From SI: Most alarming for Brooks, though, is Howard’s uncanny ability to blow up his head coaches. Check out this astonishing track record. • Magic: Howard leaves in 2012; Stan Van Gundy is fired in 2012 • Lakers: Howard leaves in 2013; Mike D’Antoni is fired in 2014 • Rockets: Howard leaves in 2016; Kevin McHale is fired in 2015 and interim J.B. Bickerstaff is not retained in 2016 • Hawks: Howard leaves in 2017; Mike Budenholzer leaves in 2018 • Hornets: Howard leaves in 2018; Steve Clifford is fired in 2018 All told, Howard is on his sixth team in the past eight seasons and his six previous coaches all left those teams during his final season or within one year of Howard’s departure. There are two overlapping explanations for that reign of terror: 1) He’s incredibly difficult to manage, and 2) He’s become a last-ditch option for desperate organizations. Either way, eek.
i think the real pattern is that teams on the verge of collapse take chances on howard. it's why i've pegged the wizards as a star-seller in the near future. howard is the death rattle. it's more about organizational trajectory than coaching, though. you only grab onto howard when there's nothing else to hold.
From SI's Andrew Sharp: On Monday afternoon, the Wizards introduced Dwight Howard, the coup de grâce of an offseason that also saw the team add two polarizing players in Austin Rivers and Jeff Green. Now there's Dwight, who met reporters in D.C. and explained his career path like so, "I learned Magic for eight years. Went to La-La Land. Worked for a while with Rockets. Learned to fly with some Hawks. Got stung by the Hornets. And it all taught me how to be a Wizard." This is real. This is happening. The 7–foot human whoopee cushion is here to lead the Wizards for at least the next 12 months.
Not only is Dwight corny as hell, and that quote, whether scripted or off the cuff was lame as can be, but he’s also incredibly stupid if this is true. He’s also a liar though, so it’s hard to know IF true, he passed on a ring because he got a DM from John Wall and thought that was cool. If true, the NBA misses out on the possibility of Dwight imploding the Warriors dynasty from the inside, which he is fully capable of. I want it to be true, i want him to be that stupid, but I also kind of don’t, because I don’t want to think the Warriors were a Dwight away from possibly ruining a dynasty early.
I've said it about Cousins, but if they were truly considering Dwight, I think the dynasty ends soon anyway. You only start taking these wild swings when you're trying to keep the ship from sinking. I'm not saying they're going to stop being good, I'm saying people are probably going to leave.
Cute quote that changes nothing about reality. Dwight's just a goof. I really think Houston's inabilty to work with the guy was the overwhelming proof that the problem is one-sided. He can't work with people. Misanthrope, whatever he is, change has to come in the form of some epifhany or insight on his part but it's safe to bet on it not happening at this point. To be fair to him though over 1/2 his career was in ORL and 1/2 of those years were successful. Maybe just an acknowledgment of how good Stan The Man is with headcases.