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ORLANDO -- Magic center Dwight Howard might need a little extra room in his suitcase when he starts packing for Beijing and the 2008 Olympics next month.
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| Dwight Howard: 'I'm built to carry a load.' (Getty Images) |
As the only true center on the USA Basketball 12-man roster -- and the one who missed the earlier minicamp recovering from a fractured sternum -- Howard is going to need all the special powers he can muster.
He won't have to carry this team of NBA superstars, but he won't be getting much relief when it comes to patrolling the wider Olympic lane.
"One of those other teams might try and throw some Kryptonite at us. I'll need the cape to block it," Howard said Tuesday afternoon after a workout at the Magic's practice facility.
Howard and his teammates will resume training July 21 in Las Vegas. They will leave for China the following week to train more. On Tuesday, USA Basketball added New Orleans center Tyson Chandler to the Las Vegas training sessions, but only as an alternate, insurance in case Howard gets re-injured.
"I'm not worried about anything happening to me. I've been cleared to practice and play. I'm good to go, getting these big guns (arms) back in shape," said Howard, grinning and flexing his massive shoulders and biceps. "I'm built to carry a load."
Howard, 22, quickly has become one of the NBA's iron men, playing in every game possible (328 consecutive in the regular season) since entering the league as the No. 1 pick in 2004. He finished the playoffs this spring against the Detroit Pistons with the sternum fracture, sustained during a sandwich hit between Jason Maxiell and Arron Afflalo.
He didn't learn of the fracture until the series ended when he returned to Orlando for an X-ray. He just thought it was bruised.
The Magic, like the USA Basketball team, don't provide him much roster help around the basket, playing last season without a true power forward, preferring a pair of small forwards like Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. And even this summer, their big free-agent addition was another guard.
Howard is accustomed to being the lone sentry. He averaged 37.7 minutes, 20.7 points, a league-leading 14.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots for the Magic this season.
His combination of size, strength and agility is unmatched in the NBA today, and the USA team is expecting him to dominate the boards again in Beijing.
The only other true frontcourt players on the roster are power forwards Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. The rest of the team is comprised of guards and rangy small forwards. While the roster strategy is built for the versatility often required in international competition, it also is risky.
Foul trouble or another injury for Howard could cause a real problem, leaving the USA vulnerable against the better, more physically imposing teams. Team USA lost to Greece during the 2006 World Championships because it couldn't handle a more physical team.
Although international basketball usually allows more physical play than the NBA does -- which should help Howard -- it also allows more acting.
European players are well versed in flopping, saddling an opponent with unwarranted foul trouble. Center Tim Duncan spent much of the 2004 Olympic Games in foul trouble, a big reason the U.S. squad failed to win the gold medal in Athens.
"I watched the Olympics on TV when we lost (in 2004)," Howard said. "I felt like I was part of it, because I played against those guys during the season. It was painful to see. I don't want that to ever happen again. My goal is to put a flag on my back, a gold medal around my neck and sing the national anthem on the victory stand."
Howard joined Team USA prior to the 2006 World Championships in Japan. At the time, he was picked more on the potential he had shown in his first two NBA seasons than for what he could actually contribute. He was a part-time starter when the U.S. squad finished a disappointing third in Japan.
Today, he is expected to be the anchor, the foundation from which this team will revolve. Players such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade will provide the points and pizzazz. They will swirl around the perimeter like bees on defense. They will dazzle opponents with fast breaks so fast that heads will spin.
Yet if it all goes right, it will be Howard, mostly alone in the middle, who will make it all possible, enabling the USA to reclaim its rightful spot atop the basketball world. Howard still has the original USA Dream Team Wheaties box that his father gave him after the 1992 Olympics. Howard was 6 years old then.
"I have a chance to do something incredible with a great team," Howard said. "When you win a gold medal at the Olympics, it's not for you, or the team you play on, or the city you play in, like it would be to win a championship in the NBA. It's for our country, and everyone in it. That's why it would be so special."
Tim Povtak covers the NBA for theOrlando Sentinel.