The situation was surreal. Stan Van Gundy during a post-shoot around media meet up decided to out Dwight Howard and reveal to everyone that yes, it is true, Dwight does want me fired. His source? An exec within the Magic organization. It only became weird when Dwight Howard strolled by, unbeknown to him what his coach had just revealed to the media throng turned pack of wild crazed wolves hungry for a juicy story, put his arm around Stan Van Gundy and asked what was going on that reporters had them right where they wanted him.
Yeah Dwight. No more smiles and child-like guesstures. There would be no more false pretense. Dwight was now reliving the nightmare he thought he had avoided when he opted in to the final year of his contract. Yesterday was the final scene of the movie revealing to its audience that a darker, more cruel sequel was on its way. Stan Van Gundy quickly high-tailed it out of there leaving Dwight to answer for his own doing. It was comical to watch Howard answer unconvincingly that he had no idea about any accusations being thrown around about insurrection and the like. It was hilarious to see the usually upbeat Howard sullen and confused to be facing controversy.
My mind drifted to the guy who danced on stage during the All Star Game. To the guy who donned the Super Man cape for the Slam Dunk competition. His ability to captivate and enthrall an audience is apparent. He has a gift. But that invincible mask is being removed. Now the boos are coming. Much louder, and from his own fans. Tired of seeing a grown man not answer honestly for his treason. Denying what everyone around him knows to be true. Its sad. Its pathetic. Eventually the smiles that he inspired will disappear and dissolve into the mixture of denials and pleas to believe. Remember loyalty? The word he so specifically used to describe why he was staying? That press conference will be replayed over and over again in Magic fans minds and memory. Remember that when he gets rid of a Top 5 coach and then he himself walks through those doors within a year.
The Magic won’t win an NBA championship this year or the next. But at least now there is some resolution as to what will happen next. Whether its smart or not, Stan Van Gundy will almost certainly lose his job at the end of this year. His team has lost five in a row and has scored 50 points twice, in full 48 minute games, this season in which the team has dealt with Howard’s contractual situation and yet STILL have an above .500 record.
Coaching mutinies happen all the time. Last year in Detroit the players hated head coach John Kuester so much that they walked out of practice to show solidarity. Magic Johnson had his first Laker coach fired, that’s AFTER winning a title with him. This isn’t even the first time the DeVos family, owners of the Magic, has had to deal with this issue: Penny Hardaway once convinced the Magic owner to get rid of Brian Hill. As outrageous as this situation is, it isn’t new territory. Superstar players play for coaches that have the same belief system they do: they are the star, and that’s how it goes. Orlando’s opponent last night, the Knicks, managed to get Mike D’Antoni canned thanks to Carmelo Anthony who refused to play hard on either end to satisfy the ball-moving offense that D’Antoni preferred to run through Jeremy Lin.
But this is more so about Dwight Howard than anything. We lament our superstars inability to come through in the clutch and show any kind of manhood when being pressed about a truth that has all but been confirmed. Dwight hoped that the more he said no and denied it, the reporters would then ease up. Of course I doubt he knows the magnitude of what his soon to be former head coach Stan Van Gundy did.
I’m sure Stan Van was tired of all the posturing and fakeness from his superstar. His arm around him and calling for reporter David Ping who had originally reported, that Dwight had called for Stan Van’s job, didn’t realize that Stan was no longer playing his game. No longer was everyone standing in his corner catering to his every desire. Now that it had been confirmed there was no reason to believe anything out of Dwight’s mouth. I’m not condoning Stan’s handling of this. He should not have come outright with it but you understand from a human side why he did what he did. You can only take the B.S. for so long. You can only sit and allow someone to control your fate until you seize hold of it yourself. I don’t condone Stan for how he behaved but I applaud him for what he did.
Superstars should not be coddled. Should they be treated differently? Yes. Coddled? No. Superstar players are NOT like you or me whether we want to admit it or not. They have a gift from God (Yes i’m evangelizing) which very few have and that sets them apart. You can’t teach what they have. Those that hone their skill and become excellent owe that to hard work and dedication, traits to be applauded and to be respected. Its when they become a superstar that the pivotal part occurs. What goes wrong in a player’s DNA that causes them to change? Dwight had been empowered for too long and had been told by the organization that they would stand behind him 100% in whatever he chose. He was empowered because NBA teams need their superstars. Their owners need superstars to sell out arenas. Owners ONLY see the bottom-line. Wins = Revenue. Revenue = Bigger profit. Bigger profit = happy owner. Happy owner seeks out superstar and makes him very rich and understand that anything is his. This is the problem and there is NO solution until fans become owners. And even then decisions will be based on money and profitability. Dwight isn’t the ONLY problem here. This is an issue that goes on in every single team in every single sport. The superstars get the preferential treatment and always get their wishes. Coaches be damned. Team unity be damned. Cohesion be damned. NOTHING matters.
Which is why it was comical to hear Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cavs blast Lebron James right to exercise his option to become a free agent and leave. We can blast his inability to play to his potential at the most pivotal stretches of games and the way in which he chose to announce his departure but we can NOT blast a guy who understands business-wise that HE holds all the cards. Dwight Howard is right now in the middle of that struggle. He’s struggling because, like Lebron he wants everyone to like him but unlike Lebron doesn’t have the balls to make up his mind. And this should not always come back on to Lebron but the parallels are nuts. You see how very little it matters to team ownership the job of a head coach.
If anything that Lebron and Dwight have done, its given me a greater and deeper appreciation for Phil Jackson. There are more selfish, superstar types in the sports world than not. Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose’s don’t grow on trees. So a guy with the skill set of a Phil Jackson: the ability to calm a collective group of knuckleheads. The ability to keep everyone focused on the one goal of winning a championship suddenly becomes a far more prized commodity and a skill that not many have mastered.
Dwight Howard will one day look at this chapter in his growth and maturity with a passing laugh. He may wind up on a team that fulfills his wish of being a likable superstar with multiple championships like Shaq, but we won’t soon forget Stan Van Gundy. We will remember the day when he took hold of his fate and hold of his destiny and decided that nobody, not even the bread winner was going to ruin his tenure there. Good for Stan Van, bad for Dwight. I wonder how long it takes for Dwight to realize that nobody is smiling with him. That everyone has seen him for the phony he is. That nobody takes kindly to liars. That not everyone bows down to him in the Magic organization. That perhaps he can’t charm everyone and maybe its time for him to just come out with who he truly is. Accept it Dwight. This is your movie. This next movie will ultimately not matter in the long run because fans can be won over and really that’s all that matters. Beat writers can harp on the truth and carry grudges with players for as long as they’d like, but Dwight’s present will ultimately be judged on those 12 games that he so lovingly claimed he spared his coach. Why would he fire his coach after 12 games when he can tank the rest of the season, tank the first round and then send him on his way? Good for Coach Van Gundy. No need to leave on someone else’s terms.
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