Friday’s Magic Word
- Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “The relationship between a coach and an NBA superstar is not a simple one. The coach, by definition, is supposed to be the authority, the loudest voice in the organization and a leader to the team. But in many NBA cities, where a larger-than-life superstar plays basketball, the team’s best player holds more power than anyone else in the organization besides, maybe, the owner. For better or worse, that’s how it is. But Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who’s coached megastars Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard in his career, says he’s never been big-timed or pushed around by a superstar. [...] Of course, the elephant in the room is Van Gundy being pushed out of the Miami Heat job in 2005 while coaching Wade and O’Neal, but this conversation wasn’t really about that. It was about Jerry Sloan’s abrupt resignation on Thursday, a move that some believe was because Sloan couldn’t get along with Jazz star point guard Deron Williams.”
- Brandon Bass could return to play against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
- Fran Vazquez is considering the NBA more seriously.
- A Hedo Turkoglu flowchart.
- Head coach Stan Van Gundy provides his take on Jerry Sloan’s departure.
- Scott Carefoot of The Basketball Jones: “You see that picture of smiling Dwight at the top of this post? That wasn’t hard to find. Dwight smiles all the time. He’s a fun-loving guy who loves to tell jokes and do funny impressions of his coach and other players. I wish he would start saving his smiling and joking for when he’s off the court and get serious about leading his team to a championship. As great as he is, I wonder if he’ll ever take the game seriously enough to try to do what’s best for the team all the time instead of just trying to have fun out on the court.”
