And like that, it’s done! All it took was half a season…Dwight Howard’s No. 12 jersey has been given to a new player. I wonder if Dwight will even care?! He did create a lot of drama before he left and I know some fans could care less, but doesn’t it seem just a little bit wrong that for the first time in over a decade – someone other than Howard is wearing #12?!
Details after the jump & let us know what you think…
According to Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports:
The Orlando Magic waited all of half a season to give away Dwight Howard’s No. 12 jersey. Tobias Harris, a second-year small forward acquired in the J.J. Redick trade from the Milwaukee Bucks, has donned the jersey of the greatest player in franchise history.
Wait, what?
Howard is the Magic’s career leader in points, rebounds, blocks, minutes and, if you like advanced stats, win shares. He was the best player on the team for eight seasons. But then he whined until he was traded in the offseason to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Harris, 20, has scored 358 points in his NBA career, almost 11,200 fewer than Howard scored with the Magic. He has some potential as a scoring combo forward, sort of a poor man’s Carmelo Anthony, which he showed in his one season at Tennessee.
He wore No. 15 for the Bucks. That number is taken in Orlando by suspended forward Hedo Turkoglu, so he needed to make a switch. He chose as high-pressure a number as was available.
“I’ve heard a lot about that because it’s Dwight Howard’s number,” Harris told the Orlando Sentinel in an excellent feature.
Orlando hasn’t retired any former players’ numbers, and there’s no reason to expect the Magic to hang Howard’s number from the rafters until a few years after he retires. It may be time, though, to get up spots for Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway and Nick Anderson, the core of the 1995 Eastern Conference champions.
