Eff for Effort

Dwight Howard is nearly a perfect physical specimen - a more athletic,7-foot version of Adonis.  His teammate, Vince Carter, was the most explosive athlete to come into the league in the past 20 years, and in his youth, he was the greatest dunker of all time.  Their team, the Orlando Magic, made the finals last year; this year, they had the second best record in the league, and are the only team to have swept through the first round of the Playoffs.   Despite all this, very few consider them a serious threat to win the title; in a way, this is because these two were born with such immense natural gifts.

There was a highly-publicized study a while back about the effects of praise on the performance of children.  The study's results suggested that kids who were praised for their effort came to value hard work and self-improvement, while kids who were praised for intelligence shied away from tasks they weren't good at:  "those told they were intelligent tended to choose assignments they knew they would do well on, while the second group chose tasks they thought they might learn something from."  Vince Carter and Dwight Howard have both been praised to the rafters for their innate physical talents, and thus far, both have shied away from developing the habits needed to win a Championship.

Howard was a number one draft pick straight out of high school, and he's been an awesome rebounder and defender since he came into the league, much of that owing to his size and athleticism, but he's always been an unskilled offensive player and a terrible free throw shooter.  Rather than focus on improving these weaknesses, he seems to have shifted all of his effort to making marginal gains at the things he was already good at:  "despite his continued struggles at the foul line and developing some big-time post moves in his sixth NBA season, he actually improved at the defensive end", NYdailynews.

At least showcasing his defensive prowess helps the team win, unfortunately he also likes to show off his strength and athleticism.  Bill Simmons often talks about how, when Dwight blocks a shot, he tries to block it into the 10th row, which shows people what a dominant athlete he is, but also gives the ball back to the other team.  A smart player, like Bill Russell, tips the ball to himself.  In round one of the playoffs, Dwight kept getting into foul trouble.  Charles Barkley said this was because Dwight's constantly trying to prove he's "the strongest guy in the room"; every time someone grabs Dwight's arm, he feels the need to throw the guy to the ground, like he's some sort of ogre in a cartoon.

 Dwight Howard doing his Superman dunk; Superman received his gifts as an infant.  The other guy who calls himself Superman is Shaq, a great player, but one who never gave anywhere near the effort you'd expect from a player of his caliber.

Here's how Simmons describes Vince Carter in The Book of Basketball:  "Vince got an enormous amount of respect from other players, not for what he delivered but for his gifts themselves.  Of anyone in the league over the past fifteen years, his peers felt like Vince Carter was the one who could do anything.  Well, except give a shit on a consistent basis."   Maybe if he hadn't gotten so much respect for his talent, he'd have more respect for the game.

Contrast these guys with the creation myth of Michael Jordan.  Sure, some people called him Superman too, but Jordan himself never took to the name, because unlike Superman, the Jordan-myth doesn't center around in-born physical gifts - how could it when he was cut from his own high school team.  Michael Jordan has been praised mostly for his competitive fire and his will to continually improve.