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I know this is random, but I randomly ran across an old Twitter poll asking if we should retire Dwight's jersey and the results were:

40% - Yes
48% - No
12% - Unknown

I think this is a little unfair, and I believe he does too since he commented on it. Dwight has done more wearing a Magic uniform than any other human being in history, it would be a travesty for us to not retire his jersey someday. Spoiled Ending aside.

Just as a quick reminder of some of his accomplishments while wearing the Blue and White.

Youngest player in NBA history to:


List of Awards:



And that's only a fraction of all he's accomplished here. I won't lie, I wouldn't even mind having him back on the team (under the right circumstances) so he can finish here. I do think the media painted him poorly, although he played his part, however how long are we supposed to hold this grudge? He clearly gave us his best years, and from what I understand, tried to come back last season (not ring chasing either, obviously).

Anyone else ready to start embracing Dwight again? Feels weird being mad at a guy who literally holds all of our records.....

Ibtl no no never

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cedric76 wrote:Ibtl no no never

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Really?

I don't think it's fair to hold it over him this long when he technically gave us all his most productive years, and lets not forget he was just 26 when he made that decision. I bet at 31 he would have done things completely differently.

We can be mad at him, but there's no denying he gave his all while he was here. And really, that's the most we could ask of any player. Hedo regularly took off (including in the middle of games sometimes) and we still love him.

I'm over the whole Dwight drama. I'm fine with him. Maybe I am because his career took a nosedive after he left and hasn't accomplished anything since. If he had multiple rings, MVPs, career high stats, I'd be more grumpy, like how I am still grumpy we lost Shaq. I think we should retire his jersey one day. He did great things here.

AddiFB wrote:I'm over the whole Dwight drama. I'm fine with him. Maybe I am because his career took a nosedive after he left and hasn't accomplished anything since. If he had multiple rings, MVPs, career high stats, I'd be more grumpy, like how I am still grumpy we lost Shaq. I think we should retire his jersey one day. He did great things here.

I agree, this would be harder to swallow if he had went on to massive accomplishments afterwards. But it appears we got all of his great years...........I'd make the same case for T-Mac and Penny. Although Tracy still had great years in Houston, he still didn't accomplish anything that he didn't already do here. Made the pill easier to swallow.

I'm over the Dwight drama as well. And to be honest, he was a (the?) major player in easily my favorite time in Orlando Magic history. Nothing tops that moment that we took out Cleveland in 2009 en route to the Finals. Even 2010 was an amazing year, even though we didn't end how we were hoping.

If we're being honest, it's really only a matter of time before we all move on and he is beloved here again. Shaq literally left the city, took shots and the city, and became one of the biggest Sports stars of all time, and he was forgiven. I just feel it's time to move past the Dwight stuff now rather than later

I'm looking up old articles on this, and it looks like the Magic played their part in this as well. Which isn't hard to believe......Dwight has his faults but lord knows this Organization is guilty of doing some things, as well.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion around here right now, but I would really love for Dwight to finish his career here in some fashion. I know for a fact that he was actively involved and engaged in the community, and I feel he really cared for Orlando while he was here. I've heard stories of people running into him out and about all the time. And I think if we were all being honest, we'd agree on that part, at least.

My favorite Magic player of all time. I can finally admit it (to myself more than anyone) now that we're far enough removed from the "Dwightmare" saga.

No.

Yall cant possible still be mad about this......that's literally the only way to justify not retiring his jersey. He's literally the greatest player we've ever had.

At some point we have to let it go, we're coming up on 6 years. I'm sure Denver is well over Melo, NO - Chris Paul, etc. No question their jerseys will be retired.

WeAreVenom wrote:I know this is random, but I randomly ran across an old Twitter poll asking if we should retire Dwight's jersey and the results were:

40% - Yes
48% - No
12% - Unknown

I think this is a little unfair, and I believe he does too since he commented on it. Dwight has done more wearing a Magic uniform than any other human being in history, it would be a travesty for us to not retire his jersey someday. Spoiled Ending aside.

Just as a quick reminder of some of his accomplishments while wearing the Blue and White.

Youngest player in NBA history to:

Spoiler:

20 rebounds in a game 18 years, 359 days
average a double-double 19 years, 133 days
20 points & 20 rebounds in a game 19 years, 342 days
1,000 rebounds 19 years, 356 days
2,000 rebounds 20 years, 347 days
3,000 rebounds 21 years, 343 days
4,000 rebounds 22 years, 129 days
lead the league in rebounding 22 years, 130 days
5,000 rebounds 23 years, 112 days
lead the league in blocked shots 23 years, 128 days
win Defensive Player of the Year 23 years, 134 days
6,000 rebounds 24 years, 96 days
7,000 rebounds 25 years, 83 days
8,000 rebounds 26 years, 106 days
9,000 rebounds27 years, 130 days

List of Awards:

Spoiler:

Olympic gold medal: 2008
Eastern Conference Champion: 2009
3x Southeast Division Champion: 2008, 2009, 2010
3x NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2009, 2010, 2011
8 NBA All-Star Selections: 2007-2014
Voted as starter 6 times
8 All-NBA Selections
First Team: 2008-2012
Second Team: 2014
Third Team: 2007, 2013
5 NBA All-Defensive Selections
NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2005
18x Conference Player of the Week
6x Conference Player of the Month
NBA Slam Dunk Contest Winner: 2008
Runner-up: 2009
NBA Community Assist Award: July 2007, January 2009, October 2010[4]

And that's only a fraction of all he's accomplished here. I won't lie, I wouldn't even mind having him back on the team (under the right circumstances) so he can finish here. I do think the media painted him poorly, although he played his part, however how long are we supposed to hold this grudge? He clearly gave us his best years, and from what I understand, tried to come back last season (not ring chasing either, obviously).

Anyone else ready to start embracing Dwight again? Feels weird being mad at a guy who literally holds all of our records.....

probably going to need another 5-10 years before he could be forgiven. He definitely burned his way out of here

WeAreVenom wrote:I'm looking up old articles on this, and it looks like the Magic played their part in this as well. Which isn't hard to believe......Dwight has his faults but lord knows this Organization is guilty of doing some things, as well.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion around here right now, but I would really love for Dwight to finish his career here in some fashion. I know for a fact that he was actively involved and engaged in the community, and I feel he really cared for Orlando while he was here. I've heard stories of people running into him out and about all the time. And I think if we were all being honest, we'd agree on that part, at least.

My favorite Magic player of all time. I can finally admit it (to myself more than anyone) now that we're far enough removed from the "Dwightmare" saga.

"played their part?"
-he wanted players, they got players
-went over the tax to get him the best fits that were available
-he wanted one of the best coaches the Magic ever had fired, they fired him
-they kowtowed to his every whim, protected his sneaky baby-mama ways from the media

Dwight, is this you asking for a way back?

Every time I remember about the Dwightmare this comes to mind I'm over Dwight tbh.

tiderulz wrote:

WeAreVenom wrote:I'm looking up old articles on this, and it looks like the Magic played their part in this as well. Which isn't hard to believe......Dwight has his faults but lord knows this Organization is guilty of doing some things, as well.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion around here right now, but I would really love for Dwight to finish his career here in some fashion. I know for a fact that he was actively involved and engaged in the community, and I feel he really cared for Orlando while he was here. I've heard stories of people running into him out and about all the time. And I think if we were all being honest, we'd agree on that part, at least.

My favorite Magic player of all time. I can finally admit it (to myself more than anyone) now that we're far enough removed from the "Dwightmare" saga.

"played their part?"
-he wanted players, they got players
-went over the tax to get him the best fits that were available
-he wanted one of the best coaches the Magic ever had fired, they fired him
-they kowtowed to his every whim, protected his sneaky baby-mama ways from the media

Dwight, is this you asking for a way back?

That's true, we did acquiesce to him (just like any team would to a star of his calibur), but we've had our screw ups as well.

Telling the world that he asked for a trade at the start of the season, for one. Then turning around and telling SVG that he asked for him to be fired is another. Extremely unprofessional. Not saying Howard is absolved, but we played our part as well.


-he wanted players, they got players
Did we though? An over the hill Vince, then an over the hill Richardson and a decrepit Arenas (on literally the most ridiculous contract in the NBA at the time) isn't exactly what he meant, I'm sure. Then on top of that, that Arenas contract was a nightmare of it's own. That was a result of Otis being friends with Gilbert. Dwight never played with anyone near his caliber while he was here. Not to say we didn't try (Chris Paul comes to mind), but we didn't succeed.

-went over the tax to get him the best fits that were available
Too far over the cap considering was we got back. Richardson and Arenas? And a bloated Hedo on a bloated contact. Let's make no mistake, this team was doomed. Otis had effectively sent us to hell with that trade. Ironically, even Dwight leaving allowed us to free up cap room, and we got Vuc and Harris in his departure.

-he wanted one of the best coaches the Magic ever had fired, they fired him
This was part of cleaning house, though. I fully believe at this time we already knew we were trading Dwight, and just decided that we were going to rebuild from the ground up (which was a great idea btw). I do agree though, Stan is the best coach we've ever had.

-they kowtowed to his every whim, protected his sneaky baby-mama ways from the media
Meh, any player of his calibur would have gotten the same treatment from any team. Lakers to Kobe, Cavs to Lebron, etc. When you're in the top 1% of your field you're going to get some allowances. Even outside of sports.

Fact is, yall, there is no reason to be mad at Dwight still. Could he have done it better? Absolutely. Could we have done it better? Absolutely. He had the right to request a trade, and if we traded him at the start of the season like he asked, I guarantee we would have gotten a lot for him. However, we gambled (despite having already pissed him off by telling the world he asked for a trade) and lost.

I mean, really, is there any reason for a f****** GM to get on National Television and announce that his star player requested a trade? It wasn't even a leak, he came out and told the world. Same thing with Stan, what was the point of announcing that he asked for you to be fired? All this did was create more discord. Extremely unprofessional behavior, from both of them. Looking back, they had to be split up. I bet Otis was the one who told Stan Dwight asked for him to be fired.

WeAreVenom wrote:

tiderulz wrote:

WeAreVenom wrote:I'm looking up old articles on this, and it looks like the Magic played their part in this as well. Which isn't hard to believe......Dwight has his faults but lord knows this Organization is guilty of doing some things, as well.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion around here right now, but I would really love for Dwight to finish his career here in some fashion. I know for a fact that he was actively involved and engaged in the community, and I feel he really cared for Orlando while he was here. I've heard stories of people running into him out and about all the time. And I think if we were all being honest, we'd agree on that part, at least.

My favorite Magic player of all time. I can finally admit it (to myself more than anyone) now that we're far enough removed from the "Dwightmare" saga.

"played their part?"
-he wanted players, they got players
-went over the tax to get him the best fits that were available
-he wanted one of the best coaches the Magic ever had fired, they fired him
-they kowtowed to his every whim, protected his sneaky baby-mama ways from the media

Dwight, is this you asking for a way back?

That's true, we did acquiesce to him (just like any team would to a star of his calibur), but we've had our screw ups as well.

Telling the world that he asked for a trade at the start of the season, for one. Then turning around and telling SVG that he asked for him to be fired is another. Extremely unprofessional. Not saying Howard is absolved, but we played our part as well.


-he wanted players, they got players
Did we though? An over the hill Vince, then an over the hill Richardson and a decrepit Arenas (on literally the most ridiculous contract in the NBA at the time) isn't exactly what he meant, I'm sure. Then on top of that, that Arenas contract was a nightmare of it's own. That was a result of Otis being friends with Gilbert. Dwight never played with anyone near his caliber while he was here. Not to say we didn't try (Chris Paul comes to mind), but we didn't succeed.

-went over the tax to get him the best fits that were available
Too far over the cap considering was we got back. Richardson and Arenas? And a bloated Hedo on a bloated contact. Let's make no mistake, this team was doomed. Otis had effectively sent us to hell with that trade. Ironically, even Dwight leaving allowed us to free up cap room, and we got Vuc and Harris in his departure.

-he wanted one of the best coaches the Magic ever had fired, they fired him
This was part of cleaning house, though. I fully believe at this time we already knew we were trading Dwight, and just decided that we were going to rebuild from the ground up (which was a great idea btw). I do agree though, Stan is the best coach we've ever had.

-they kowtowed to his every whim, protected his sneaky baby-mama ways from the media
Meh, any player of his calibur would have gotten the same treatment from any team. Lakers to Kobe, Cavs to Lebron, etc. When you're in the top 1% of your field you're going to get some allowances. Even outside of sports.

Fact is, yall, there is no reason to be mad at Dwight still. Could he have done it better? Absolutely. Could we have done it better? Absolutely. He had the right to request a trade, and if we traded him at the start of the season like he asked, I guarantee we would have gotten a lot for him. However, we gambled (despite having already pissed him off by telling the world he asked for a trade) and lost.

I mean, really, is there any reason for a f****** GM to get on National Television and announce that his star player requested a trade? It wasn't even a leak, he came out and told the world. Same thing with Stan, what was the point of announcing that he asked for you to be fired? All this did was create more discord. Extremely unprofessional behavior, from both of them. Looking back, they had to be split up. I bet Otis was the one who told Stan Dwight asked for him to be fired.

you have to remember, most players DO NOT WANT to play with Dwight. Other superstars were teaming up and no one was talking to Dwight about teaming up. His list of players included Big Baby, Anthony Morrow, etc. People he was "bigger" than and would take his lackadaisical, want-to-be-funny attitude.

Stan was fired for Dwight before any "house cleaning" took affect.

You seem to want to forgive right now, that is your choice. Most people will forgive, but like i said, that is going to be 5-10 years down the road. thats what happens when you burn bridges on the way out of town.

Forgive him for what?

He wanted a new job and his contract was up.

If he held out or intentionally didn't play well, that would be one thing. But everything his did was perfectly within his rights.

Also, look at what he has accomplished since then. Had he stayed it would have been on a 5 year max contract ending this past summer. The guy in LA, Houston and Atlanta isn't the guy we remember.

MagicFan101 wrote:Forgive him for what?

He wanted a new job and his contract was up.

If he held out or intentionally didn't play well, that would be one thing. But everything his did was perfectly within his rights.

Also, look at what he has accomplished since then. Had he stayed it would have been on a 5 year max contract ending this past summer. The guy in LA, Houston and Atlanta isn't the guy we remember.

it was in his rights, but a #@$@# way to handle it. Meeting with Brooklyn officials on the sly, telling teams that he wouldnt re-sign except for 3 teams. saying he wanted out, opting back in and then wanting back out right away. Having a camp for kids and not showing up.

yes, all within his rights, but not the best way to handle it

No. It would set a bad precedence to other stars. That if they have a great career with us, they can leave and still be honored.

Look, HE made the decision to leave. It wasn't like T-Mac who got traded. I don't have to forgive Dwight for that and I won't. It has nothing to do with time. All to do with principle. Disloyalty is never forgotten.

I'd rather retire Travis Deiner than Dwight.

Shaq, Penny, and T-Mac still don't seem to get strong receptions from Magic fans these days, so I don't expect it to be any different for Dwight.

As for retiring his jersey - he has the strongest case among all former Magic players, but I'm not 100% sure I'd support it. He has the accomplishments and longevity, but the 'Dwightmare' and it's aftermath have to be taken into account. On top of that, Dwight knew how crippling it was for this city and franchise to lose Shaq to the Lakers, but he went and did the same exact thing. I was never really upset with him leaving, it was the team he left for that was just plain inexcusable in my book.

Retire Travis Diener, yes.

tiderulz wrote:

MagicFan101 wrote:Forgive him for what?

He wanted a new job and his contract was up.

If he held out or intentionally didn't play well, that would be one thing. But everything his did was perfectly within his rights.

Also, look at what he has accomplished since then. Had he stayed it would have been on a 5 year max contract ending this past summer. The guy in LA, Houston and Atlanta isn't the guy we remember.

it was in his rights, but a #@$@# way to handle it. Meeting with Brooklyn officials on the sly, telling teams that he wouldnt re-sign except for 3 teams. saying he wanted out, opting back in and then wanting back out right away. Having a camp for kids and not showing up.

yes, all within his rights, but not the best way to handle it

Did he leave notes for your boyfriend and spit in your locker as well?

Seriously... have none of you ever worked for a major corporation before? They cut people like insects if he improves their bottom line and as a business, they absolutely should. However, the employees should be just as cutthroat when they have leverage which could advance their career. You want to try and step on as few toes as possible but this is almost always an ugly process. That is especially true in sports when the player has become a local "hero" to many.

I forgive and forget about Dwight until we play against him. Then having to constantly see that smug ass look on his face like he’s better than the Orlando franchise ruins it.

Dwight was given the players HE asked for. The news was that he had a list and guys like VC/Arenas/Big Baby were on his list and we got them. We didn't have the pieces to get legit stars but we tried to pander to what he wanted.

It's not about a player leaving, no one was mad at JJ or Jameer leaving, utah shouldn't be mad at Hayward leaving etc but it's about the way Dwight left that was disrespectful and really poorly handled that makes it hard for the franchise to then forgive and honour him.