SH Blog: Carmelo Anthony seeks championship, Stan Van Gundy says Magic front office to blame for Howard drama

With all the major summer events – primarily the Olympics and Dwight Howard’s situation – coming to a quick close, there are bound to be plenty of stories to conclude all that has happened. That is exactly what we have for you in today’s news. Before you get there, though, be sure to check out a list of players that Chris Bernucca believes may become the next Dwight Howard.

• Carlos Delfino has agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets, according to Jonathan Feigen of Houston Chronicle:

• After acquiring his second gold medal, all Carmelo Anthony wants now is the NBA Championship. For his teammate Tyson Chandler, the gold meant just as much as a championship, according to Marc Berman: “Gold medal around his neck following USA’s 107-100 win over gritty Spain, Anthony said the NBA title is the last piece to his resume after winning high school championships, a NCAA championship and two Olympic gold medals. “It’s the one thing that’s missing is the NBA championship,’’ Anthony said. “I had a chance to win in high school, college, now two gold medals. My next goal is try to win a championship.’’ Tyson Chandler already has that NBA championship ring, but got his first Olympic gold yesterday and he wore it around his neck proudly. Chandler already had a world championships gold, but this one was sweeter.  “When I was hearing the national anthem, I felt someone was pouring hot water down my body,’’ Chandler said. “Chills go through your veins. It’s an unbelievable feeling.’’ Chandler said the gold will mean as much as his championship ring from the Mavericks. “It’s different,’’ Chandler said. “When you win a championship, you’re the best of your peers. When you win Olympic gold, you’re the best in the world. They both carry the same weight to me. I appreciate them both.’’

• If you wonder how Lakers coach Mike Brown reacted to the acquisition of Dwight Howard, here it is, from Mark Medina of Los Angeles Times:  “We have a deal,” Kupchak said. “Who are we getting?” Brown asked. “Dwight Howard,” Kupchak answered. “Who’s going out?” Brown asked. “Andrew,” Kupchak answered, referring to center Andrew Bynum, who will now play with the 76ers. “That’s all?” Brown asked. “That’s all,” said Kupchak, though the trade also involved sending reserve forwards Josh McRobertsand Christian Eyenga and protected first-round and second-round picks to Orlando for forward Earl Clark and guard Chris Duhon. Brown still struggled processing the news. “No Pau?” Brown asked, in reference to Lakers forward Pau Gasol. After all, reports first indicated these talks would also include Gasol going to the Magic, and he had been the subject of endless trade speculation ever since the NBA nixed the Chris Paul deal, which would’ve sent Gasol to the Houston Rockets. “No Pau,” Kupchak said. Kupchak then recalled Brown leaping out of his chair and hugging him, an incident that prompted plenty of reporters to chuckle as he told the story.”

• Howard is not concerned about the number of shots he will get for the Lakers, from Chris Fedor of Sports Radio Interviews: “What he was thinking when the Lakers traded for Steve Nash: “I was just like ‘wow they got Steve Nash. Oh man. What would happen if I played for the Lakers?’ It’s happening now. It’s here. Just looking forward to stepping on the floor and seeing everything happen.” What he expects his role to be with the Lakers: “I just want to dominate on both ends of the floor. That’s all I want to do. I’m not going to focus on the offensive side and trying to worry about how many shot attempts I get but remember that we’re trying to win a championship and we all have to make sacrifices to win. That’s basically what I want to do. Whatever sacrifice I have to make, make it so our team can win a championship.”

• Check out what Shaquille O’Neal had to say about Howard as a big man, from Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie: “I have three sons and I always tell them that if you want to call yourself big, then you have big shoes to fill,” O’Neal said. “Anybody who calls himself big has big shoes to fill. Right now, he’s off pace. He has to get himself on pace if he wants to call himself big.” O’Neal’s not wrong, not by a long stretch. We’re a few days removed from calling Howard “a phony“ourselves, so we can’t exactly criticize Shaq for falling right in line with our way of thinking. Even if Howard were handling this appropriately, acting sincere throughout, he would have big shoes to fill. He hasn’t done as much, though, worming his way through an embarrassing and drawn out soap opera that even the dregs of Hollywood would hold its nose at.”

• Danny Ferry said that the Magic did not want to trade Howard to a team in the same division, from Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “We’re in the process of working to build a better image, a better program,” Ferry said. “I’m confident players will want to come to Atlanta. This is a city where players like to play — because they like to live here. But we are going to make it a great place to play. The players will know that we’re going to invest in making it championship-caliber team, on and off the court.” It’s a great speech. It’s something every Atlanta sports fan would love to wrap themselves around. But Ferry never got a chance to make his pitch to Howard. He approached the Orlando Magic about a trade for Howard in early July but was turned down. He never had the opportunity to share his vision with Howard and try to convince him that the dysfunction that Howard (an Atlanta native) was familiar with was a thing of the past. It never even got as far as being in position to convince Howard to sign an extension. “We had discussions with Orlando about Dwight Howard,” Ferry said. “They were apprehensive to trade him within the division.”

• Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said that the blame for Howard drama should go to the Magic front office, from Real GM:  “In a radio interview on Sunday, Stan Van Gundy said that he blames the Magic front office for the deterioration of the situation with Dwight Howard. Van Gundy also believes that the Lakers are an ideal fit for Howard. Van Gundy told the media on April 5th that Howard told the front office of the Magic that he wanted him fired. Van Gundy was fired as head coach following the end of the regular season.”

• Doc Rivers explained why he would want Doug Collins to be the next Olympics coach, from the staff of CSNNE: “Doc Rivers, who has analyzed the Olympic basketball games for NBC this summer, said that anyone who was asked to take over would say yes — including him. He wouldn’t say that he’s the best man for the job, though. Instead, Rivers thought another member of NBC’s broadcast team would be more suited for the position: Doug Collins. “And there’s a reason,” Rivers said. ” ’72.” Collins, who served as color analyst for NBC in London, was on Team USA in 1972 when a controversial ending robbed the Americans of the gold medal in Munich. Rivers said that he thought Collins deserved the job over himself and Spurs coach Greg Popovich — two of the likely frontrunners for the job. Rivers said that if he was selected for the job that he would work to make sure Collins served as an assistant on the team’s staff.”

• According to Sporting News NBA, Derrick Rose will not be rushed back by the team for next season: “I’m not going to let him back until the doctors tell me that it’s absolutely safe for him to come back,” Reinsdorf told ESPN 1000’s “Talking Baseball.” “I made that mistake with Michael Jordan years ago where I think we let him come back too soon. It worked out OK, but it might not have. This time I’m not going to make that mistake. Until the doctors say he’s 100 percent and they put their reputations on the line, he’s not coming back.”… “The doctors told us that it would be eight to 12 months from the time of the surgery,” Reinsdorf said. “Surgery was the middle of May. That means the earliest possible time he’ll be back would be the middle of January. If it’s 12 months, then he’ll miss the whole season. We just don’t know. The reports are very good. They say he’s ahead of schedule. He’s doing all the rehabbing he’s got to do. We’ll see. In the meantime, I think we’re going to have a pretty decent club.”

• Andrew Bynum will go through a non-surgical procedure on one or both of his knees in Germany, according to John Mitchell of The Inquirer: “New Sixers center Andrew Bynum will head to Germany in early September to have the same experimental procedure on his knee that Kobe Bryant, Grant Hill and Alex Rodriguez have undergone, according to a West Coast source with knowledge of the situation.  Bynum has had surgery on both of his knees. It is unknown whether the procedure will be performed on the one knee or both.  According to the source, Bynum’s knees are fine and the procedure is non- surgical. The procedure, known as Orthokine/Regenokine, will be performed by Dr. Peter Wehling. Bryant initially underwent the procedure to prevent the inevitable wearing down of his knee cartilage.”

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