Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard is on the hot seat with his former Orlando Magic teammates after making a controversial statement about his time with the team, plus some harsh words to say about his former teammates.
Howard told a CBS affiliate in L.A. that "my team in Orlando was a team full of people who nobody wanted, and I was the leader and I led that team with a smile on my face."
Former Magic forward Rashard Lewis called Howard's comments "disrespectful" and defended Magic guard Jameer Nelson, once one of Howard's closest friends. Howard, Lewis and Nelson were on the Magic team that defied odds and reached the NBA Finals in 2009.
"It's disrespectful more than anything. We helped Dwight become the player he was," said Lewis, who signed this summer with the Miami Heat, which faced the Magic on Wednesday night.
"We made a good run. Hell, look at those (conference and division) banners hanging in the stands. They don't say Dwight Howard on them..."
Nelson said after shootaround that he was disappointed in Howard's professionalism.
"At some point, when are you a gonna as a man, when are you going to take ownership and stay out of the media in a professional manner," Nelson told the Sentinel.
"I would be less of a man to comment on certain things that people comment on about me and my teammates. We had a great run as a group, as core guys, and he was a part of it (reaching the 2009 Finals) and for him to say things about anybody in a negative manner, that's up to him.
"That's his opinion. If that's how he feels, that's how he feels."
J.J. Redick, another former teammate, wasn't pleased, either.
"I'm not surprised by it," Redick said Wednesday evening before his Milwaukee Bucks played the Los Angeles Clippers. "I would be more surprised when Dwight starts taking responsibility. That would be the most negative thing I can say, but that's the truth.
"You can't take all the credit and not accept any of the blame."
According to ESPN, Howard clarified his statement, stating his initial comments weren't meant to be disrespectful.
"My statement was just to say that our team that I played with in Orlando, we were the underdogs," Howard said after the Lakers' 108-102 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night. "Nobody really talked about our team. It was underrated. Everybody overlooked us for the whole time I was there in Orlando and I hated that. We all hated that. We thrived off that. My comments were never to say anything disrespectful to those guys. Those were my teammates for years. They helped me become the player that I am today and we all got to the Finals because of that.
"I would never say anything disrespectful to those guys and I think a lot of people took that and ran with it, twisted it into a negative thing. I love those guys. We've had some great memories and we thrived off people saying that we weren't going to make it to the Finals, we weren't going to be a good team. That's what pushed us."
