ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Rookie Andrew Nicholson scored 18 points and Glen Davis added 17 to help the Orlando Magic beat the San Antonio Spurs 104-100 Sunday night in preseason action.
Rookie Nicholson shines, Magic beat Spurs 104-100 (Yahoo! Sports)
21 Oct
2012
2012
Jrue Holiday scores 27, Sixers down Magic 102-95 (Yahoo! Sports)
11 Oct
2012
2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Jrue Holiday had 27 points and Nick Young added 22 as the Philadelphia 76ers held off the Orlando Magic 102-95 in a preseason game Thursday night.
Magic try to get on track amid spate of injuries (Yahoo! Sports)
10 Oct
2012
2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- It may take until the very end of the preseason before Magic coach Jacque Vaughn gets a true glimpse of what his team will look like this season.
Phelps to join Feherty for show ahead of Ryder Cup (The Associated Press)
20 Sep
2012
2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Michael Phelps is getting another chance to show off his funny side. And he'll have some help from the glibbest man in golf.
Dwight Howard won't be back to live NBA action for a bit, as he'll miss the beginning of training camp and the start of the preseason while continuing to strengthen his lower back following April surgery to repair the herniated disk that ended his 2011-12 campaign. When he does come back, though, he'll be wearing the purple and gold of the Los Angeles Lakers, thanks to a four-team megadeal that made the Lakers a championship favorite and consigned the Orlando Magic to the ranks of the rebuilding.
The trade ended Howard's protracted and indelicate attempts to exit Orlando, a months-long tire fire in which Howard repeatedly made decisions that seemed to anger and disgust not only Magic fans, but just about everyone following the fiasco. This, it appears, was not his intention.
In an interview with ESPN.com's Ric Bucher filmed for the network's regularly televised "Sunday Conversation" segment, Howard said he doesn't "have any regrets" about the way things transpired (which makes sense, because after it all, he wound up moving from Orlando to Hollywood, playing alongside Hall of Fame talent and putting himself in position to again contend for a title) except for a wish that "some of the lies and some of the things being said didn't come out the way [they] did" (which makes sense, because Dwight definitely didn't want the whole "I secretly asked management to fire my coach" thing to come out the way it did).
No regrets, then, but some valuable wisdom gleaned:
"That's one of the lessons that I learned, you know. I can't make everybody happy," Howard told Bucher.
Man, you ain't kiddin'.
While trying to decide how to handle his business, a lot of conflicting thoughts and images kept running through Howard's mind, including the epic backlash that followed "The Decision."
"And it was a tug of war between my feelings and the fans and everybody else and their feelings and what happened to LeBron. And I saw him — everybody hated him for leaving Cleveland and what he did," Howard said of LeBron James' free-agent move from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat in 2010. "I never wanted anybody to hate me, you know. I wanted everybody to love me, you know, like me, for sticking around and doing what they wanted me to do. And making everybody else happy. And that was a valuable lesson for me, you know.
"I can't make everybody happy."
This is well-trodden territory, but still, for the sake of clarity, it's worth noting that while James earned whatever scorn he received for making a public spectacle of rejecting a fan base in the summer of 2010, he was 100 percent within his rights to pick whichever team he wanted to play for, because he had come to the end of his deal with the Cavaliers and was a free agent. Howard tried to work his escape plan while still under contract with the Magic. So, yeah. People got pissed.
That said, it's easy to understand why Howard might've gotten shook behind what happened to James, who went from being the NBA's golden child to someone whose jersey people were burning in effigy and the sport's most hated individual overnight. That seemed like a pretty rough deal; after all, nobody likes to be hated. (Well, except Kobe Bryant, maybe.)
However, this doesn't seem entirely accurate — most of the actions Howard took beginning in December, just after the end of the 2011 NBA lockout, when he reportedly demanded to be traded to the then-New Jersey Nets, seemed pretty clearly aimed at making Dwight happy, irrespective of how anybody else felt about it. In the months that followed Howard's trade demands, the six-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year burned through every ounce of goodwill he'd built up with Magic fans since the team drafted him in 2004, creating a strained environment by continuing to push for a move even as the Magic established themselves as a clear No. 3 behind the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference prior to the trade deadline.
But then, just before the March 15 deadline, Howard did make a decision that seemed predicated on not wanting people to hate him, choosing to opt into the final year of his contract. But even as he presented that choice as a symbol of his loyalty to the franchise, he continued to decline to ink a long-term extension and leave the door open to exiting after the '12-13 season, which didn't do much to assuage concerns that he wanted to bolt.
Less than a month later, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was telling reporters that he knew Howard had called for his firing, to which Howard said, "Yeah, but not recently." The atmosphere surrounding the team grew increasingly chaotic and the on-court product suffered, with the Magic going through an ugly 2-7 stretch that saw them drop in the East's standings before losing Howard to the back injury and bowing out in the first round of the playoffs to the Indiana Pacers. After the playoff ouster, Howard finally got his reputed wish, as the Magic jettisoned both Van Gundy and general manager Otis Smith, but he continued to press his trade demand, further alienating the remaining diehards who still supported him. If all that wasn't enough, Howard postponing and then canceling an appearance at his own basketball camp for Orlando youth was probably the nail in the coffin of "Dwight Howard: Person Who Is Not Hated In Central Florida." (The people of Orlando didn't seem particularly moved by Howard's too-little, too-late "thank you" newspaper ad.)
Now, though, it's September, and all parties involved have moved on. Howard's trying to get healthy and prepared to join Kobe, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and company in L.A. Van Gundy's dropping science on podcasts and reportedly getting set to join ESPN's NBA studio show. Otis Smith's getting inducted into the Florida Association of Basketball Court of Legends, which sounds nice. And the Magic ... well, um, the Magic'll be scrappy, and Hedo Turkoglu's contract only runs two more years. Training camps start in just two weeks, so it's time for everyone involved to put this in their rear-view mirrors.
That's especially true for Howard, who we can only hope has actually absorbed the lessons he claims to have learned. I think most of us would like to see "I can't make everybody happy" joined by "I should do what I believe is right, even when it's unpopular" and "It's best to be honest and honorable, even in difficult situations," but realizing that trying to please everyone all the time is a fool's errand is no small bit of personal growth for a 26-year-old. It's just a shame it took about eight months of dragging Orlando fans through the muck for Dwight to get there.
More sports news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:
Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Video: Stephen Gostkowski misses kick as Patriots stunned in home opener
• Brad Keselowski may be Roger Penske's ticket to win elusive Sprint Cup Championship
• Virginia Tech and Virginia are reeling after getting shelled by unranked teams
• Y! Movies: New 'RoboCop' suit revealed in first photo from the remake
Dwight Howard thanks Orlando in a full page newspaper ad; Orlando is slow to respond
02 Sep
2012
2012
Dwight Howard led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals just three years and three months ago. He made the team a viable championship candidate for years, won three Defensive Player of the Year awards on the franchise's watch, while observing as former GM Otis Smith frittered away the impact of his brilliance with a litany of terrible personnel moves. He was well in his right to want the heck out of Orlando once the misery that was the 2010-11 season ended, a campaign that saw Smith attempting to recover from the moves-after-the-moves-after-the-moves that made it so Howard and Jameer Nelson (players that Smith did not draft) were working against the tide to make it back to those Finals.
Yet, in a miserable bit of self-aggrandizement, tactlessness, obliviousness and incompetence that in comparison made Smith look like the NBA executive of the decade, Howard blew any goodwill he had from outsiders that understood that his best years would probably be best spent away from Orlando. Dwight was traded from Orlando to the Los Angeles Lakers early in August, just a few days after cowardly begging off an appearance at his own youth camp so as not to face the sort of pointed questions that only an 11-year old in high tops could nail him with.
On Sunday, nearly a month after he was dealt to Los Angeles, he took out a full-page advertisement in the Orlando Sentinel, thanking the fans that got to be a part of whatever the heck he brought from 2004 to 2011 and (kind of) 2012.
The full ad follows the jump:
Magic’s Vaughn adds 6 assistants to coaching staff (Yahoo! Sports)
30 Aug
2012
2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- New Orlando Magic coach Jacque Vaughn has completed his staff, with the addition of six new assistants.
Dwight Howard cancels appearance at his own Orlando youth basketball camp
07 Aug
2012
2012
Good news, everyone: After months and months of stories about how the relationship between All-Star center Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic has become toxic, resulting in strident trade demands, countless rumors that ultimately signified nothing, the wholesale turnover of the Magic's front office and coaching staff, more demands, more rumors and more nothing, we've finally got a positive story about how Howard's relating to fans and supporters in the Orlando area. Finally.
...
Hahahahaha, just kidding. Like that could ever happen at this point. If you actually thought that was possible, then as the great Paul F. Tompkins once said, you need to go back to thinking school.
No, instead, Howard has reportedly canceled an appearance at his own summer basketball camp — a camp he previously pushed back by more than a month — to stay out on the West Coast and leave a slew of Floridian families stewing in their own juices. Because of course he has.
From Josh Robbins at the Orlando Sentinel:
An official for ProCamps, which runs the event, said families who paid the camp's $199 registration fee were sent e-mail messages Monday to inform them Howard will remain in southern California in order to continue rehabilitating his back. [...]
Howard's annual camp originally was scheduled for July 1-2 at UCF, with Howard slated to attend both days. But it was postponed and later rescheduled for Aug. 13-14 at Orlando Volleyball Academy.
The camp still will be held next week. Andrew Nicholson, the Magic's 2012 first-round draft pick, will take Howard's place.
Well, at least the youth of Florida will get introduced to Nicholson early, I guess. They'll probably wind up hearing a lot about how important his development to the Magic's return to playoff contention over the next couple of years.
Howard's SoCal rehabilitation from late-April back surgery — which he told Hoopsworld's Steve Kyler on Sunday is going well, though he's still not close to getting back on the court — has also included a Friday night trip to Dodger Stadium (where he was reportedly booed by Los Angeles Dodgers fans) and an unannounced visit to the adidas Nations basketball camp, where he "gathered ... the college counselors to share his wisdom," according to Charlie Yao of Roundball Mining Company.
This, of course, is tantamount to blood in the water for Orlando-area columnists like the Sentinel's Mike Bianchi, who's seething at the perceived lack of respect Howard continues to show the city, organization and fans that have supported him for the past eight years:
I've said it once and I'll say again: It's hard to believe Dwight is physically unable to attend a youth basketball camp, walk around the gym, offer some words of encouragement, take pictures and sign some autographs for the kids.
Not only has Howard let down his teammates and the City of Orlando, now he has let down many kids, too. [...]
It seems Dwight Howard is not only doing his best to get traded from Orlando, he's doing his best to be hated in Orlando, too.
While I wouldn't presume to hold up Bianchi as the official mouthpiece of all Orlando sports fans, you can certainly understand how — after all the hits Magic fans have taken during Howard's endless and endlessly awkward attempt to skip town — it's easy to see bowing out of a camp that bears his name and denying kids the thrill of meeting an NBA All-Star as just another indicator of how little he wants to be in Orlando, another signpost to remind them how little he cares about them. For today, at least, the public faces on this phenomenally failed crash-and-burn exit strategy belong neither to Howard, nor the exiled GM-and-coach tandem of Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy, nor Orlando's ownership and present management Magic management. They're the faces of disappointed Central Florida children and the parents who have to decide whether to ask for their $200 back or get their kids psyched up to play knockout with Andrew Nicholson. (No offense, Andrew.)
And frankly, that might be totally unfair to Howard; it's entirely possible that the scratch is legitimate, that both the initial postponement of the camp and this late-stage cancellation result from not wanting to jeopardize the slow progress of his rehab with cross-country travel that might not be absolutely necessary. But at this point, in most fans' eyes, it's become extraordinarily difficult (if not impossible) to give Howard the benefit of the doubt. He's just about totally burned through any line of credit he built up with his play over the years.
Howard has yet to shed any light on this most recent disappointment — according to Kyler, the center is "not doing interviews and is staying out of the limelight deliberately," and "has a small army of people keeping media out." (Except, apparently, the media member he updated on his rehab progress.)
That said, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see a statement somehow make a heroic break through that "small army" and into the outside world now that people know Howard's shafting young fans, because this is sort of how the entire "Dwight Howard Wants to Leave Orlando" thing has played out:
1. Dwight makes a decision or says something privately.
2. It's then brought to light, which makes everyone mad.
3. He deflects both the revelation and the backlash, but mildly, in word and deed.
4. Nobody really buys his deflection, and he becomes vilified for the decision, statement and lukewarm response to the backlash.
5. He makes a fairly halfhearted attempt to get back into the public's good graces, which, again, nobody really buys.
6. Return to step 1 and repeat the process.
It's been pretty ridiculous and painful to watch unfold, and with Howard reportedly still dead-set on leaving the Magic on the next thing smoking, and Orlando reportedly still dead-set on hanging on to him until it can get what it deems to be fair value in exchange for the center's services, the cycle sure doesn't seem likely to end anytime soon. Pitched conflicts between two deeply entrenched sides often have unintended consequences and innocent victims; it just sucks that these ones are kids who just wanted, like, a high-five.
Magic’s Vaughn: Ready for 1st head coaching job (Yahoo! Sports)
30 Jul
2012
2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- With a new general manager and the status of All-Star Dwight Howard still in limbo, there's much to be resolved before the Orlando Magic take the floor next season.
1 2 Next »
Recent Posts
-
Charles Woodson breaks collarbone, out 6...October 22, 2012No Comments -
Panthers send top CB Chris Gamble to I.R...October 22, 2012No Comments
-
Donald Brown (knee) to miss one more gam...October 22, 2012No Comments
-
Titans to stay with Matt Hasselbeck in W...October 22, 2012No Comments
-
Matchups: Matchup: Lions @ Bears...October 22, 2012No Comments
Recent Comments