Stan Van Gundy said he did not tell Dwight Howard to sign with Houston Rockets

Earlier this month, it was reported that Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard said his former head coach with the Orlando Magic, Stan Van Gundy, told him to sign with the Houston Rockets.

Van Gundy wanted to clear those rumors up on a recent appearance on NBC Sports Radio, saying that while he did tell Howard signing with the Rockets would be a good decision, he never informed him to actually join the Rockets.

Per Chris Mannix:

"On @NBCSportsRadio, Stan Van Gundy says he didn’t advise Dwight Howard to go to Houston, but did tell him it was a good decision."

While there’s really nothing wrong with Van Gundy suggesting or even telling Howard to sign with the Rockets, it was apparently something that was bothering Van Gundy who has had his ethics questioned before. Van Gundy was set to become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, but after a last minute decision (he was literally at Kinko’s/FedEx signing the contract), decided to take a higher paying job with Orlando, something he apologized to the Kings for a few years back.

Either way, it appears Van Gundy is essentially splitting hairs with the suggestion that it was a good decision to join the Rockets, rather than actually telling him to play in Houston.