Dwight Howard, as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, has a new documentary out.
A pretty candid one.
The 72-minute film, released via EPIX.com, traces Howard's career arc from Atlanta high school star to the latest in a long line of elite Houston Rockets centers. Considerable time and detail is devoted to Howard's steep fall from star on the rise in Orlando to his messy parting with the Magic -- and before that Magic coach Stan Van Gundy -- as well as Howard's ill-fated stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Here are a few highlights from "Dwight Howard: In The Moment" until you have the opportunity to take it all in yourself:
Dwight on asking Magic management to make a coaching change after Orlando's first-round exit in the 2011 playoffs:
"We shouldn't be losing like this. I wanted to win. And I went to management and I said: 'Guys, I'm a player. I just want to give my two cents. I think that our coach has lost his touch with the team. Great coach, but I think he's lost his touch, I think he's lost his voice. And I think it's time that you guys get a new voice.' I said, 'I love him as a coach, but I think we need a new voice.' ... Six weeks [later], they finally respond [and say], 'We're gonna keep Stan.' So I'm like: 'OK. That lets me know how you guys feel about your leader expressing how to make the team better.' "
Dwight on the trade demand that soon followed:
"That summer I just thought about what I needed for my career. And when I got back [to Orlando], I let those guys know that I wanted to be traded. ... I just wanted a change for myself. I didn't want it to be done publicly. I just wanted it to happen silently. And I'd go to a new team, start fresh. Well, it didn't happen that way. ... The season comes around and they asked me to come to the office, shook my hand and they said, 'We're gonna trade you tomorrow.' The next day the trade didn't happen, but they came out and said I wanted to be traded. And that's when everything went downhill. And I feel like I should have came out and said some things at that point to let people know what was going on, but in that situation I really didn't know what to do."
Dwight on joining forces with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles and the rapid deterioration of their relationship after becoming teammates:
"Before I got to the Lakers, I would talk to him [and] he would really help me out on the [down] low about how to become everything that I said I wanted to be. And I looked up to him and I looked up to everything he, as a basketball player, stood for. ... [By the end of that season] I just felt so hurt and disappointed in the fact that the guy that I was expecting to be somebody who was gonna pass the torch, somebody to say, 'Dwight, I'll take you under my wing and I'll show you how to get it done' ... it was none of that."
Dwight on starting over in Houston after becoming a villain in both Orlando and Los Angeles and trying to work his way back from what he openly describes as a "dark place" to return to prominence:
"I know people might judge me for some of the mistakes I've had, but I'm not perfect. You know, looking back on it, maybe I could have done it a different way with Stan. I had to face my mistakes. I had to own up to 'em and not run from 'em."
Other notable subjects to watch for:
• Extended reflections from both parties about the infamous Orlando news conference during which Stan Van Gundy revealed to the assembled media that he knew Howard had requested a coaching change before the 2011-12 season, followed shortly thereafter by Howard coming over and putting his arm around Van Gundy without knowing what his coach had just shared with reporters.
• Van Gundy explains at length how, in retrospect, he sees Howard's lighthearted nature as a "good complement to me because I can be overly intense at times."
• Howard's surgeons, Dr. Robert Watkins III and son Dr. Robert Watkins IV, detailing the depth of the damage Howard's back sustained and how far away from peak condition he was during his lone season as a Laker. "This was a potentially completely career-ending injury," Watkins Sr. says.