I didn't even get that he meant that quote as an insult, I took it as "we were a team full of outcasts and I was leading the pack" instead "these guys are a bunch of no-talent hacks". Regardless, I admit I get caught up in all the headlines and media talking about this guy, and sometimes I have to take a step back and realize that I really don't know the guy, and how he acts in spotlight does not necessarily reflect who he is as a person. Good interview.
Longtime Magic point guard Jameer Nelson criticized former teammate Dwight Howard's professionalism, saying he needs to “take ownership” of the things he says publicly about his former team. Howard told KCAL-TV in L.A. recently that “my team in Orlando was a team full of people who nobody wanted, and I was the leader and I led that team with a smile on my face.” “At some point, when are you [Dwight] gonna as a man, when are you going to take ownership and stay out of the media in a professional manner?” Nelson told the Sentinel after Wednesday’s shooatround in Miami. “I would be less of a man to comment on certain things that people comment on about me and my teammates. We had a great run as a group, as core guys, and he was a part of it (reaching the 2009 Finals) and for him to say things about anybody in a negative manner, that’s up to him. “That’s his opinion. If that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels.” C U NEXT TUESDAY DWIGHT! -The Orlando Magic
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...onds-criticism-former-orlando-magic-teammates I wasn't trying to be disrespectful when I said that you were all scrubs that no other team wanted.
Okay, I can see that interpretation. He didn't do a good job of communicating and making himself clear. And, it still isn't really true that the whole lot of them were outcasts. Rashard Lewis and Turkuglu were still good then (if overpaid). Nelson was looking good at the time. Plus a young Courtney Lee, JJ Redick, and Marcin Gortat.
To add, if the Brawl @ the Palace never happened, Artest could've led that team to a title, and possibly a few more after that. That team was LOADED and Artest was arguably their best player.
Don't know if it has been said, but: 1. Dwight gets compared to Shaq a lot, but he reminds me of another Orlando superstar more: Tracy McGrady. Don't think either of them is malicious, but neither of them can stop themselves from saying things that piss people off and make himself sound like an immature baby. 2. Even if Dwight only mean to say that his ORL teams were scrappy underdogs, he is still guilty of saying it in really stupid way under the circumstances. Specifically, he said he after spending the last couple years trying to get himself onto more talented teams-- which already tends to make people think that he didn't like/respect the talent level of his ORL teammates and that he didn't want to play with them. What does he think people are going to think when he now calls these players "guys who nobody wanted"? Context matters. It is one thing for, say, Parsons to call the Rockets "guys that nobody wanted" for being full of late picks, minimum salary free agents and undrafted guys while going out there playing with these teammates every game, quite another for Dwight to call his former teammates that when he fought to get himself away from them. 3. To an extent, what Dwight said is true. But being true doesn't mean it is OK to say. It is just ouside the NBA players' man code as far as I know.
This would be a good interpretation....if only it made sense I can't recall anybody ever saying the Magic team was full of "outcasts and misfits", the only guy everybody really ragged on that roster was Rashard Lewis. The fact is unlike the Cavs roster, the Orlando wasn't full of players that sucked...they were just overpaid thanks to Otis. The problem with Howard is he always makes his bed, but he doesn't want to lay in it. Kobe, LBJ and Tmac have said and done stupid **** too, but they don't run away from the criticism, they acknowledge it and move on. This guy is waaay too concerned with his PR and public image, but he never really puts in the work to maintain it like Kobe or MJ. IIRC, this is one of the biggest reasons why he signed the extension with ORL, he couldn't take the criticism his own mini "decision" caused. He probably threw his entire team under the bus because he felt that media was giving him less credit than he deserved.
I'll stil take him at a rocket....at least we know 2 players that ppl are gonna want are on this team
what he said was basically true though. he had as bad as a supporting cast as possible to make the finals
