Note to the Orlando Magic organization: you asked for this. Don’t pretend that you didn’t see it coming, and had no precedent anywhere else in recent NBA history on which to draw. Are you the only ones in America who never even heard of “The Decision”?
Dwight Howard has detonated the Magic’s season, which mercilessly continued Saturday night in Philadelphia, two days after every scrap of their dirty laundry (as far as we know, at least) was exposed during a day-long deluge of embarrassment in Orlando.
Stan Van Gundy was, indeed, on site to coach the Magic against the 76ers, just as he said he expected to be Thursday night ... after his team had curled up in the fetal position in a nationally televised game against the Knicks. Howard turned in one of the softest performances of his career against New York after Van Gundy brought to light his knowledge of Howard’s attempt to back-door him with management.
And, of course, after Howard had exposed himself by casually and flippantly interrupting Van Gundy’s morning press conference to laughingly deny the very report his coach had just confirmed.
That’s old news by now, though. It’s also old news the Magic are going down like a 100th-anniversary tribute to the Titanic. They beat Philly on Saturday to end a five-game losing streak, but have fallen to sixth in the East standings with 10 games left. This puts them in great position to get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the second straight season.
That’s with Howard, the player that ownership and the front office is groveling to at the expense of everybody else there ... because the Magic would be in so much trouble if he gets away, either by free agency or by trade.
Good move. Because right now, things are going so well with him.
It seems like a lot longer than three seasons ago that Howard -- and, yes, Van Gundy -- carried the Magic to the NBA Finals against the Lakers. They’ve gone backward since then as their subservience to Howard has grown, right along with his desire to take full advantage of that subservience.
Van Gundy appears to be the only figure in authority who has not followed team policy in catering to the meal ticket. It’s made him popular in certain circles, especially with his bluntness last week about Howard lobbying to have him fired. That popularity obscured the fact that it’s done him and his team no good whatsoever this season.
Supposedly, his job description still includes winning games with the league’s best center, rather than entertaining writers and fans who love seeing pompous, entitled players put in their place.
And as all of this is going on -- as Howard is diligently seeking new ways to prove how immature a 26-year-old eight-year veteran can act, and as Van Gundy keeps trying to save a job that long ago stopped being worth saving -- the hierarchy at the top of the Magic staff directory only added to the dysfunction with general manager Otis Smith telling ESPN that Howard did not ask for Van Gundy's dismissal.
"If [Howard] did ask he's wrong, and for Stan to address it in public, that is wrong," Smith told ESPN on Saturday.
Yes, the trade deadline is passed, it’s impossible to move Howard or make any roster moves that could improve things, and firing the coach three weeks from the playoffs is pointless.
But the responsibility for this lies with owner Richard DeVos, president Alex Martins (who got this thankless job after his predecessor notoriously drunk-dialed Howard before the season, or so Howard says), or Smith, just as much as it does the petulant, waffling Howard.
Howard has not done one thing that management hasn’t allowed him to do, including go behind the coach’s back to demand his ouster, at least according to his coach.
To bring this full circle -- back to the aforementioned “Decision” -- it’s the same mistake the Cavaliers made while trying to keep LeBron James from leaving, while they either never knew or stayed in denial that he had already made up his mind to go. The Magic keep believing somehow that Howard wants to stay and got suckered in by his show of “loyalty” at the trade deadline last month, when at the last second he chose not to walk after this season after all.
The Cavaliers also took zero accountability for their role in the fiasco, as the infamous Dan Gilbert “revenge” email proved.
If James didn’t have such a huge head-start, Howard would have already passed him as the most annoying, easily despised player in the league. He’s already the only one foolish enough to even challenge him with his actions regarding his upcoming free-agency.
With all that Howard did, though, what does that say about the Magic franchise when it let Howard do it, over and over again?
Just this: they asked for it.
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