NBA legend Dwight Howard
Playing defense in the offense-oriented NBA is all about thankless grit and hard work.
And there are few defensive stars that have as prolific a career as Dwight Howard, who eventually won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 as a backup after years of being a franchise cornerstone for the Orlando Magic.
During his tenure with the Magic, Howard won three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards. To go along with that rare feat, Howard earned five All-NBA First Team nominations, eight All Star nods (including in his first stint with the Lakers and the Houston Rockets), and one memorable performance in the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk competition:You don’t achieve those sorts career accolades as a fresh-faced child straight out of high school without some serious discipline behind the goofy, fun-loving facade — and Howard has a novel idea of how to instill those values into his fellow Americans:“Random. I honestly feel like the president should make one year of service mandatory for everyone born in America,” Howard posted to social media platform X on Monday. “A lot of other countries do it. And I think it would help with discipline and structure. I’m curious what yall think would this help America or nah.”
The responses under Howard’s post were decidedly mixed, with a number of people thinking it would be a good idea, and just as many decrying it.
One respondent said that retail customer service would be better at helping Americans, which Howard swiftly shut down:Related:
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Howard also directly called out those who disagreed with his premise:The longtime NBA center also seemed dead-set on this commitment being a full year, as opposed to being any sort of a half-measure:Interestingly enough, two of Dwight’s fellow NBA big man alumni might actually have some interesting takes on this.
Both retired San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson and Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki had Hall of Fame careers delayed by military service requirements.
Robinson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 and was required to fulfill an obligation for two years of active service before he could begin playing for the Spurs. And whatever discipline Robinson learned during his time there helped turn him into one of the most physically imposing centers in NBA history:Nowitzki, meanwhile, was from Germany and had to fulfill a similar bit of military service before he could be drafted in 1998. From that moment on, Nowitzki went on to effectively completely redefine what it meant to be an NBA big man for the Mavericks:Did that prior military service help propel Robinson and Nowitzki to their Hall of Fame heights?
Howard appears to be in the camp that certainly thinks it at least played a role in it — and he thinks Americans would be better off if President Donald Trump implemented something similar.
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