The Orlando Tragic: Howard vs Van Gundy

Somewhere in South Beach, Lebron James is breathing a huge sigh of relief. His role as the leagues ultimate villain as now been taken away from him.

Ironically enough, that role now goes to the man who calls himself “Superman”.

I have hit my breaking point with this guy. I’m officially sick of Dwight Howard. He deserves all of the backlash he’s going to get from this latest fiasco in Orlando.

No more mercy. No more benefit of the doubt. No more sympathy.

During a media session conducted during the Magic’s pre-game shootaround yesterday afternoon, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy revealed that a member of the Magic’s management informed him that Dwight Howard wanted him fired from the team. 

Howard later entered the interview and wrapped his arm around Van Gundy in an awkward embrace. He denied any and all allegations that he wanted Van Gundy fired.

LIAR!! Dwight Howard is a two-faced liar! I’m not afraid to write that.

Why would a member of management tell Van Gundy that Howard wanted him gone if it wasn’t true? Who would say such a thing?

To blatantly lie to the reporters like that when everyone and their father knows that he’s full of crap is just pathetic.

First of all, I don’t condone Van Gundy for revealing such volatile information to the media at this point and time. It serves no purpose. I understand that he was asked a question and he answered it honestly, but he still shouldn’t have said it. There can be no good that could come from letting the public know that your franchise player couldn’t give a damn about you.

Stan Van Gundy is as real as real can be. He will never bulls**t you and make up complete fabrications of the truth. If he says that Dwight Howard wants him gone, then I will trust his word over Dwight’s 10 out of 10 times.

He’s a solid coach. In his 4 years with the team, the Magic have won 52, 59, 59 and 52 games. They’ve made the playoffs each season and have one finals appearance to boot. If Howard wants him gone, then he must have some sort of personal vendetta against the guy. He may not have rings, but Stan has a proven track record as a coach. That’s the only explanation I have as to why Dwight would want Stan gone for good.

With that being said, Howard has acted like quite the diva and selfish prick throughout this entire season. He’s lost all credibility with me. It’s just white noise every time he talks now.

From the “will he? won’t he?” crap that took over a better part of the year to now “allegedly” wanting his coach to lose his job, Howard’s character and public image have taken a major, major hit to begin 2012.

It probably would have been in the teams best interest to have dealt Howard when they had the chance. The circus that surrounds him now (that he brought on himself) is starting to become unbearable. He just brings on too much unneeded controversy. Now the Magic are stuck with him for one more season. I use the word “stuck” because if I had to put my money on it, Howard will more than likely bolt at the end of next year.

So what happens now? Clearly this whole ordeal between management, Howard and Van Gundy is starting to affect the psyche of the team. If you were able to watch last nights 96-80 beatdown by the New York Knicks, you could tell that all of these problems have started to trickle down to the rest of the players. Something has to be done. The playoffs are just around the corner and if this team is serious about contending (which they shouldn’t be), a change has to be made.

The obvious move would be to honor Howard’s request and fire Stan Van Gundy. He’s lost the team. This situation with Howard has become so large that even he can’t overcome it. The relationship between the two can’t be repaired. The franchise is dedicated to making Dwight as happy as possible and getting rid of Stan would more than likely do that. He may not deserve it, but that’s just the way the wind blows I suppose. The team will probably keep him around for the remainder of the season to make a solid postseason run, but there is absolutely no way Van Gundy coaches this team next season with Howard around.

Dwight Howard has held this team hostage. It’s his way or the highway as far as he’s concerned. He probably believes that the franchise owes him one for sticking around when he could have easily bolted.

This whole team/franchise has just become one big punch-line.

The Orlando Tragic. What a fitting title.

Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports