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Shaquille O’Neal says it would be a “travesty” if Dwight Howard leaves the Orlando Magic.
O’Neal also says Howard’s situation is not like his was when he left for the Lakers in 1996, because he says he wanted to stay with the Magic but had a better option.
— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press
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The Orlando Magic have signed free agent guard Ish Smith from the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders, President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed.
Smith (#10, 6’0”, 175, 7/5/88) was not selected in the 2010 NBA Draft. This season, he played in six games (one start) with Golden State, averaging 4.5 ppg., 1.5 rpg. and 1.5 apg. in 10.5 minpg. Last season (2010-11), Smith played in 43 combined games (three starts) with Houston and Memphis during his rookie campaign, averaging 2.3 ppg., 1.8 apg. and 1.1 rpg. in 10.3 minpg. He also played in eight games (five starts) with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, averaging 12.5 ppg., 7.9 apg., 4.3 rpg., 1.50 stlpg. And 1.25 blkpg. in 32.9 minpg.
Smith appeared in 121 career games (91 starts) during his four-year collegiate career at Wake Forest, averaging 9.2 ppg., 5.1 apg., 3.7 rpg. and 1.26 stlpg. He became the first player in Wake Forest history to post more than 1,000 points (1,114) and 600 assists (612) during his career. Smith finished his career ranked second all-time on the Demon Deacons’ list in assists.
As a senior (2009-10), he started all 31 games, averaging 13.2 ppg., 6.0 apg. (seventh in the nation), 4.9 rpg. and 1.68 stlpg., earning Second Team All-ACC honors. As a freshman (2006-07), became the first freshman in ACC history to lead the conference in assists (6.0 apg.) and the first Wake Forest player to do so since Muggsy Bogues in 1987.
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Following tonight’s game vs. Washington, the Orlando Magic have waived guard Larry Hughes, President of Basketball Operations/GM Otis Smith announced.
Orlando’s roster now stands at 14 players.
Hughes, who was signed as a free agent by Orlando on Dec. 9, appeared in nine games this season with the Magic, averaging 1.3 ppg. in 12.7 minpg.
The Magic host Cleveland on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith indicated Monday that he has no plans to make a major move to alter his team’s roster in the near future.
“If a string of losses causes you to change your plans, then I’m in the wrong job,” Smith said Monday night, before the Magic fell 74-69 to the Philadelphia 76ers to lose their fourth consecutive game.
“I think you look at your team as a whole and understand that we have to fight through whatever we have to fight through and you continue to evaluate everything top to bottom. That’s what you do. When it’s time to make a change, you make a change.”
Smith generally does not like to make trades in-season, but he did so last season after the Magic lost five of six games from Dec. 4-14, 2010.
— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel
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If Magic center Dwight Howard has any reservations about playing for the Bulls, it has nothing to do with sharing the spotlight with Derrick Rose. In fact, the five-time All-Star is open to uniting with the reigning MVP.
Approached Friday night in New Orleans after a 26-point loss to the Hornets, Howard shared his thoughts on a long-shot trade to the Bulls.
“If I could play with Derrick right now and God wanted that to happen, it will happen,” Howard told the Tribune. “It has nothing to do with me not wanting to play with Derrick Rose. I love him. That’s my brother.”
— Reported by Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune
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Magic star Dwight Howard says if his teammates should stay home or in the lockeroom if they don’t want to play hard.
Howard was frustrated and disgusted with his team’s play after a 93-67 loss to the hapless New Orleans Hornets on Friday night, the Magic’s third loss in four games.
“Looked like guys didn’t want to play,” he said. “I told them at halftime, if you don’t want to play, just stay in the lockerroom. It doesn’t make sense for a teams we should beat to just demolish us.
“You bring everything down,” Howard said, referring to a player who isn’t playing with heart and soul.”
— Reported by Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Blog)
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Dwight Howard broke Wilt Chamberlain’s nearly 50-year-old NBA record for most free throw attempts in a game, making 21 of 39 in the Orlando Magic’s 117-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night.
The Warriors hacked Howard intentionally throughout, sending the notoriously poor shooter to the line in record-setting fashion. Chamberlain shot 34 for the Philadelphia Warriors against St. Louis on Feb. 22, 1962.
Howard finished with 45 points and 23 rebounds, and Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points to propel the Magic to their third straight victory.
Monta Ellis had 30 points and 11 rebounds and David Lee added 26 points and 12 rebounds for the short-handed Warriors, playing without starters Stephen Curry and Dorell Wright.
The Hack-a-Howard routine reached a whole new level.
Howard had never shot more than 24 free throws in a game – which he had four times previously – and fouled so early. Certainly, nothing compared to the Warriors’ ways.
Howard eclipsed his old mark with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter, getting hacked and held intentionally at the end of each quarter with mixed results. If nothing else, Golden State rookie coach Mark Jackson’s strategy slowed down the pace and refused to let the Magic’s potent shooters find their rhythm.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Dwight Howard’s request to be traded still stands, and the Orlando Magic’s general manager doesn’t feel the team has done much to change the superstar’s mind.
“Nothing has changed,” Howard said before the Magic faced the Sacramento Kings at Power Balance Pavilion on Sunday.
Otis Smith confirmed Howard has not taken his trade request off the table and that Howard’s agent still has permission to speak with three, and only three, teams: the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Jersey Nets.
“I think his leaving or going has nothing to do with Orlando,” Smith said of Howard. “I think he wants a bigger market. I can’t do anything about that.”
— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel
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Deron Williams didn’t want to even address it, but Dwight Howard didn’t mind admitting that, yes, he and Williams went out to dinner Wednesday night when Williams arrived in town with the Nets.
“Since he’s been in the league, every time he comes to town, we go eat dinner and just kick it,” Howard said after the Magic’s shootaround today. “We’ve been friends since the Olympics, and so we go out to eat, have a bite.”
Earlier, Williams had stammered and said, “I don’t even know — I really don’t,” when asked if he had dinner with Howard.
— Reported by Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger
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Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum made it clear that it does not take offense to hearing his name dangled in deals and he refuted a recent Yahoo! Sports report that stated, “Bynum has privately been heard to say this offseason that he wants his own team.”
“I never said anything like that,” Bynum told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “I don’t care … I’ll be happy anywhere I play, honestly. It doesn’t really matter to me. In Orlando, I’ll probably get more shots and more touches, but here, I think this year they’ll need me to step up here. So, it really doesn’t matter.”
What does matter to Bynum is changing his reputation as being a liability in the lineup because of his injury history. Bynum has played in just 204 out of a possible 328 games in the last four years because of various injuries, missing an average of 31 games a season.
— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles
