Analyst Jeff Van Gundy rips on Dwight Howard

NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy had some harsh words for Los Angeles Lakers’ center Dwight Howard. He hasn’t been too pleased with the way he’s handling his time in Los Angeles.

The most recent game that Dwight Howard played was against the Chicago Bulls. The big man only shot the ball five times. It’s very reasonable to be upset about that, but the way you decide to handle the situation can give people a very bad impression of you and the incident.

Howard decided to take a game sheet that had team player statistics and showed reporters that he only had five shot attempts. According to the LA Times, Van Gundy said, "When you lose games and you're going around after the game with a stat sheet in your hand and you're saying, 'Look at the stat sheet' to reporters and to your teammates -- you know what it is? It's passive-aggressive, immature stuff. It's sad. This guy has so much to offer that is good for the game, to the game and to the Lakers. They're paying him huge money and they gave up a lot to get him."

If Howard would’ve spoken up to his team during the game and voiced his thoughts to head coach Mike D’Antoni, then that would’ve showed better character. Later, Howard admitted that his actions were immature, but it’s too little too late for people like Van Gundy.

Howard had a plethora of issues with his previous team, the Orlando Magic. The issues lasted so long, that it was nicknamed the “Dwightmare.” Over the past few months Howard and Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant have had disagreements but Howard hasn’t been upfront about all of them. Maybe this was done to keep peace, but it’s clear they aren’t playing well together.

Bryant posted a picture of D’Antoni playfully breaking up himself and Howard from a fake fight to show they were friends and everything was okay. Larry Brown Sports reports that Van Gundy said, “They don’t have to be best friends. They don’t have to like each other. You don’t have to announce that you’re friends because you don’t need to be friends. You need work well together and get good results. That’s what you need to do.”