ATLANTA -- Dwight Howard has played all of one game for the Atlanta Hawks.Hes already the center of attention.On opening night, Howard led his new teammates in a raucous display of bouncing and screaming during the pregame introductions. When it was over, with the Hawks victorious and their new center having provided a tantalizing glimpse of the skills that made him one of the NBAs most feared players, Howard worked the locker room from one end to the other, doling out good-natured ribbing to anyone who got within his imposing shadow.Superman has come home. Maybe hes found his swagger.I just tried to zone out and focus on the task at hand, Howard said at the end of the night, sitting at his locker surrounded by reporters and cameras and microphones. Ive been in a lot of opening nights and the worst thing you can do is lay an egg in the first game.Of course, its going to take more than one game to make up for what happened over the last several seasons.Still, Howards homecoming could wind up having a bigger impact on the league than some of those more touted moves this past summer.If all goes according to Atlantas plan, Howard will reclaim his place among the NBAs elite. Hell lead the league in rebounding, as he did through most of his glory years with the Orlando Magic, and give the Hawks the sort of imposing presence theyve been missing in the lane, someone who can alter shots and cover up his teammates mistakes and take some of the burden off teammates such as three-time All-Star Paul Millsap, who is still Atlantas best player.Thats the way it worked Thursday night in a 114-99 victory over the Washington Wizards. Howard grabbed 19 rebounds, more than anyone in an Atlanta uniform had all of last season, and continually sparked the transition game by with crisp passes to teammates fast-breaking in the opposite direction. Freed of carrying a big load on the glass, Millsap led the Hawks with 28 points.I didnt have to get down there and bang as much, Millsap said. When a guy like Dwights down there and securing the rebounds, hes taking a lot of the load off me. I think throughout the course of this season, Ill be a lot fresher, be able to do a little bit more on the offensive end.You might remember Howard as one of the leagues most dominant players, but its not something that comes immediately to mind. He got lost along the way, his once Hall of Fame-bound career sliding off the rails during a miserable one-year layover with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, followed by three forgettable seasons trying to coexist with James Harden on the Houston Rockets.Not only did Howards production suffer, but he went from one of the leagues most likable, endearing players to someone who came across as whiny and petulant, self-absorbed by his frequent trade demands and struggling to mesh with personalities as big as his own.When he became a free agent this past summer, Howard hardly had a pick of destinations or the leverage to name his price. He was certainly an intriguing piece in the offseason puzzle, but not as crucial to completing the picture as Kevin Durant landing with the Golden State Warriors, or Dwyane Wade taking off for the Chicago Bulls, or Derrick Rose being traded to the New York Knicks.Howard fell in with the next wave of shuffling, more along the lines of Pau Gasol heading to San Antonio or Andrew Bogut being dealt to Dallas to create cap space. In fact, there were plenty of people questioning whether the Hawks had done the right thing when they doled out a three-year, $70 million deal to Howard and allowed undersized but more versatile center Al Horford to bolt for the Boston Celtics.Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was convinced that Howard, who has been in the league for 13 years but is still only 31, could be a franchise player once again.After the Hawks plummeted from 60 wins and the top seed in the East two seasons ago to a quick second-round exit from the playoffs this past spring, Budenholzer decided a dramatic overhaul was in order. Howard was eager to return to the city he grew up in and still calls home -- a striking change from his last foray into free agency, when he pretty much forwarded the Hawks calls straight to voicemail.This time around, he needed the Hawks as much as they needed him.For Howard, this is his best shot -- maybe his last shot -- at redemption and rejuvenation. Hes on a team where he can again be the loudest voice in the room, where he doesnt have to worry about Bryant putting him down or Harden demanding the spotlight.His work and his commitment to everything were doing, Im very, very pleased with it, Budenholzer said. I think hes looking forward to being a force.Maybe hell even be able to break out that cape again.---Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . Xavier Rhodes Jersey . Colin Wilson had two goals and an assist, and Mike Fisher scored a goal and helped set up two others in the Predators 6-4 victory over the Red Wings on Monday night. Danny Isidora Jersey . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. http://www.cheapvikingsjerseysonline.com/?tag=holton-hill-jersey-online . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Kevin McDermott Jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Stefon Diggs Jersey . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. He ate grass, for heavens sake. He ate grass, and we laughed.We came to love his idiosyncrasies, from that toddler clap to his play-calling guts to -- thanks, George and Ira Gershwin -- the way he wore his hat.No, they cant take that away from us. We loved it all because Les Miles could wink at us and keep winning. He came into LSU and produced a level of success never achieved by any of his 29 predecessors in Baton Rouge, and somehow, thats not enough.It is not something that Walter Camp decreed when he came up with the line of scrimmage and the center snap. It is not written in the 216 pages of the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations. Only in the state of Louisiana is it carved into stone tablets and handed down from on high that LSU must win 10 games a season.No, check that. Miles won 114 games in 11? seasons and hes down at the Baton Rouge U-Haul buying boxes.On the very weekend that Miami, under new head coach Mark Richt, rose to No. 14 as Georgia, which fired Richt after he averaged a 10-3 record for 15 seasons, got humiliated at Ole Miss and fell out of the polls, LSU fired Miles so that it could hire someone more successful.Miles had a record of 114-34 (.770) with the Tigers. If youre looking for context of how good that is, consider that a career record of .600 makes a coach eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. Consider that its better than the record of his predecessor, Nick Saban (48-16, .750). Or just consider this: Miles began this season as one of five active head coaches who had won a national championship.And then there were four, which include Saban, Urban Meyer of Ohio State and Jimbo Fisher of Florida State. Bob Stoops of 1-2 Oklahoma? Youre on the clock.On the very weekend that Tennessee extracted itself from the eight-year sinkhole it fell into after firing Phillip Fulmer, LSU decided that five losses in nine games is untenable. Think about that for just a minute, Tigers fans.Fulmer went 5-7 in 2008, one year after his ninth 10-win season in Knoxville, and Tennessee fired him. In 91 games since Tennessee fired Fulmer, the Vols are 48-43. That includes being 4-0 as we speak, after those 38 consecutive points against Florida that exorcised every ghost of the Derek Dooley era and the Lane Kiffin year.There is no guarantee that firing someone as successful as Miles will result in a better program. Its just as possible that LSU wont be able to hire a coach as successful as Miles. Theres a long list of schools that got rid of someone who was winning and got worse.Nebraska has gone 19 years since its national championship. More to this point, it has gone 17 years without a conference championship.Michigan, whichh has won more football games than any program anywhere, hasnt won the Big Ten championship in 12 years.ddddddddddddSyracuse fired Paul Pasqualoni in 2004 after he had one losing record in 14 seasons. The Orange have had nine losing seasons since.That could neevvvvver happen at LSU. Ask head coaches about the best jobs in America, and the head-coaching job at LSU is second only to the guy who signs the Powerball checks. LSU is the only Power 5 school in a talent-rich state. Miles built upon Sabans strategy of laying a foundation at home. For more than a decade, it has taken a court order and a crowbar to convince a five-star Louisiana recruit to cross state lines. The state has served Miles well. Its the vice versa that LSU doesnt remember.When did the state of Louisiana fall in love with Saban? Not when he won the national championship in 2003. No, it was two years earlier, when Saban brought home the SEC title, the Tigers first since 1988. Trust me, no one is making documentaries about LSU football in the 1990s.If you dig at the root of this issue, thats who you will find: Saban, the man who broke Tiger hearts when he landed at Alabama only two years after leaving LSU. Miles has matched the one national championship and two SEC championships that Saban won in Baton Rouge. But since Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, he has won four national championships and four SEC championships.No matter how much Miles won in Death Valley, LSU fans still looked over their shoulder at Saban. Wherever Miles took the Tigers, he would have to go through Saban once a year to get there. And through the 2011 regular season, Miles gave as good as he got. When LSU won that 9-6 overtime fistfight that season, Miles held a 3-2 edge on Saban.But Alabama embarrassed LSU 21-0 in the BCS National Championship rematch two months later, and something seemed to shift. Sabans teams beat Miles teams the next four seasons, twice by double figures, twice by late-game scores. You decide which hurt the most.The LSU offense is stuck these days, and Miles has been too slow to fix it. Anyone who can read game scores can understand that. Miles had the chance to kick offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to the curb after last season and he didnt do it. When the offense continued to sputter this season, Cameron got kicked to the curb, all right. Where he landed on Miles.My guess is Miles would have fixed it by the end of this season, if not before. No one at LSU wanted to wait. Instead, dont be surprised if Tigers fans wait a long time to return to where Miles had taken them. Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys Wholesale College Jerseys Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Baseball Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Nike NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Soccer Jerseys China Cheap NCAA Jerseys China Stitched NFL Jerseys Cheap Custom Jerseys China Cheap Basketball Jerseys Authentic NFL Jerseys China Cheap College Jerseys Wholesale Football Jerseys ' ' '