NBA Rumors: Magic VP Unfairly Blames Season-Long Drama on Stan Van Gundy

One thing has been clear from all of the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the Orlando Magic this season: There is a serious lack of leadership within the organization.

Contrary to popular belief, however, it's not Stan Van Gundy's fault. The problem starts even higher than him.

During an appearance on ESPN Radio this week, Magic senior vice president Pat Williams talked about Van Gundy's shootaround press conference in which he said he'd been told by a front office member that star center Dwight Howard wanted him fired.

Howard has since denied making the request. Now, Williams is denying that anyone ever said any such thing to Van Gundy.

He expressed bewilderment over Van Gundy's remarks and said he's never seen anything like this drama, according to CBSSports.com's Royce Young: 

"

It caught everybody by surprise. Nobody was prepared for this at the press conference after the shootaround. I don't think anyone really knows what the story is here. Apparently a front office official [said this]. I don't know who that person could be. I would say there is no truth to any of this.

"

Somebody started this nonsense, and nobody is owning up to it.

But what it looks like—at least judging from Williams' comments—is that Van Gundy is being blamed for propagating a rumor he didn't start. What it looks like is Williams trying to cover up a blunder in his own front office by blaming the coach who is already polling low in the court of public opinion at the moment.

Williams tried to distract from the meaning of his words by praising Van Gundy as a coach, but his point is implicit: He would rather have the world think Van Gundy made up the rumor than take responsibility for the person in his front office who leaked the news.

Perhaps it's unpopular to see Van Gundy as the victim in all of this, but it's hard not to. One look at him during last week's awkward press conference revealed his abundant discomfort; the tension between the coach and the star was palpable.

Van Gundy has the misfortune of clashing with a player the Magic organization can't do without. When push comes to shove, there is always another coach, but there is never another Dwight Howard.

In this case, that means Van Gundy might have to be the fall guy. The organization won't own up to whether or not Howard truly asked for his coach to be fired. It won't confirm that someone leaked that news to Van Gundy.

For now, the easiest thing for the Magic to do is shrug off Van Gundy's remarks, pretend none of it ever happened and deny, deny, deny. It may not be fair, but that's what happens when the superstar comes first and the coach comes second.

Unfortunately, denying all of this won't do anything to patch the enormous hole in the Magic organization where leadership is supposed to be.