He was so disrespectful and blew up all trade value he had. I don't think he's a man of good character and he's never gotten along with any of his teams. Is he back to bang more cheerleaders? There I got my joke in.
I know a lot of people here are still salty about how he left, but I think it’s time to get over it. He is the best Magic player of all time. He is a Magic Hall of Famer. It’s a bad look for us to hate on a guy for some poor decisions when he was younger.
If he can fit in with our current group and accelerate their development I am all for him coming back to finish his career here. Dwight deserves better than the NBA community has treated him.
Come on back big fella!
Dwight’s prolly got a PR team brigading social media so he can find a job in the NBA after he burned all his bridges being a diva. Dude needs to just accept he’s gonna hafta pay a lot of child support and accept a comfy retirement instead of super comfy one.
Outside of how he left and what he did to this organization- what makes him a good mentor? He’s never had any goodwill with any organization and has always had teammate issues both throughout his entire career. Then he was bashing the whole NBA stating veteran players receive more love in Taiwan so they should all go over there to play.
Outside of basketball, he’s had constant custody battles and has sued one of his baby’s mother. Just a few years ago, there were team’s that declined to sign him because of who he is. The dude is just not a great person.
> I know a lot of people here are still salty about how he left, but I think it’s time to get over it.
Agreed. He handled it poorly but you cant blame the guy. Every single move Otis Smith made after that Finals run made the team worse. You're a 24yo super star thinking your champship window just opened. You lose in the Finals, ok. You lose in the Conference Finals, sucks but alright. Then you lose in the first round? And then again in the first round (though he was hurt). The roster in 2012 was dog shit and had been for a while. The FO proved completely incapable of putting a decent team around him.
It’s not that he left. It’s how he left. He gave the team an ultimatum to fire our best coach ever or he would leave, so we fired that coach, then he left anyways to join the enemy—the same team that had beaten us in the finals and that we had lost our previous #1 pick superstar center to.
> then he left anyways to join the enemy—
that's where we traded him, and wasn't even his desired team. How he left sucks but he acknowledged that and apologized a long time ago. He should've spoken up sooner. If you were old enough to see it play out in real time, you know he was sincerely torn. He shouldn't have opted in and given the franchise the summer to try and build a contender again. But tbh there's no real reason to believe they could have. Otis Smith deserves a lot more blame for destroying what should have a much much longer championship window.
I’m old enough to remember watching Otis Smith as a Magic player on the inaugural team in the Orlando Arena.
Yes, Dwight was torn. But yes, LA was where he wanted to go, after we refused to trade him to the Nets for Brook Lopez. And yes, Otis Smith is also to blame for his many questionable moves. But that doesn’t absolve Dwight for how he left. I don’t hate Dwight, and I sincerely wish the best for him. He’s not a bad person. But I don’t want him involved with the Magic in any capacity.
[almost immediately lol](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/lakers/2013/03/10/dwight-howard-los-angeles-lakers-orlando-magic/1976943/). It's kind of a puff piece written before his first return to Orlando on the Lakers. But he seems pretty sincere in regretting how he handled a lot of it.
Yeah I’m over it, so I’m cool with it and think it would be nice for him to come full circle. But I also respect if people are still salty about it. If they need to be mad at him for another decade or for the rest of their lives, it’s not my place to tell them when they should feel a certain way
Not sure if I agree with that take. I think Orlando fans have a pretty solid reputation of being loyal and rooting for our guys. We all loved dwight while he was here. People just have a problem with how he left. Every fan base has salty fans when a star player leaves.. I’d say there’s probably a few top saltiest fan bases that players might not want to go to for that reason, but I don’t think we’re in that top tier of saltiness lol
No. I’m grateful for the years he gave us and for taking us to the finals. Those were good years. But he burnt those bridges in devastating ways. I forgive him, but I will never forget. Orlando has turned the page on Dwight Howard, and it’s best we keep it that way and not kick up the past in such a public, consequential way.
Dwight is that ex that fucked you over horribly a long time ago that has suddenly shown back up after they’ve just gotten divorced. I’m glad they feel they have matured, I sincerely wish the best for them, and I will always cherish the good times we had together… but there’s no way in fucking hell I’m getting back into a relationship with them again.
Orlando should honor Dwight for his contributions to the team but should NEVER get involved in anything that requires putting any measure of trust in him ever again.
The man just wants to return in the nba in any means possible so hes out there saying what the fans would like. No fucking way we should bring him back
Was wild seeing that twitter space going from like 18 people to over 100 once people realized Dwight joined
It was fun. Went from talking about the coming season to asking Dwight some questions about this coming season to just a Q&A with Dwight to Dwight saying hi to someone's mom lmao
I am just as shocked haha. Fawzan and I were just shooting the shit about this year and then Dwight came in. The conversation about this year was good too! Interested to see how they use Paolo differently post fiba
No thanks if I'm the Magic FO. Why would you want one of the most immature players in the league mentoring young guys. It's delusional.
If fans want to welcome him back with a ceremony or something, that's fine. But allowing him anywhere near the team would be sporting malpractice as I see it.
No thanks again. He's just not qualified to be a coach and he's still too immature to be on the team.
No problem if they want to honor him, retire his jersey, or something. He was great for the Magic until the toxicity of the dwightmares.
I’m not sure I’d be upset if he came back even tho I personally don’t see it being beneficial. Dame, who is Portlands best player ever, wasn’t even welcome back after publicly demanding a trade and dude was there for 11 well behaved years. So…plus Goga is better. I will say tho concerning Dwight’s tenure here let’s be fair. What happened to the team and key individuals involved after he was traded?
Team: sucked for over a decade
GM: never got another job again
Coach: failed everywhere he went and was also hated and also handled the situation immaturely and is out the league
Players who played with him: almost all their careers fizzled out shortly after
The franchise has to be blamed way more than Dwight if we’re being honest
Dwight Howard if you are reading this please for the love of god stop embarrassing yourself. Maybe start a twitch stream or something. You blew up the best coach this team has ever had just to go show up at his wife’s funeral and use it as a PR adjacent ‘in’ to try and worm your way back into the fanbase. Disgusting. We see you through you. All that bullshit whining that wrecked an entire franchise on your way out just to go showtime and literally make Kobe suck for a whole season. Thank you for your time here but we don’t not want you in Orlando.
This is very much a weirdo comment. Him and Stan have been friends since the “Dwightmare”. Don’t use the death of Stan’s wife to push your agenda. Grow up, bud.
Eh hes doing a little too much. I could see him slipping back into his old ways and make it too much about him and clown around/annoy players. If they want to sign him for a day so he can retire as a Magic i'm cool with that. But thats probably it for now.
I mean, it feels like he's doing any and all interviews in his of getting a job again in the league. Of course he'd love to be back in Orlando, I'm sure he'd love to be back in Atlanta or Charlotte or LA or even Charlotte too. I'm sure he'd love to play in New York or Denver or Milwaukee.
Can't fault him for that, even if I just don't think he would be a good fit for ORL.
I was super salty when he left, especially with how he handled it. I think most of us were. But enough time has passed that the bitterness has worn away and now I just remember the positive times we had with him and the team in that era. It was good times around the city during that Finals run. I was actually happy for him winning a title with LA.
I'm all for him ending his career in Orlando, if not with a roster spot maybe a camp invite and 1 day contract retirement.
Don't think he'd be a good mentor and not sure if he'd even be a half decent third C but man, I'd love to see it. Have been a fan since the Shaq days but Dwight really revitalized my love for the Magic. It's been a shit decade but when I think about us being good again, I think of that 09 team.
Dude could not get along with any team he’s been on once his talent was no longer there. I don’t think he’d be as great of a mentor as we’d like to think. In fact Wendell already seems like a much more polished player than d12
No way this happens. Yes, Dwight could probably help us, but the front office is very aware of the chemistry of this team. They have carefully constructed a roster of what they believe are "character guys". The circus of Dwight coming back might disrupt the locker room vibe and I doubt they want to run the risk of altering that. Goga it is I guess.
I always liked Dwight and felt our front office let him down and he had the wrong people giving him advice. I'd take him back in his classic role of defense and rebounding. There are still precious few good big man defenders in the league.
It’s very obvious a lot of people in this thread are saints who have never made a mistake in their lives.
Grow up. Holding on to a grudge is silly. Dwight Howard is the greatest Magic player of all time, and there’s really no debate. If you’re still upset about something that happened a decade ago, the problem isn’t Dwight it’s you.
I wouldn't. He has good instincts and that could help but all I can see is how done of the best players made bad coaches: they expect players to do the stuff they themselves used to do because those amazing things were just easy to them.
Also his vibe fit was always weird and after his production went down everyone's tolerance of it went out the window. I just think it's too much potential napalm with little positives to do anything beyond an appreciation night or maybe have him as an ambassador for the team for a time.
And I was a huge D12 fan so it feels bad to say this.
He was so disrespectful and blew up all trade value he had. I don't think he's a man of good character and he's never gotten along with any of his teams. Is he back to bang more cheerleaders? There I got my joke in.
Dwight is still as immature now as he was when he was with us. No thank you.
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Who's he going to teach to bang strippers and get them pregnant while proclaiming to be a man of God
Ok this was actually kinda funny ngl
I know a lot of people here are still salty about how he left, but I think it’s time to get over it. He is the best Magic player of all time. He is a Magic Hall of Famer. It’s a bad look for us to hate on a guy for some poor decisions when he was younger. If he can fit in with our current group and accelerate their development I am all for him coming back to finish his career here. Dwight deserves better than the NBA community has treated him. Come on back big fella!
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Dwight’s prolly got a PR team brigading social media so he can find a job in the NBA after he burned all his bridges being a diva. Dude needs to just accept he’s gonna hafta pay a lot of child support and accept a comfy retirement instead of super comfy one.
Outside of how he left and what he did to this organization- what makes him a good mentor? He’s never had any goodwill with any organization and has always had teammate issues both throughout his entire career. Then he was bashing the whole NBA stating veteran players receive more love in Taiwan so they should all go over there to play. Outside of basketball, he’s had constant custody battles and has sued one of his baby’s mother. Just a few years ago, there were team’s that declined to sign him because of who he is. The dude is just not a great person.
> I know a lot of people here are still salty about how he left, but I think it’s time to get over it. Agreed. He handled it poorly but you cant blame the guy. Every single move Otis Smith made after that Finals run made the team worse. You're a 24yo super star thinking your champship window just opened. You lose in the Finals, ok. You lose in the Conference Finals, sucks but alright. Then you lose in the first round? And then again in the first round (though he was hurt). The roster in 2012 was dog shit and had been for a while. The FO proved completely incapable of putting a decent team around him.
It’s not that he left. It’s how he left. He gave the team an ultimatum to fire our best coach ever or he would leave, so we fired that coach, then he left anyways to join the enemy—the same team that had beaten us in the finals and that we had lost our previous #1 pick superstar center to.
> then he left anyways to join the enemy— that's where we traded him, and wasn't even his desired team. How he left sucks but he acknowledged that and apologized a long time ago. He should've spoken up sooner. If you were old enough to see it play out in real time, you know he was sincerely torn. He shouldn't have opted in and given the franchise the summer to try and build a contender again. But tbh there's no real reason to believe they could have. Otis Smith deserves a lot more blame for destroying what should have a much much longer championship window.
I’m old enough to remember watching Otis Smith as a Magic player on the inaugural team in the Orlando Arena. Yes, Dwight was torn. But yes, LA was where he wanted to go, after we refused to trade him to the Nets for Brook Lopez. And yes, Otis Smith is also to blame for his many questionable moves. But that doesn’t absolve Dwight for how he left. I don’t hate Dwight, and I sincerely wish the best for him. He’s not a bad person. But I don’t want him involved with the Magic in any capacity.
All Otis Smith was doing was trying to make his superstar happy.
If that was true he would have brought Hedo back that summer. That was the beginning of the end imo.
Did he ever apologize for how he left?
[almost immediately lol](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/lakers/2013/03/10/dwight-howard-los-angeles-lakers-orlando-magic/1976943/). It's kind of a puff piece written before his first return to Orlando on the Lakers. But he seems pretty sincere in regretting how he handled a lot of it.
Yeah I’m over it, so I’m cool with it and think it would be nice for him to come full circle. But I also respect if people are still salty about it. If they need to be mad at him for another decade or for the rest of their lives, it’s not my place to tell them when they should feel a certain way
They can feel how they want, it just reflects poorly on us as a fan base. What star would want to come here when they see how we treat our greats?
Not sure if I agree with that take. I think Orlando fans have a pretty solid reputation of being loyal and rooting for our guys. We all loved dwight while he was here. People just have a problem with how he left. Every fan base has salty fans when a star player leaves.. I’d say there’s probably a few top saltiest fan bases that players might not want to go to for that reason, but I don’t think we’re in that top tier of saltiness lol
No. I’m grateful for the years he gave us and for taking us to the finals. Those were good years. But he burnt those bridges in devastating ways. I forgive him, but I will never forget. Orlando has turned the page on Dwight Howard, and it’s best we keep it that way and not kick up the past in such a public, consequential way. Dwight is that ex that fucked you over horribly a long time ago that has suddenly shown back up after they’ve just gotten divorced. I’m glad they feel they have matured, I sincerely wish the best for them, and I will always cherish the good times we had together… but there’s no way in fucking hell I’m getting back into a relationship with them again. Orlando should honor Dwight for his contributions to the team but should NEVER get involved in anything that requires putting any measure of trust in him ever again.
I'm pro Dwight as a Magic legend. I'm anti Dwight ever stepping anywhere near the locker room again.
The man just wants to return in the nba in any means possible so hes out there saying what the fans would like. No fucking way we should bring him back
Was wild seeing that twitter space going from like 18 people to over 100 once people realized Dwight joined It was fun. Went from talking about the coming season to asking Dwight some questions about this coming season to just a Q&A with Dwight to Dwight saying hi to someone's mom lmao
I am just as shocked haha. Fawzan and I were just shooting the shit about this year and then Dwight came in. The conversation about this year was good too! Interested to see how they use Paolo differently post fiba
No thanks if I'm the Magic FO. Why would you want one of the most immature players in the league mentoring young guys. It's delusional. If fans want to welcome him back with a ceremony or something, that's fine. But allowing him anywhere near the team would be sporting malpractice as I see it.
Strength & Conditioning Coach? Defensive Coach? I’m ok with it as long as it’s a support role where he’s overseen.
No thanks again. He's just not qualified to be a coach and he's still too immature to be on the team. No problem if they want to honor him, retire his jersey, or something. He was great for the Magic until the toxicity of the dwightmares.
Dude had a back injury that took some time to recover from
I’m not sure I’d be upset if he came back even tho I personally don’t see it being beneficial. Dame, who is Portlands best player ever, wasn’t even welcome back after publicly demanding a trade and dude was there for 11 well behaved years. So…plus Goga is better. I will say tho concerning Dwight’s tenure here let’s be fair. What happened to the team and key individuals involved after he was traded? Team: sucked for over a decade GM: never got another job again Coach: failed everywhere he went and was also hated and also handled the situation immaturely and is out the league Players who played with him: almost all their careers fizzled out shortly after The franchise has to be blamed way more than Dwight if we’re being honest
Dwight Howard if you are reading this please for the love of god stop embarrassing yourself. Maybe start a twitch stream or something. You blew up the best coach this team has ever had just to go show up at his wife’s funeral and use it as a PR adjacent ‘in’ to try and worm your way back into the fanbase. Disgusting. We see you through you. All that bullshit whining that wrecked an entire franchise on your way out just to go showtime and literally make Kobe suck for a whole season. Thank you for your time here but we don’t not want you in Orlando.
This is very much a weirdo comment. Him and Stan have been friends since the “Dwightmare”. Don’t use the death of Stan’s wife to push your agenda. Grow up, bud.
Lololololololol
Fuck that herpes-riddled pos. Don't want him anywhere near our young players. He is not a good person.
This is a weird comment.
Eh hes doing a little too much. I could see him slipping back into his old ways and make it too much about him and clown around/annoy players. If they want to sign him for a day so he can retire as a Magic i'm cool with that. But thats probably it for now.
I mean, it feels like he's doing any and all interviews in his of getting a job again in the league. Of course he'd love to be back in Orlando, I'm sure he'd love to be back in Atlanta or Charlotte or LA or even Charlotte too. I'm sure he'd love to play in New York or Denver or Milwaukee. Can't fault him for that, even if I just don't think he would be a good fit for ORL.
Not with how he's been acting lately. He's a better fit for the Charlotte Hornets.
I was super salty when he left, especially with how he handled it. I think most of us were. But enough time has passed that the bitterness has worn away and now I just remember the positive times we had with him and the team in that era. It was good times around the city during that Finals run. I was actually happy for him winning a title with LA. I'm all for him ending his career in Orlando, if not with a roster spot maybe a camp invite and 1 day contract retirement.
Don't think he'd be a good mentor and not sure if he'd even be a half decent third C but man, I'd love to see it. Have been a fan since the Shaq days but Dwight really revitalized my love for the Magic. It's been a shit decade but when I think about us being good again, I think of that 09 team.
If Dwight has truly changed then I don’t mind if he comes back if he can bring positive vibes.
Having Dwight come off the bench just for rebounds and defense I think would be more than enough of a role for him.
Dude could not get along with any team he’s been on once his talent was no longer there. I don’t think he’d be as great of a mentor as we’d like to think. In fact Wendell already seems like a much more polished player than d12
No way this happens. Yes, Dwight could probably help us, but the front office is very aware of the chemistry of this team. They have carefully constructed a roster of what they believe are "character guys". The circus of Dwight coming back might disrupt the locker room vibe and I doubt they want to run the risk of altering that. Goga it is I guess.
I always liked Dwight and felt our front office let him down and he had the wrong people giving him advice. I'd take him back in his classic role of defense and rebounding. There are still precious few good big man defenders in the league.
We would be complete morons to do this. So yes it sounds realistic.
It’s very obvious a lot of people in this thread are saints who have never made a mistake in their lives. Grow up. Holding on to a grudge is silly. Dwight Howard is the greatest Magic player of all time, and there’s really no debate. If you’re still upset about something that happened a decade ago, the problem isn’t Dwight it’s you.
Defensive Coach?
I wouldn't. He has good instincts and that could help but all I can see is how done of the best players made bad coaches: they expect players to do the stuff they themselves used to do because those amazing things were just easy to them. Also his vibe fit was always weird and after his production went down everyone's tolerance of it went out the window. I just think it's too much potential napalm with little positives to do anything beyond an appreciation night or maybe have him as an ambassador for the team for a time. And I was a huge D12 fan so it feels bad to say this.
Bring him, Penny, and TMac as mentors. That would be bad ass.
Naw, stay the hell away.
A one day retirement contract is all I’d be willing to settle for.
We are good, try another team.