Sayson: Dwight Howard’s well-deserved $85 million

CHICAGO - As the No.1 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, Dwight Howard held the equivalent of a winning lotto ticket. And when he cashed in with the Orlando Magic, it yielded a four-year rookie contract worth a staggering $19,561,000.

Howard, a beastly 265-pound center, will become a free agent in July of 2008. By then, he’ll get more riches either by contract extension, or through the free agency market.

Thanks to a stellar 2006-07 season, Howard didn’t have to wait for his added windfall and you can as well. Take the family and kids and get cheap Magic tickets for all Orlando Magic games. Dont miss Dwight Howard as he playes the NBA's Best.

The Orlando Magic, fearful of losing their 6-foot-11 gem, locked Howard beyond his rookie contract by offering him a five-year extension worth $85 million.

Howard, like any sane human being would do, quickly signed and hitched his NBA future to the Magic, a budding powerhouse in
the tumultuous East.

In a press conference that formally announced his titanic pay, Howard told a flock of reporters: “I’m really so excited right now. It’s hard to explain.”

You betcha.

But once you get past the euphoria, you have to wonder: Did the Magic overpay Howard?

I don’t think so. For a myriad of reasons.

Howard is money. He notched his first All-Star nod this season, averaging 17.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. And at age 21, the best has yet to come.

Howard is a dependable iron man. Despite all the physicality that his position absorbs, he has played all 82 regular season games in each of his three years in the league.

That’s a ridiculous 246 straight games, people. And up there in Orlando, the folks have one word to describe Howard’s playing streak—Magic.

Most importantly, Howard deserves that $85 million simply because he is a big-game performer who doesn’t shrink under pressure. He averaged 15.3 points and 14.8 points in the 2007 playoffs, and his ongoing maturation was the only pleasant footnote to Orlando’s first-round sweep at the hands of the Detroit Pistons.

But not all No.1 picks have delivered.

Michael Olowakandi, the top pick in 1998, and Kwame Brown, the No.1 prospect in 2001, have both been huge, 7-foot disappointments.

Olowakandi, a 270-pound center, has bounced around three different teams in his 9-year NBA stint. He was a Boston Celtic last season, playing a scant 9.8 minutes and norming just 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds.

Olowakandi is so slow, he probably can’t guard my mother.

Kwame Brown is a power forward with very little power. He’s averaging a mediocre 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 366 regular season games. The first high school player ever to be picked No.1 in the NBA draft, Kwame Brown is only 25 years old. But he’s playing like a slow 38.

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