We’ve heard for months that Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is unhappy and probably wants out of Orlando (we’ve discovered he’s a bit fickle). We heard before this season started that he was upset he was not being clued in on personnel matters. Well, Dwight is unhappy again and it has less to do with personnel decisions and more with decisions made by the personnel around him.
Ryan Chiavetta with NESN reports Dwight was incredibly upset at his teammates after the Magic crapped the bed against the Hornets Friday night.
“I look at guys and they don’t look like they want to play,” Howard said. “I told them at halftime, ‘If you don’t want to play, just stay in the locker room,’ because it don’t make sense for a team who we should beat to just demolish us.”
It was a frustrating week for pretty much anyone involved with the Magic franchise. They got crushed in Boston last Monday, bounced back to crush Indiana Tuesday, then blew a 21 point 2nd half lead against Boston on Thursday. The next night Howard was the only member of the Magic to score in double figures in a loss to New Orleans and then melted down against Indiana last night.
I was about to say “Kudos to Dwight for taking a leadership position in the locker room” until I read that Dwight is now open to playing in Chicago with Derrick Rose. CBS Sports, quoting a Chicago Tribune article, wrote that Dwight said he loves Rose and called him his brother.
So I don’t know what to think about Dwight, but I do think he’s wise to want to go to Chicago. And Chicago would be foolish not to give up say Joakim Noah, Boozer and Taj Gibson for Dwight and Hedo Turkoglu or some other combination. Either way, Dwight’s act is getting tired, but I’ll always love watching him play.
