Dwight Howard is Mad at His Team, Again


by Marcel Mutoni@marcel_mutoni

Every few weeks, the Orlando Magic seem to suffer a demoralizing loss, which is then followed up by Dwight Howard publicly voicing his displeasure with the team’s performance. If he’s not unhappy with a lack of touches, it’s an issue with the team’s defense, or even worse, its collective effort.

Of course, given the precarious and uncertain nature of Dwight’s future in Orlando, his frustration grows to become a larger issue each time he opens his mouth. Last night, Howard was again very angry, after the Magic’s home loss to the hapless Sacramento Kings.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

He exploded on his team during a timeout in the second quarter. He harped on his team in almost every huddle. Even between whistles he’d bark words at his teammates. After the game, Howard was tired of talking. “I’ve said everything there is to say,” said Howard. “That’s it. I’ve talked every timeout, when we’re in the huddle, in the locker room… What, you want me to Tweet about it? I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do as a leader.”

“If guys don’t want to play, they’ve got to sit down,” Howard said. “We just can’t have guys or anybody out there not playing hard. Everybody on the team has to step up and play hard,” he said. “I’m not singling anybody out; I’m not calling anybody out. But as a team, if we don’t play hard we’re going to lose every night.”

Teams like the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz have recently shown what happens when a star player’s frustration gets to be too much, a message that has not been lost on the fans and media in Orlando.

As the Orlando Magic continue to slip in the standings — with their hope of winning a title looking less and less realistic — the job of convincing Dwight Howard that he should stick around for the long haul will only become that much tougher.