Stan Van Gundy Throws More Fuel on the Fire
You would think that making national headlines once by publicly calling out your franchise player would be enough to get your point across. You would think. Not for Stan Van Gundy, it’s not.
The Magic coach, one day after openly criticizing Dwight Howard, was back at it again following a team practice.
“I think Dwight wants to be a great player. I think Dwight wants to be a winner. But we’re in Year 4 and he hasn’t won a playoff game,” Van Gundy said.
“He may not like it. He may not like the way I did it. But I’ve also done it before many times in private — just he and I. I didn’t think it was making an impact, so now it’s out there for everybody. We’ll see what happens.”
Stan, we get it already.
You want Dwight to rebound better and play a little bit more defense. Relishing the fact that you aired out the dirty laundry between the two of you isn’t going to help matters much. Especially not after Howard graciously accepted the initial criticism and promised to do better.
28 Responses to “Stan Van Gundy Throws More Fuel on the Fire”
Feb.13 at 10:03 am
anders says:
first
Feb.13 at 10:12 am
TADOne says:
SVG is using reverse pshychology or something. I’ll go with something.
Feb.13 at 10:14 am
CoolWhip11 says:
prediction: Howard EATS Van Gundy
Feb.13 at 10:20 am
white hot eboy says:
Pat Riley’s ghost is making Van Jeremy do it. Perhaps if Dwight wasn’t so wrapped up in that horrid dunk contest, he’d be free of criticism.
Feb.13 at 10:31 am
Gerard Himself says:
Van Gundy may be right, but he shouldn’t repeat it every day. As a coach he has to work with a lot of ego’s in this game, and an NBA player’s ego is easily crushed. They don’t like criticism (and I don’t like that word as a foreigner, sp?)
Feb.13 at 10:31 am
TADOne says:
If he keeps this up, he’ll be back making adult movies in no time.
Feb.13 at 10:33 am
Jukai says:
prediction. Van Gunday EATS Howard.
Feb.13 at 10:33 am
G Diesel says:
Dwight Howard is a very good player. But anybody who calls him a franchise player is crazy (at least for now). Just like Amare Stoudemire is not a franchise player. Those guys are very physical, they dunk a lot, block shots, etc. But without another superstar to carry the team, they can’t do sh*t. Amare has Steve Nash, D12 doesn’t.
My point is, stop comparing Dwight Howard to a young Shaq, because he ain’t.
Feb.13 at 10:38 am
Jukai says:
Shaq couldn’t carry a team without a super star either, G Diesel.
Feb.13 at 10:53 am
Captain America says:
Cardinal rule: Praise in public, criticize in private. “Public flocking will continue until morale improves”
Feb.13 at 10:54 am
D-Mac says:
hahah go RON JEREMY
Feb.13 at 11:28 am
whooo! says:
if dwight howard isn’t a franchise player i dunno what kinda criteria you’re using. that would leave like 4 “franchise players” in the entire league.
Feb.13 at 11:46 am
Blue says:
Dwight should be more like Rashard Lewis…now that’s a franchise player
Feb.13 at 12:03 pm
Gerard Himself says:
the best player on the Magic was snubber for N.O.: the Turk!
Feb.13 at 12:07 pm
NBA Observer says:
SVG is right. When Dwight Howard rebounds like a machine the Magic are the best team in the NBA. If they out rebound their opponents it’s almost impossible to beat them. SVG was talking about adding a secondary rebounder to help out Howard after Battie went down for the season. Howard is big enough and strong enough to rebound for two men, but to do that he must make sacrifices on offense by deferring to the terrific talent that surrounds him.
Feb.13 at 12:08 pm
alex-magicfreak1 says:
my fav b-ball player is dwight
Feb.13 at 12:49 pm
eyehatedirk says:
“The beatings will continue, until morale improves.”-Scurvy
Feb.13 at 12:50 pm
Sparker says:
he was trying to make him mad, so he plays mad (like chris paul, for example). dwight’s civil response to the first jab indicated that he wasn’t mad yet, so stan van, a smart guy, has tried again.
Feb.13 at 12:58 pm
RV says:
maybe he was asked by a reporter
Feb.13 at 1:01 pm
RV says:
maybe he was wasked a question by a reporter involving DH’s situation, i dont think its a big deal, he just repeated his intitial comment, its not like he brought up something new or like Howard responded postitively in a game already
Feb.13 at 1:02 pm
RV says:
asked**
Feb.13 at 2:10 pm
G Diesel says:
All I’m saying is that teams used to rely on Shaq to win titles. I don’t think Orlando can rely on Dwight Howard to win the championship. He’s offensive game is not that appealing (except those powerful dunks). D12 is more like Amare Stoudemire than Shaq.
Feb.13 at 2:53 pm
what says:
Clearly, a Jesus freak like Dwight Howard is not gonna value a p0rn star’s opinion.
Feb.13 at 3:39 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Van Gundy wouldn’t be doing this if he thought Dwight couldn’t take it. I’ll say it again: Mama Van Gundy didn’t raise no fools.
Feb.13 at 3:50 pm
daniel says:
let it go SVG! anybody else think that this is getting ridiculous with coaches calling out their players? maybe he learned from larry brown. I always think that people should look at tony dungy as a perfect example, he’s never called anyone out and whats the result? His team and everyone has the utmost respect for him, and they go out and perform. When was the last time you heard anyone bash dungy? ok sorry for getting off topic
Feb.13 at 4:01 pm
Ro says:
Damn Stan,
Leave the kid alone!
Feb.13 at 4:44 pm
Captain America says:
Russ, your fascination with SVG is amazing. Since coach admits having these discussions with Dwight in private before, he is simply letting his frustrations boil over for public consumption. That’s a sign of weakness not strength.
Feb.13 at 10:22 pm
jeremy says:
Like I said last night,leave the kid alone.He is your franchise player.You aint goin nowhere without him.