Retired NBA superstar Dwight Howard gave Taiwan a special mention as he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, yesterday.
In his about 13-minute speech, the eight-time NBA All-Star thanked players who had inspired him — including one of his four presenters, Shaquille O'Neal, also a Hall of Famer who had often criticized him — and reflected on his life journey through the sport.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
"Thanks to basketball, I've been able to see the world at a whole different angle. This sport has changed my reality, and it's opened up doors, allowing me to make connections globally," he said.
"Shout out to Taiwan, even to the point of starting my own basketball league," said the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, also known as "Superman."
The three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year played for the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan's T1 League during the 2022 to 2023 season after 18 seasons in the NBA.
He averaged a league-leading 16.2 rebounds along with 23.2 points and five assists in 20 games.
Despite the Leopards' absence from the playoffs, Howard became a sensation during his seven-month stay, drawing a sellout crowd of 15,000 for his debut game and about 160,000 online viewers on the league's YouTube stream.
Last year, Howard returned to Taiwan in late July to play for the Taiwan Mustangs in the Asian Tournament.
He revealed earlier that year on social media that he owned part of the league and the Mustangs, saying he hoped the league would raise Taiwan's competitiveness in the sport.
Howard, who joined seven other individual inductees this year, won an NBA title in 2020 and also captured five rebounding crowns and two blocks titles.
Like Carmelo Anthony, who visited Taiwan last month, he was also honored yesterday as a member of the US Olympic "Redeem Team" that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Born to a mother who had suffered seven miscarriages, Howard closed his speech with a message encouraging people to savor each moment.
"This is your universe. This is your one song. How do you want your song to sound when people hear it? Will they want to throw it out or run it back? And remember, you only die once, but you live every day," he said.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS