Is Dwight Right?
Dwight was obviously frustrated with the way his squad fell apart in the second half against the Celtics last night, leading to this press conference when he put blame on the coaching staff. This is now at least the second time Dwight has called out Stan Van Gundy in public in the last few weeks. Is this the kind of thing that Dwight should be doing behind closed doors? And what does this mean for SVG’s future with Orlando?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
bsteezy3 says:
Whether he is right or wrong, this is not the way to handle things. He should’ve told Van Gundy this to his face or in the locker room. I think Dwight is watching too much SportsCenter, listening to the critics. This is a familiar scene in Orlando. This is partly what got Doc Rivers fired during his stint, and also Brian Hill. If Dwight is gonna be the face of the franchise, then he has to be more professional than that. I’m disappointed.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Blue says:
Here’s an interesting article about this whole situation. I usually don’t like Hollinger’s PER crap, but he brought a lot of good points.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-090513
Dwight wasn’t having any success against Perkins. I saw at least a couple of plays where he took bad shots because he couldn’t get good inside position against Perk.
Even so, he shouldn’t do this in front of everybody. You’re the star player on the team. You be a man about it and take it up with the head man one-on-one behind closed doors.
Besides, wasn’t Howard in foul trouble throughout the game?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Willis says:
You got a dominant player, you let him be dominant.
They need the other Van Gundy to coach this team.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Big T says:
There aren’t any “dominant” players on Orlando’s team.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Big T says:
Also, Dwight looks like he just came from an Outkast music video audition. That sweater has to go…
May 13th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
bsteezy3 says:
Besides, why is Dwight blaming coach van gundy? Why not blame the POINT GUARDS?? He should do it in the locker room or at practice though. Don’t air dirty laundry. Ever since Shaq said the “Master of Panic” quote, everyone has been jumping on that–looks like Dwight is a victim too. Blame the team for the panic attacks–they’ve been doing this all year…
May 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
AY says:
ewing is your mentor, why haven’t you mastered the “travel 5 steps to take a jumper at the free-throw line” move so that you don’t have to be 1 foot from the rim to become effective? If you can’t get the ball within dunking distance, you throw up these bad hooks that misses by 3 feet against single coverage from perk, you are not a dominant player. Heck, Joe Johnson got doubled whenever he has the ball and they don’t even bother to send you one, how dominant are you? I’d start gortat to send a message; of course, i’ll get fired; but if you don’t send a message with this type of call-out, you’ll never run another nba team.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Notorious says:
I think poster #1 summed it pretty well, disappointed in this aproach as it is going to split the team up taking sides. Should have been behind closed doors, face to face with coach.
Big T is right too, there are no dominant players on Orlando. Howard has all the tools to be dominant, but it is going to take a lot of work on his end to get there.
Even though I dont consider Dwight dominant now, doesn’t mean that Orlando can ignore him and jack 3’s all night long. They need to feed him the ball and at least get the Celtics to collapse the D on him, then he can kick it back out for wide open looks. Instead they are just jackin’ and hoping he rebounds for them. That ain’t team ball.
Van Gundy also needs to coach these guys when they go off track instead of doing his Kobe thing and saying screw it, let them learn the hard way.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Michorizo says:
Dwight needs to blame himself…Everyone on that team needs to blame themselves…you don’t become a champion by pointing a finger at someone else. This goes beyond basketball.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
chee4three says:
Dwight should of gotten more touches BUT the best he can do is draw fouls. No way he scoring consistently. Howard is one of those guys who look buff but in reality he not that strong. If you watch the game in great detail, he cannot overpower Perkins. Howard is best when somebody penatrate in and pass him the ball and put back dunks. He’s no Yao. Yao has tons of low post moves. But since Dwight is suppose to be the “franchise” and “Superstar(or superman), you have to live and die by him.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
BERN BROGDEN says:
TALK TO THEM #9!!!!
Everybody needs to blame themselves.
By the way…
STAN VAN GUNDY CALLS OUT PLAYERS ALL THE TIME.
So he needs to channel is inner Puffy and TAKE THAT, TAKE THAT, TAKE THAT.
#8 — your 3rd paragraph speaks VOLUMES. Props for recognizing that.
#1 – your 1st two sentences sums up how he should’ve dealt with the situation. Be a man. Men demand respect. Boys look to make a spectacle.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Michorizo says:
Maybe blame that little boy’s dad that made Big Baby apologize to the boy for so-called “pushing” him … I wonder if he wants another FKN apology after Orlando lost last night!
May 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Saku 39 says:
The Magic should hire Savion Glover as a coach because Dwight will never become a dominant offensive player with his current footwork.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Ian says:
blue i think that per is better than then the normal boxscore crap i know its flawed but most of the time it gets it right.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
SJ says:
Talking public should not be the first way to go, or even second. But if all other options have been exhausted, bring that talk to the media. Dwight is their franchise player. Give him the ball. Dwight averaged 57.2 FG% regular season. Over the last two season he averaged 60 FG%. There is no reason he should only get 10 damn shots in a playoff game.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
K.i.n.G. says:
All NBA teams are up! LBJ, Kobe, DWade, Dirk, and Dwight highlight first team!
May 13th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
K.i.n.G. says:
All NBA teams are up! LBJ, Kobe, DWade, Dirk, and Dwight highlight first team! SHAQ GETS THIRD TEAM SELECTION JEAAAAAAA!!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Guitar Hero says:
o-v-e-r-r-a-t-e-d.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
? says:
That was totally unprofesional while showing no respct for authority you do those type of things as a highschool sophmore player. Secondly his teammates are the blame for not respecting his presence down low and passing him the ball his team is clearly the blame the coach isnt on the floor with him. Third theyre going down in 6 and it will be a learning experince to them on how to seize the moment and make the best of your opprotunities playing as a team and forget about trying to do it alone
May 13th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
ianodelaleza says:
he needs to demand the ball his godam self! in game! tell lewis, alston, turk to pass him the fuckin ball…bitch them out when they take lame shots etc etc
one thing you can say about shaq is, he always demanded and got the ball, even in his rookie year and he made sure of it
dwight NEEDS to man up now, this is his 5th year, he wants franchise money, he needs to become the franchise player
and its not a good move callin your coach out….shaq can say what he wants cuz hes top 10 all time, dwights nothing atm ( i know he could be moses malone ) but RIGHT NOW he needs to put his head down and work!
May 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Big Island says:
If Dwight had an offensive game other than someone lobbing the ball to him for a dunk or someone driving and dishing to him for a dunk, maybe he’d have a point. Why would they go to him when all he will do is throw up one of those busted hook shots or get fouled and hit one free throw? He should just be quiet since he isn’t beasting Perkins by any means and Perk isn’t even a great defender.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Rare Air says:
Master of Panic!!!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
BNZA says:
Dwight still has A LOT to learn.
He is nowhere near LBJ, CP3 or Flash.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
kevin k says:
why go to You when
1. you have no post moves.
2. I have more post moves than you when im only 6 ft and my 1st position was a pg
3. did i mention you dont have any post moves?
4. you have no court awareness when you have the ball
5. you are turnover king
6. you can’t hit a freethrow to save your life
7. you have some scrub named Skip who is your PG
8. Hedo thinks he’s Kobe
May 13th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
uneeda says:
Dwight Howard = Greg Ostertag, with a cape
May 13th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
doc says:
Dwight is a beast and can call out his coach just like his coach called him out about 35 times this year.Only problem I got with him is I never see him telling dudes to pass him the ball.He should have somebody gripped up in the air by they jersey telling them to get him the fucking ball.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
King says:
He just not a good 1 on 1 offensive player. The real
Ismatch they got is rashard and I soon with all the other C’s fans would like to thank svg for not using it. Now that dwight spoke out I’m glad they’re gonna force feed him the ball tomorrow so he can be exposed. The kid is no Duncan , Kg or Bosh for that matter offensively
May 13th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Big Freeze says:
LMFAO at 24 and 25!
May 13th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Kermit The Washington says:
Dwight is straight wrong for this…even IF Van Gundy does it too…it’s wrong to call out players or coaches out in the media like that. Nothing good ever comes out of it (only exception: Kobe calling out Bynum…but wait, that wasn’t even the real media, that was some amateur hidden camera mess). You don’t need that tension in the locker room in the playoffs, facing elimination. That was real immature of Dwight to do that.
http://www.CalmYoSelf.com
Latest post: Makin’ Beats Like Julia Child
May 13th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Promoman says:
I have to say that Dwight’s right. Anybody who has at least a working knowledge of the game knows that guards do tend to hold on to the ball and freeze out post players. Yao Ming is in the same boat too. Dwight likely has talked to his teammates about it but it’s the coach’s job to get the players in line. Even though Dwight needs to add more to his offense, he can still draw fouls. The Celtics are depleted as it is and the Magic can put them on the ropes with foul trouble.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:41 am
QQ says:
Dwight should have handled this differently, but I can feel him. As a Magic fan, it was painful to watch the game slip away without our best player even touching the ball. I usually get Stan’s high pick and roll offense (which is usually meant to free up the wings), but why give the ball to the 3 and 4 if they can’t make their shot? Besides, Dwight is getting superb position after the first screen, because the defense targets the the guy with the ball, not the screener.
I still have faith in SVG. His offense worked for us, and it’s not the time to change it. I just hope that sometimes, he is willing to make the adjustments if the whole thing ain’t clicking.
May 14th, 2009 at 5:41 am
rick773 says:
You’d hope Howard could be the bigger man and voice his concerns in private but truth be told Van Gundy throws his players under the bus quite a bit. Just like last year when he got on D Howard for not rebounding enough. I’m not saying D howard is right but I understand why he did it
May 14th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Rizwan says:
Dwight is overrated. He is just a better Rodman. All he does is dunk. I think he is another player who is a second option like Bosh and Gasol, franchise players on crap teams, but great 2nd options on great teams. Unless he spedns major time in the gym over the summer getting some mover and a 12ft jumper, this team is going nowhere quickly. All this junk he does is good fun for like a minute but thats it.
If Yao wasnt injured all the time, everyone would have stated Yao’s better. Even now some say they would take Yao despite his injuries. Yao on this Orlando team would have them in the same position as Dwight has them now.
May 14th, 2009 at 6:23 am
? says:
Hes totally out of line because you dont take problems with the coash to the media or in public thats something high school sophmores to blame their coach for not getting busy like they were supposed to. Secondly the will lose the series in 6 but it will be a learning experience on how to seize the opprotunity and play as a team to reach one common goal a chip.Third this series so his teammated lack of respect for his presence in the paint i mean he needs to talk to his teammates the coach can tell them what to do but he is not on that court
May 14th, 2009 at 6:25 am
? says:
Hes also gonna have to get a legitimate face up game and some real post up moves ot he will never really be a scoring option hes only effective being 2 feet away from the basket and his hooks look like hopeful heaves at the basket
May 14th, 2009 at 6:25 am
? says:
Hes also gonna have to get a legitimate face up game and some real post up moves or he will never really be a scoring option hes only effective being 2 feet away from the basket and his hooks look like hopeful heaves at the basket
May 14th, 2009 at 7:51 am
haslem says:
I agree with Dwight. He was pretty mature about it and voiced his opinion. He didn’t seem to call anyone out specifically.
If I’m the magic I’m thrilled u have my big man stepping up and wanting to take this team to new heights. That he displayed he’s not afraid of shooting the ball in crunch time. He’s not blaming the refs or any teammate specifically and is simply saying “let me do this, let me lead this team” that’s awesome to me, he’s not the type to yell at his teammates on the court to give him the ball either. He should be mad and this is his team.
10 shots is unacceptable, and he’s right, KGs not there to stop him, Dwight should be able to dominate this series, by having the wings just hoist up jump shots the Magic are ignoring quite literally an elephant in the room, an elephant that can dominate, and crush opponents. If talking about it on national television helps change …good.
coincidence: rafear on the Rockets yao dosent get enough touches, Rafear on the Magic, Dwight not getting enough touches.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am
bookkwormmaster says:
I have a question. Since when did Dwight Howard EARN the right to be called a FRANCHISE PLAYER? Other than killing all manner of different records at his age and being a phsically dominant freak of nature where did he earn the right to be called a franchise player. I’m not knocking him because I do like him (not really a fan per se) but when I think of franchise players guys like Kobe, Tim Duncan, LeBron, D-Wade, Shaq (in his prime) come to mind. Howard doesn’t even command even respect from his teammates to feed him the ball when he is the best player and the supposedly franchise player.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:17 am
haslem says:
@bookkwormmaster:
thats a good point acctually, he’s no shaq yet. but regardless I’d say that the magic is his team, and he’s not exactly going up against Hakeem at the moment so he should be allowed to do “his thing”