LeBron James, Dwight Howard Big -- Even In China

SHANGHAI - The swarm was collapsing around Dwight Howard, the flashbulbs were setting his rippling muscles aglow and he was backed up against a dingy gymnasium wall.

Then, in an instant, the NBA's Next Big Thing reacted like someone well beyond his 21 years and solved a situation stickier than gum on a shoe.

"Ni Hao, everybody, Ni Hao," Howard said with a wide, toothy grin, welcoming the mass of Chinese media that had surrounded him Monday at a practice court in the Lu Wan District of Shanghai.

The Orlando Magic center's graceful reaction speaks deeply to a good-natured, aww-shucks persona that has somehow remained grounded as his stardom has continued to rise.

But Howard's deft resolution of a conflict is also a learned trait, one he picked up after spending much of the past two summers with Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James. He and James have much in common, what with them being the top picks from the 2003 and 2004 NBA Drafts and their love for competing at video games. And by watching how James, a worldwide marketing conglomeration unto himself, deals with the attention he attracts everywhere he goes has helped Howard handle similar circumstances.

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source : floridatoday.com