At the conclusion of my previous post, I referred to
Dwight Howard as the new public enemy number 1. He was once seen as this
lovable, playful kid who liked to dance and joke around. Delivering Stan Van
Gundy impersonations at the drop of a hat. That may still be the case, but
those aren’t the only things that fans now associate with the big man. Selfish,
Indecisive, Diva... How did we arrive here? What drove fans to despise a man
who was once a media darling?
 | |||
They
grow up so fast.
On June 24, 2004, the Orlando Magic selected
Dwight Howard with the number 1 pick in the draft. In the previous season,
Tracy McGrady lead the team to grand total of 21 wins. In his rookie season,
the Magic saw a 15 game improvement. By his third season, he had made the All Star
Team and lead the Magic to the playoffs. Two seasons after that, the Magic
reached the NBA finals where they would fall to the Los Angeles Lakers. As of
today, Dwight Howard is a 6 time All Star, 5 time All NBA First Team member,
and a 3 time Defensive Player of the Year
No athlete has meant more to the city of Orlando
since Shaquille O’Neal. Now it appears that the magic shall lose another
superstar center just entering his prime. I may be in the minority of people
who have some sort of sympathy for Dwight. Stan Van Gundy's offense is not too
dissimilar to that of Vinny Del Negro's "(insert star name here) do
everything" it was pretty much three step process.
1. Look for
the lob to Dwight.
2. Look for
Dwight in the post
.
3. If 1 and 2
fail, shoot a three.
|
 |
So
I hear you guys run plays. Tell me what it’s like.
On defense Dwight was pretty much the only stopper
for majority of his time there. He was the entire offense outside of three
point shooting, and the entire defense. Also, I’m sure Otis Smith’s presence
made it harder for Dwight wear the blue and black. Some of his greatest hits
include, wisely not over paying Hedo Turkoglu after the 2009 season, only to
turn around and trade for him using the teams only other defensive player
(Mickael Pietrus). Matching the $34 million dollar offer sheet on Marcin Gortat
just so he could play back up to Dwight Howard. And acquiring Brandon Bass’
fatter, dumber, counterpart in a sign in trade that would cost $26 million.
All of this considered, I can understand why Dwight
would request a trade. In fact, it’s probably better that he did request a
trade because it would allow the Magic to try and get something of value,
rather than him leaving the team high and dry. Yet it was his indecisive nature
that has caused the biggest, most far reaching problems. In March of 2011, the
Nets expressed interest in Dwight Howard. With rumors swirling about Dwight’s
desire to leave the franchise, Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide made a drunken phone
call to Dwight pleading for him to stay. (God, I wish I had access to that
audio). When the lockout ended, Howard came forward with his trade request.
Chaos ensues. Pretty much every team in the association looks at their roster and
sees what they could offer to try and acquire the best center on the planet.
For example, the Dallas Mavericks declined to resign Tyson Chandler so that
they could have cap space to sign Dwight Howard straight up. (Ubershitty idea
Mark, Ubershitty idea.) As the trade deadline approached, Dwight appeared to
remain firm in his stance that he wanted to leave the organization. But
something happened on the team plane on the way back from San Antonio that made
Dwight Howard want to change his mind. Perhaps Otis had some nude pics ready to
forward to TMZ? The team announced
Howard would remain with the franchise for the 2012-2013 season. I guess some
people are gluttons for punishment.
This past April, while meeting with the media,
and sipping a diet Pepsi, Stan Van Gundy announced that that Dwight wanted him
fired. Dwight later butted in Kanye style and claimed he had no idea what Stan
was talking about.
|
 |
Hey
Stan. If you’re in danger, blink twice.
Eventually, Dwight's trade demand would be back on.
This is the point where most of America lost track of how many times he flipped
flopped. Also, this is the point where most of America began to hate his face.
But why the sudden change of heart this time? It came out that Dwight was truly
torn on what to do, and ended up listening too closely to those around him.
Well, for one. What happened to being your own man? Sure, we have all consulted
our friends and loved one when facing a tough decision. However, in the end we
have to follow our hearts. Letting others influence your life is weak. I feel
for the fans of Orlando. It’s like having that girl in your life who you are
head over heels for, but she continues to play with your emotions. One moment
she seems to be in love with you. The next she's off screwing some doucher she
met at the bar and then lies to your face when you ask about it and calls you
insecure and then you break up, but you can’t let go so you call her over and
over again but she won’t answer the phone but you know she’s there because
DAMMIT, I CAN SEE THE LIGHTS ARE ON IN YOUR HOUSE!!!.......sorry, I went to a
dark place there. At some point, you've just got to pull yourself away. I think
many of the Magic fans have done this by now.
|
 |
Oh
Dwight, you’re such a tease.
The season ended and so did Stan Van Gundy's
position as head coach of the Orlando Magic. Soon after, Otis Smith was put out
of his misery. The assistant GM Dave Twardzik and several scouts were cut loose
as well. They even fired Adonal Foyle, director of player development. The
Magic were cleaning house. Was this a last ditch effort to appease Dwight? Or
perhaps the Magic were prepping for life post Howard and these were the first
series of moves. The Lakers have reportedly dangled Andrew Bynum. The Nets have
offered up a bunch of nobodies featuring Brook Lopez. The Rockets have…well I
don’t know what the hell the Rockets are doing. One thing is clear. It has been a very long drawn out saga and we
will all be happy to see it come to a close.
|
25 Comments:
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Glad to see the banner get a few needed additions. Bosh. Amare in a sling. MWP's people's elbow. It's filling in nicely. Was a little sparse before.
ET
And yeah, Dwight is just a big immature tool. But I can't help but tune in to his latest act of stupidity because frankly, I find it hilarious.
And second, dude banged a co-worker, he brought his personal life to work (or the other way around) himself.
Hell, when I brought up Wally frickin Sczcerbiak's kid in harmless jest, people got crazy upset. You can't win, so don't try.
ET
IMO, just misses:
- Duncan face
- Bavetta
- Garnett's Alien impersonation
Oh, and this blog's posterboy, the mighty and immortal Greg-O!!!!
Great post, btw.
Who do I have to send a horses head to prevent this Dwight-to-LA talk?
Congrats Jason, great posts. If you have more in you, go ahead and post some more stuff.
Knicks: Hey, Lin. We're not going to offer you a contract, at all. Let the market set your value, as low as possible. Um, did we just say that out loud? What we meant was that we're certain you'll get a ton of offers so we can match and pay you fairly. And if we publicly say something like we'll match anything up to 1 billion dollars, which might discourage other teams to make offers, it's just a coincidence. And if we seem to be busy chasing other PGs, that's also a coincidence.
Lin: ...OK.
*time passes*
Knicks: You signed an offer for how much?!? How dare you, you ungrateful piece of @$!#!!! You know how much we'd have to pay in luxury tax because of YOU? And totally not because of tens of millions we've spent on Melo, Amare, and Chandler? We're so NOT matching although we've been saying publicly that we'll match anything up to 1 billion dollars! Dumping money on free agents with potential goes against everything this organization stands for!
Lin: ...OK.
Ship that baby there and put him in his place
FUCKING NAILED IT, BRUH.
+1
Also: best POTUS .gif of all time, ever, in the history of western civilization- behold!
http://imgur.com/Be4Rc
Miami Dodge