Did Dwight Howard go to Orlando Magic management looking to get his coach fired? It depends on who you believe, but according to Stan Van Gundy that's exactly what his star center did.
In what may go down as one of his biggest blunders this year, Van Gundy went before the media, prior to tonight's nationally televised game, and told them that Dwight Howard had requested his firing. When asked by reporters how he knew that, the coach replied that he had been told by management, that obviously it would be a management decision, and that he wasn't worried about it.
At that point, the whole thing got a bit surreal as Dwight Howard wandered over to his coach and added, "Yeah Stan we aren't worried about that right?" To which Van Gundy replied, "That's just what I said, we have to be worried about winning games." Howard then placed his arm around his diminutive coach and together they talked about stopping Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks. After Van Gundy walked away, Howard denied having said anything to management.
So did he or didn't he? It really doesn't matter, what matters is what effect this will have on the team and on its fans, and the effect can't be good.
For one, fans can now surmise that the Orlando Magic front office has a problem with leaks, because whoever had a private conversation with Dwight Howard on the subject, either turned around and leaked it to either Van Gundy or to someone else who later told the coach. Either way, the damage is now done and it's highly unlikely that this will be a positive when it comes time to sign Howard again.
Secondly, most of this season has already been a circus with rumors of a possible Dwight Howard trade going all the way to the wire, and fans and team only being able to breath a collective sigh of relief once the trading deadline past. So now, especially if tonight's game is any indication (Howard had just 2 points and 5 turnovers through three quarters), the new riff between player and coach will keep the circus atmosphere going. How the team now deals with this new adversity will directly affect their playoff chances.
Then there is next season. If we are only going to have Howard for another year, and if the team has already been built around him, integrating a new coach into the system won't be easy. On the other hand if Van Gundy were to miraculously hang on for another year, keeping Dwight Howard happy enough to win a title will be a down right impossible task. Not to mention that at this point in time Van Gundy will be lucky to regain the respect of even one of his players, since he just threw his star center under the bus.
So, in the end who loses? Certainly not Stan Van Gundy, who will live to coach another day even if it's for another team, and neither will it be Howard who may just pack his all-star traveling bag and head for the nearest title contender. No, in the end, the only ones who stand to lose from this petty battle will be the Orlando Magic fans who may never see a championship title materialize out of the Dwight Howard era. And that's the real tragedy here.
As for the game, it wasn't even close, with the Knicks taking it 96-80, and Orlando Magic fans not even getting a chance to see rookie sensation Jeremy Lin in action.
About this writer: A resident of Orlando, FL, the writer has been a fan of the Orlando Magic since their inaugural season in the NBA. The writer lists Scott Skiles and Hedo Turkoglu among his all-time favorite Magic playe rs.
Source: Sun Sports Live Television Broadcast, Thursday 4/5/2012, 7 p.m.
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