Last year, around the start of the playoffs, a Chris Ballard article in SI circulated, essentially asking the basic question: "Is Dwight Howard's perceived jolly personality a detriment to the Magic's chances in the playoffs?"

There are a lot of problems with that question, as well as the line of thinking that precipitates it, not the least of which is that the entire question is inherently faulty and one Howard can never adequately answer: if he loses, it's because he was too jolly and not serious enough; if he wins, it's because he 'finally got serious', or some such nonsense.

But one thing that often is lacking in thought paths like the one Ballard wrote, not just about Dwight but about pro athletes in general, is the effect that positivity has on the surrounding players. More after the jump.

Through most of the offseason, a huge amount of press was given to the fact that Orlando was adding FIVE NEW PLAYERS, as though that was some sort of mammoth undertaking that might prove insurmountable, while also ignoring that San Antonio had added the same number of new players.

And it's proven fine. Vince Carter was on fire in the New Jersey game before twisting his ankle. Brandon Bass has played shockingly good, tough defense and hit midrange jumpers whenever he's played. Jason Williams hasn't looked this good since 2005. Matt Barnes is all over the place on the court, quietly putting up the kind of numbers that roto league fantasy players love. And Ryan Anderson! Ryan Anderson, the supposed throw-in of the VC trade has quietly(QUIETLY!) averaged 17 and 4 in 26 minutes a game.

And a lot of that falls on Dwight, and his supposed detrimental personality. When a team's superstar, franchise player has a positive personality, that tends to affect those around him. Everyone who's ever worked a job knows that working with a leader who's an asshole sucks. Well, isn't Dwight supposed to be the leader? Then why would you want him to act like an asshole to his teammates? Is there some rule that states that only assholes can be successful? Isn't Bill Russell supposed to be the nicest person ever?

This kind of stark disconnect was on full display at this year's Naismith hall of fame inductions, and it's unfortunate how it went down, and I won't discuss it but briefly here, as it's already been beaten to death. Still though, while one could argue that the perennial winner was grinding axes while two "losers" in Robinson and Stockton were gracious and kind, it's also difficult not to realize that Stockton and Robinson dedicated huge tracts of their speech time towards thanking players they felt they were inferior to. Really, the biggest controversy to come out of Robinson's OR Stockton's speech was when they "argued" over which of the 2 of them played with the best power forward of all time.*

Now imagine those guys in their playing days: all things being equal, which one of those guys do you think a new teammate would rather play with?

And so you look at team led by Dwight, a fun loving man-child whose favorite movie is Finding Nemo, and also Jameer Nelson, an undersized player from Philadelphia who invites players to hang out with him in Philly to play paintball and go to baseball games during the offseason, and you have a scenario where teammates not only are set up to succeed, but have a net to not worry about failing.

Result: So far, the team is 3-0, leads the league in Offensive Rating by almost 3 points per 100 possessions, and are up over 7 points per 100 possessions on the 3rd best team with a staggering 123.03 Ortg. And tonight, the Magic have the potential to finally get the Pistons monkey off their backs.

And I imagine if they do, Dwight will still be smiling.

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