Jumat, 06 April 2012

Howard vs. Van Gundy: Orlando's Magic Circus

The rumored rift between Magic star Dwight Howard and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has been brought out into the public and has caused turmoil within the franchise after an awkward press conference yesterday. Van Gundy told the media before yesterday's loss to the Knicks that the Magic front office told him that Howard told the front office that he wants Van Gundy to be fired. Only a couple minutes after said that, Howard came over at the end of Van Gundy's media session not knowing what his coach had just said. Reportedly, both Howard and Van Gundy have agreed to focus on the rest of the season but lets be realistic, this will continue over the rest of the season with something probably happening at the end of the season so what will happen.

Scenario 1: Peace
Sometimes, miracles happen in player-coach raltionships so we can not rule that out as a possibility in this case. Howard and Van Gundy might be able to work this out and no change may be needed in Orlando this offseason. This is possible but highly unlikely as the current, supposive peace is temporary.

Scenario 2: All About Howard
Franchise players have shown power in getting coaches fired if they are not happy about it and that could happen here in Orlando. The Magic want to sign Howard to an extension that goes beyond the 2012-2013 and bringing in a new coach could convince him to do so. Van Gundy could join tons of other coaches who have been fired because of players (see Mike D'Antoni and Paul Westphal). Howard seems to have tons of power with the way the NBA works now so this is a very realistic scenario.

Scenario 3: Coaching Power
This does not happen too much now a days but with a high chance that Howard will not resign with Orlando after 2013, the Magic could trade Howard and keep the successful Van Gundy as he has been the franchise's best coach. This could happen as Howard really might leave Orlando for Dallas, LA, or Brooklyn after 2013. This would make it pointless for Orlando not to trade Howard and keep Van Gundy. This scenario has a decent shot at happening.

Scenario 4: Clean House (Also known as the Deron Williams-Jerry Sloan Utah Jazz solution)
The last option for the Magic is they could get rid of both Howard and Van Gundy. Howard's likelihood of staying in Orlando long term is not the best so trading him can let them build for a Howard-less future. Howard is probably not the only player that wants Van Gundy gone so they many get rid of him to keep the remaining players happy. This would be sort of the reset button that the Magic would be hitting but this is definitely possible. This scenario could allow them to get more young players as a trade would include up-and-comers and draft picks. This happened before in Utah and it could happen again in Orlando.

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