoffs now?) if they knew they were truly in the running for Dwight they wouldn’t have sent out the picks in the way they did.

Why would Stein, Broussard and Co try to start trumping all these other scenarios which only ESPN and their affiliates are reporting? When did ESPN get a monopoly on sources that only they and no one else knew? Yahoo and USA Today were remarkably quiet on this whole front (unless you consider Alex Kennedy also USA today and he just stole what ESPN said)

It quite simple really – the money –

ESPN has three forms of media – TV, Radio and the web to reach its audience. The NBA does free agency like no other league and from now until late August when the NFL starts coming back around there is just primarily baseball and nascar. While there is a large following for both sports they do not generate as much revenue as the NFL and the NBA do via the 3 mediums. ESPN needed to drag this out for their own good, they needed to be able to keep their audience involved. What better way than to manufacture drama on their own and keep ratings and web hits up?

Living out in LA it was incredible hearing everything on the radio here – “multiple sources” say Warriors are now the favorite and so on and so on.
When Dwight made his decision and wanted to do the professional thing in flying to LA and thanking the Lakers in person we all saw this come out
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RT <a href="https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN">@WindhorstESPN</a>: Rockets center Omer Asik has no interest in backing up or playing next Dwight Howard, sources say. Could force trade</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/353284449129078784">July 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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The smear job has started. Asik may not want to be a backup again – but everything about the guy over the last season was professional and he was one of the softest spoken guys in the locker room. To have ESPN run this story right after Sam Amick broke the story was comical. It was like they had it ready to go to start the picture of Howard causing issues in Houston already.
Now we need to try to create more controversy:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RT <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne">@ramonashelburne</a>: Chris Broussard reports to <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter">@SportsCenter</a> that Dwight Howard is waffling. &quot;Hey, he's Dwight.&quot; source says</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/353328834759770113">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Watching this car crash unfold must feel like another championship to LeBron James. We might not even talk about The Decision after this</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/353334449301237760">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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“The Decision” took longer than Dwight’s and was very poorly handled. Again all these pieces were all solely pushed out by ESPN and don’t expect them to stop anytime soon either.
Of course all of this “50/50 he is flying back to LA 50/50” was put to rest by Adrian Wojnarowski
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Dwight Howard's plan was always to meet with the Lakers a final time and tell MItch Kupchak of his decision.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/353340495684055043">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Dwight Howard – and in turn the Rockets – are going to be attacked in the “media” constantly by ESPN from now on.

Why – again it’s the money.

ESPN.LA is a huge money maker for them – they only have 4 such pockets in the country solely because of certain teams. In Dallas its because of the Cowboys, New York – Yankees and Knicks, Chicago the Bears and Bulls – in LA its because of the Lakers.

Dwight Howard was supposed to be the bridge from the Kobe era into the new era for the Lakers. The star that ESPN.LA could build off of and make millions of dollars on. Chris Paul is nice and all but he isn’t a Laker and more importantly he isn’t as camera friendly as Dwight is. By leaving the Lakers the financial impact levied to ESPN is going to be large – that’s how much power these superstar athletes command. When LeBron left Cleveland he was going from a small town to a larger market in Miami – same with Bosh. These were good things for ESPN and if Miami keeps winning they may have an ESPN.Florida soon.

But the purpose is clear now – Dwight left LA – he left us – we are going to ride him and make it so that that image of him is that he is a quitter, fearful of the big stage etc. etc.

I mean look at some of the hit pieces put out by ESPN in comparison to what Woj wrote last night

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>ICYMI last night, <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande">@jadande</a> on Dwight Howard's custard duck. lol <a href="http://t.co/LSJtSDUII4">http://t.co/LSJtSDUII4</a></p>&mdash; Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/statuses/353633592972296195">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Shaq on Dwight, from our interview: &quot;Whenever you feel pressure you have to face it. It seems to me he keeps running.&quot;</p>&mdash; George Diaz (@georgediaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/georgediaz/statuses/353630816527585282">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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This guy isn’t from LA but was retweeted by ESPN.LA reporter and also asking Shaq is just pandering to get more Dwight slander. Shaq is as sensitive as they come – for him Dwight leaving was by far the best case scenario. Dwight has been chided and derided by Shaq since he came into the league. Dwight may not have won 3 championships like Shaq did but if he won 1-2 while being the more loveable guy – the city of LA would have forgotten about Shaq (most of them already have) and heaped praise on Dwight. That would destroy Shaq’s ego – this way he can put on the front of “You can do what I did in LA” while continuing to slam Dwight.
Noted ESPN contributer Bill Plaschke wrote the following in the La Times:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Dwight Howard's departure is best for all concerned <a href="http://t.co/v9rC1cFs49">http://t.co/v9rC1cFs49</a></p>&mdash; Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillPlaschke/statuses/353354170100752386">July 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Now you may think well its only ESPN doing this – well yeah it is only ESPN but for better or for worse they are the biggest player in this game and they can control it in various ways. ESPN makes or breaks stars – the only way around is to win and win big. Much like how LeBron did it. One thing Rockets fans have complained about the last few seasons is the lack of national TV exposure – they will get it now with Howard and Harden (proven to be a big time player after his first season in Houston) but will it be good or bad? The announcers will probably be impartial but the pre and post game chatter? All slamming Dwight and the Rockets – even more so if the team gets off to a slow start.

So what does all that mean to us as Rockets fans?

A lot - judging from the Dwight thread way too many people believe what was being said and didnt look at facts and circumstances that were there. Just because its ESPN or Yahoo or CNN reporting doesnt make it 100% true. All of these BUSINESSES have a specific purpose - do what it takes to make money. Sometimes we dont know all the facts of course and rely on these outlets to provide them - but other times just simply working out logic would paint a much clearer picture.

I am trying state this because this will just be the tip of the iceberg - What Dwight Howard did is quite remarkable (though he kept with my belief of 'players will always go where the money is first') if he wins championships in Houston he may become responsible for a start of a new culture - if he doesn't he will be a footnote - heck it may even impact his Hall of Fame chances. A bold move that we as Rockets fans pray will pay off - there is no reason to believe it wouldn't -- unless you believe what that Bristol network believes.


So accept that the hate has started and is coming - heck even embrace it.


Just don’t buy into it


TL;DR

Spoiler