Why Dwight Howard Should Learn From Kevin Durant's MVP Talent and Maturity

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is the premier big man in the NBA right now.

There's no doubting that or the massive amount of talent he has.

Howard wants to be viewed as a franchise type of player that can lead a team to a championship.

He's far from that, though, no matter what uniform he's wearing after the March 15 trade deadline.

That's because the word "lead" was in the last statement; Howard is far from being a leader, as he's yet to lead a team to an NBA championship. He may be a big part of winning a title in the future for some team, but he can't be a leader of a title team. He needs someone else to step up an fill that role.

Howard loves the attention. He loves to have fun and show off. Basically he's a high school kid in a grown man's body.

As dominant of a player that he's been in the past and is capable of being in the future, Howard doesn't know the first thing about stepping up and being a leader. It's just not his personality to step up and be a leader.

Some people have it; some people don't.

Howard doesn't. He could learn a lot from watching a guy like Kevin Durant conduct himself on and off the court. He could learn a lot from Durant's maturity and the way he leads.

Durant is business-like on the court. He thinks about winning and winning only. His mission is to win a championship, not dance around or try to eat cookies off his forehead.

Durant's not the only one. Some guys like Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and a few others wake up thinking about how they can win a championship. It shows daily not only in their play but how they conduct themselves.

Those guys are leaders.

Howard is not.

Take the All-Star Game introductions, for instance. Howard and LeBron James are dancing around. Sure it's an exhibition and it's meant to be fun, but did you catch the stare Rose shot at Howard while he was dancing around.

It was enough to say, "Are you kidding me?"

Would you ever see Michael Jordan dancing around before a game, All-Star game or not?

Kobe? Not a chance.

There are times to be a leader and there are times to try and catch cookies off your forehead. There are times for fun and times to lead.

Howard hasn't figured that out and likely never will.

You don't see guys like Durant acting like that. You don't see any real leader doing that.

Guys like Durant want to win championships and their actions on and off the court demonstrate that. It's easy to say you want to win. It's another thing altogether to act like you want to win and let your actions speak for you instead of opening up your mouth.

Howard should take a look at guys like Durant, Rose, Nowitzki and Bryant. He should look at how Jordan acted. The only thing that mattered was winning. That's it. Period.

They can have fun and dance in the offseason.

Then there's the fact that can't Howard close out a game like the others. Leaders have to close out games.

Howard is a liability late in games.

Maybe he should act like a leader and improve his free-throw shooting instead of dancing around and eating cookies. It would go a long way to help his team win. The extracurricular stuff doesn't help in terms of winning and at the end of the day, that's all that real leaders care about.

Until Howard not only grows up, but shuts up as well, he will never come close to really being able to lead a team.

Unless he looks at some true professionals around the NBA and learns from their actions, unfortunately that day will never come.