Howard's show of loyalty a reprieve for Magic—not a victory

ORLANDO—I’m sitting at a Waffle House near Amway Arena, hoping to find Dwight Howard. It seems like the ideal spot for him to celebrate his big career move.

Let’s see, how many $3.35 pecan waffles can you buy for $19.5 million?

Whatever the answer, Howard is now the toast of this town. After all his indecisiveness and the angst he put everybody through, Howard is staying put. …

“I knew that at the end of the day he’d make this decision,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said. “Loyalty is hard to come by, and he’s got to be commended for the loyalty he’s shown today.”

Yes he does.

Howard’s decision had media analysts spitting out their coffee and calling him immature, flaky and a business buffoon.

Deal with it, fellas. Howard committed to Orlando for another season, even if it meant giving up money and leverage and chance to be King of Brooklyn.

“I’m loyal,” Howard said. “That’s just who I am.”

He’s loyal, all right. But he’s not a complete idiot.

Howard signed a piece of paper guaranteeing he won’t opt out of the final year of his contract. He’ll humbly accept $19.5 million and the adoration of an entire city.

It feels like victory for the Magic, who played it cool and got inside Dwight’s sensitive head. But it was more of a reprieve than vindication.

Almost lost in all the Orlando euphoria is the fact Howard did not sign an extension beyond his current contract. All the trade deadline psychodrama really did, besides ruin the Nets’ day, was set up Dwight-O-Drama II.

Howard could still leave after the 2012-13 season. If he’s not happy with how things are going, the Magic will still have to consider trading him to try to avoid a complete Shaq scenario.

They got nothing in return for Diesel in 1996. They weren’t about to let that happen again in 2012.

Martins deserves credit for not panicking as Howard went back and forth, then forth and back. Maybe dealing with Billy Donovan was good training.

The Magic hired Florida’s coach in 2007, only to have Donovan call the next day and say he couldn’t bring himself to leave Gainesville. That inspired the last round of Waffle House jokes.

In keeping with that spirit, I’m waiting on the fry chef (who’s busy trying to swat a fly with his apron) to offer me the Dwight Special—a triple-stack of waffles with a side order of fried agent.

Howard said he’d been getting “bad advice” about leaving. He wouldn’t say from whom, though it’s obvious agent Dan Fegan had Howard ticketed for the Nets, who desperately wanted Howard to christen their new arena in Brooklyn.

It will be interesting to see if Howard retains Fegan. It will be even more interesting to see if the Magic keep general manager Otis Smith.

When it comes to building a winning roster around Howard, Smith hasn’t exactly been Frank Lloyd Wright. If the Heat lost LeBron James, it would still be a title contender. If the Bulls lost Derrick Rose, they could still beat the Heat.

If the Magic lost Howard, they’d be an NIT bubble team.

“I want this to be a championship city,” Howard said.

Smith now has more time to make some deals. And he has a load of salary-cap problems to work around.

Unsolicited advice: Don’t bring back Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis or Penny Hardaway.

Smith did discover Ryan Anderson, who’s been Orlando’s second-best player this year. He needs to come up with a few more deals like that for Howard to stay.

“Our goal is obviously to get Dwight to sign a long-term extension,” Martins said. “And we’ll start working on that goal today.”

Maybe that’s what they were doing instead of celebrating at Waffle House. The Magic know the Dwight Special will be back on the menu soon enough.

They also know that loyalty only goes so far. And next time, Howard may waffle right on out the door.