The verbose coach says that if the situation arises, he would be more than willing to coach Howard again....
Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard played major roles in the infamous Dwightmare – the drama surrounding the trade of the Howard.
Van Gundy coached Howard for nearly five years in Orlando and wanted him to stay put at the franchise. Howard was however not happy with the direction Magic were moving in and pretty much held the team hostage with his trade demands,
after he himself has signed a contract extension for one year. If rumours are to be believed Howard was even offered to select a head coach and general manager of his choice, in a bid to make him stay.
Things came to a boil when the outspoken coach held a sensational press conference before a Magic game late in the season and claimed that the All-Star centre wanted to see his back and was acting as a catalyst behind the push
to fire him.
Van Gundy did get fired eventually, and so did GM Otis Smith, but Howard still pressed for a trade and was finally shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a four team trade that saw a major shakeup in all the teams involved.
After this whole ugly episode, it was expected that Van Gundy and Howard would have liked to keep a distance, but the situation was otherwise. The duo remained in touch during the off season and in a recent interview to Sports
Illustrated, when asked if his current relationship with Howard is good, Gundy replied in affirmative;
“Yeah, it is. We’ve been in touch throughout the offseason and throughout his rehab. I’ve kept tabs on what has been going on with him. I’ve said from my standpoint that my thoughts of him are all good. I don’t know how many games
we won here in five years but it was a lot and he was a huge factor in that thing. He did a lot for me and he was an easy guy to coach, one of the smartest players I have ever coached.”
Van Gundy wasn’t even shy of admitting that given the opportunity he would like to coach Howard again;
“Not from my standpoint. Heck, if I were ever anywhere again and he were available, I’d be knocking down the door of my general manager to do anything to get him.”
That however seems a distant possibility at the moment. One, Van Gundy himself wants to take some time off of coaching and clear his head and secondly, there aren’t many lucrative offers available.
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