Stan Van Gundy “Dwight Howard Wants Me Fired”

There’s a saying that goes “a man is most dangerous when he has nothing to lose”. Well I think its time to label Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy a dangerous man. Today before their game against the Knicks he let the cat out the bag, telling the media that he knew for a fact that Dwight Howard had requested that he be fired. Why would SVG do that, well… what does he have to lose at this point, his job? Yeah as if he really cares about his job anymore knowing that management is probably going to fire him no matter what.

While we can all pretty much see that Dwight Howard is at fault for basically wasting a season, when do we start to place the blame on the Orlando Magic organization? All year behind the scenes Howard has been flip flopping on what he wanted to do when it came to wanting to stay or go. You basically pressured him into staying even though he was half committal. The Magic should’ve cut their losses and traded Dwight when they had the chance. Yes, he gives them a better chance at winning and making the playoffs, however, how far can he really help them go when they all know he doesn’t think they’re good enough and can’t wait to get out of town.

Not saying that his lack of faith in his teammates is the sole reason they’re not as good as they could be, but when you have to answer questions about your co-workers problems, work becomes a burden instead of fun.

At some point in this saga someone has to be responsible and end the madness and maybe that’s what Van Gundy was attempting to do. Put everything out in the open and let the cards fall where they may. Conversely, in his quest to make everything transparent he did make available a private conversation that was had with him that I’m willing to guess was meant to stay private. This whole situation has been a breach of confidence with no one having faith in any each other and the right hand steadily telling the left hand what its next plan is. No matter what happens next, the Orlando Magic management needs to get a back bone and run their organization. Yes the NBA is a players league, but when you’re under contract you’ll go out and do your job if you know that your voice holds no weight. The Magic have gone down this road with Howard and now risk losing not only him but their good coach and will have nothing to show for it.

So while there may be some sympathy for Stan Van Gundy, in the end, everyone is loser in this process. Even when trying to brush the dirt off your grave you still get your hands dirty.

Below is the video of the most awkward moment of the year so far, as Dwight Howard hugs Stan Van Gundy after being thrown under the bus.;