Why didn’t the Magic get Howard back?
Running off at the typewriter … Did you see where Dwight Howard made history earlier this week when he scored 32 points and pulled down 30 rebounds to become only the second player in the last 36 years to have a 30-30 game in the NBA?
I hate to keep piling on former Magic GM Rob Hennigan (actually, that’s a lie!), but can we just go ahead and put NOT bringing back Dwight onto the laundry list of bungled moves during the five lost years of the Hennigan era, er, error?
If you’ll recall, Dwight signed a reported 3-year $70
million contract with the Atlanta Hawks two years ago before the rebuilding Hawks ended up trading him to the Hornets after last season. But Dwight hinted he actually wanted to return to Orlando when he signed that deal.
After Hennigan was fired after last season, somebody tweeted to Dwight, “Now that Orlando’s front office is gone, can you tell us if you were close to coming back last offseason?”
Dwight’s response: “It wasn’t close, but I did ask.”
So instead of signing Dwight — still one of the best centers in the league — to a 3-year $70 million deal; Hennigan signed backup center Bismack Biyombo to a four-year $68 million deal. Not saying Dwight would have made the Magic champions or even got them into the playoffs, but his return would have at least made them more watchable.
And you know my mantra: If you’re going to be bad, at least be interesting.
SHORT STUFF: Speaking of Dwight, shame on my Sentinel colleague George Diaz for not putting Howard on his Magic Mount Rushmore earlier this week when he wrote an otherwise engaging column about Tracy McGrady’s induction into the Magic Hall of Fame. Diaz listed Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and T-Mac on Mount Magic, but omitted Dwight — the greatest player in team history. Dwight is the franchise leader in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and also was the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year who almost singlehandedly led the franchise to its greatest season (2009 NBA Finals). Leaving Dwight off Mount Magic is like leaving Abe
Lincoln off the real Mount Rushmore. … Can you believe FSU coach Leonard Hamilton has the ninth-seeded Seminoles one victory away from the Final Four? “Hamilton” may be a great Broadway play, but Leonard’s off-Broadway version is pretty doggone good, too! … Earlier this week was the 12-year anniversary of the first Tweet ever written. Question: Should we have celebrated the occasion or mourned it? … Speaking of anniversaries, I saw where it was 60 years ago this week that Elvis was drafted into the military. Remember the old Elvis song “Return to Sender”? That’s what would happen if an entertainer or athlete today got a draft notice. …
Any regular reader of this column knows I’ve been very critical of ESPN analysts Paul
Finebaum and Kirk Herbstreit for the dismissive way they talk about UCF’s self-proclaimed national title and AD Danny White’s assault on the current College Football Playoff system. Earlier this week, Finebaum tweeted at me, “Hey, Mike, give it a rest.” And I tweeted back, “Hey, Paul, I will give it a rest as soon as media heavyweights like yourself and Herbstreit — guys who have a real forum to invoke change — start calling out the inequitable CFB system instead denigrating UCF for doing what you should be doing.” … Now that the Miami Dolphins have acquired
Frank Gore and the Tampa Bay Bucs have acquired Jason Pierre-Paul, it’s quite clear these two teams are now legitimate contenders for the Super Bowl — the 2012 Super Bowl! … The Jacksonville Jaguars dumped their longest-tenured player — tight end Marcedes Lewis — after 12 seasons earlier this week. Sadly, this is just what happens when your Marcedes gets too many miles on it! … Free-agent safety Eric Reid, who believes he has remained unsigned because he has been one of the most adamant nationalanthem protesters over the last two seasons, now says he is not planning to kneel during The StarSpangled Banner this season. Moral of the story: Making a living takes precedent over making a statement. … UCF punter Mac Loudermilk told the Sentinel’s Shannon Green that the Knights have a chance to run the table again this season. Since Loudermilk might be the only punter in the nation who serves as the team siren, let’s just call him “Mac the Fife.” …
LAST WORD: Now that Penny Hardaway has been hired as the new coach at the University of Memphis, can we safely say that former Memphis coach Tubby Smith joins exMagic coach Brian Hill on the list of those who Penny got fired?