After hemming and hawing a few seconds about being older now and weighing 25 pounds more, Dwight Howard sprung from the floor and actually touched a couple of inches above the tape.

"Myyyy goodness," gushed Magic assistant coach Morlon Wiley, shaking his head.

Magic head coach Brian Hill also was impressed, but what followed were hardly words of glowing praise.

"Now when a guy drives baseline, that's how I wanna to see you jump and contest the shot," Hill said without even a hint of a smile.

Opposing coaches and players have made a habit this season of gushing about Dwight Howard, the Magic's 6-foot-11, 265-pound beast of a power forward. New York 's Larry Brown has said that Dwight Howard will someday give the Magic a chance to win an NBA championship. Meanwhile, reigning MVP Steve Nash said that of all the young players in the league he could pick to build a team around, it would be Dwight Howard.

But Dwight Howard hasn't been nearly as complimentary toward his own play, feeling he should be farther along in his sophomore season of NBA play. Too often, the steps from season one to season two have been incremental rather than monumental.

Dwight Howard's not happy with how few shots he's blocked or how often he's turned the ball over. And with his Magic at 22-41 and assuredly out of the playoff hunt again, Dwight Howard has been willing to point the finger back at himself.

"It's not that I'm totally unhappy, but I just feel like I could have played a lot better," Dwight Howard said. "I could have done more than I have to help us win this season. I'm the toughest critic on myself, and I'm gonna stay on myself, so I'll never feel like I've arrived."

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