Dwight Howard is right about one thing. As long as he is in Orlando he will never win an NBA title. As it looks right now as long as anyone is in Orlando they will never win a championship.
With the news of the Magic firing one of the top-five coaches in the league and the general manager that rode in with him I was shocked at the first name rumored to take over. Granted, at this point everyone knows Shaq has declined to pursue the position, but that isn’t the issue. The real issue is why was he considered in the first place?
Lets look at it this way, Shaq was a phenomenal player and the most dominant center of his generation. Lets also add that , at this juncture, general manager isn’t something I would give him right now. beyond the obvious lack of experience (which isn’t essential but is a huge factor) if you’re truly serious about building a contender and keeping Dwight Howard why would you bring in an executive who has a negative history with Dwight Howard?
Mind-boggling, but not the worst decision.
Lets say you do manage to convince Dwight Howard that Orlando is the place for him to etch his name alongside some of the greatest names in history to play for one team. So you got him on board and, as luck would have it, Jerry Sloan has interest in the job. Great! Except there’s one problem with considering Jerry Sloan: you’ve completely eliminated yourself from any possible chance at signing Deron Williams this off-season. I don’t know if they remember or not, but there was a pretty nasty break-up in Utah with those two; and Orlando needs a point guard.
(side note: on Colin Cowherd’s radio program Tuesday, one of the things he talked about when trying to convince Howard to stick with one team and “getting a statue outside the building” he mentioned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It should be noted that Jabbar played six seasons in small-market Milwaukee before going to Los Angeles. Probably not the greatest of names to throw in.)
So what of the current state of this team? Where do they go? Well, as I type word is coming in that they have opted to seek a trade for Dwight Howard. So now you’re out a top-five coach, the best center in the league, and you’re looking to build through a draft you’re slotted to pick 19th.
Good luck, Orlando. Judging by the personnel you will very well need it.
