Stephen A Smith Interviews Jeff Van Gundy

He went off on Magic CEO Alex Martins.

Spoiler

-I thought with Haslem's suspension, it was reasonable. Had they not suspended him and fined him significantly, that would have been fine too. One game is reasonable. Pittman, I'm not sure why they think LeBron James needs to be protected from a guy on the end of the bench giving him a choke sign. LeBron doesn't need physical protection for Lance Stephenson's gestures. Pittman made an ill-advised play trying to stick up for a teammate who didn't need to be stuck up for.

(Stephen A. thought he deserved 5 games)

-Teams, like the Pacers, should be given an option. Pittman suspended for 3 games OR some other punishment. Like no water at the end of the bench for Miami the whole night. Or Haslem suspended for a game or LeBron James put in a penalty box for 10 minutes to start the game. Then you would give Indiana the choice and I think it would fascinating.

-I didn't even think Hansbrough's foul was flagrant. Flagrant's are so inconsistently called. The bigger issues is this, why do they review only flagrant 2s? It's such a critical call. All flagrants should be reviewed. I think it should be something they do immediately, the league office changes today that they put it to replay no matter flagrant 1 or flagrant 2.

-I would like to see a 2 pronged attack to the excessive flopping. If an official can see in the flow of a real game that a flop occurred, then the foul that brought about that flop is negated and the flopper is assessed a technical foul. The league should go back through every game and any exaggerated contact that is a flop, you start accumulating points that eventually lead to suspensions. You aren't looking for the minors ones but ones that try to trick the official. Tricking an official is not a NBA play. It's gone where teams had one guy who would flop to now our stars are doing the flopping. It's not good for basketball.

[...Talks about the Pacers/Heat...]

-My thoughts are this: His coaching is beyond reproach so he doesn't need me to defend him. Teams change coaches in professional sports. How you go about it is important. For him to have been in the office all day and Alex Martins knows he's there, and then lets him leave and then calls him on the phone to fire him--unprofessional. To hide behind the fact or try to make everyone believe that Dwight Howard didn't have a part in this is absurd. Just say, "Hey, we fired this guy because we feel this is our best chance to keep Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard and I decided to fire him." To do anything else is playing a game of semantics. It really is. Third, at the press conference that they hold, to go on and on about how difficult of a day it is for you personally Alex Martins to fire people, and he does this every time he fires someone with the Magic, with callous disregard for how it impacts the people that he's just fired. My brother is fine financially but he has uprooted so many other lives. You want sympathy and empathy because you have it hard. Callous disregard for what normal Americans are going through and you've fired many people there, and he always comes up with the same thing --it's been a tough day on me for without any regard for their feelings. And finally, and this one the biggest one to me Stephen A., he said there that my brother is the finest Xs and Os coach he's been around in his 25 years in the business. OK listen, all you've done in your 25 years in the business is release press releases and run the business side. You don't know if a ball is blown up or stuffed. You don't know if their pick and roll coverage on the side or high was right or wrong. Just say, "I have no knowledge about basketball." It's offensive when someone who has no knowledge about basketball, even in the positive comments tries to in those ways sorta negate what Brian Hill did as a coach or Matt Guokas did as a coach. He doesn't know one thing about basketball. So please, hold off on your comments about my brother's expertise since you know nothing about basketball.

 

Van Gundy is awesome.....still wish he was the head coach of the rockets. It's always refreshing to hear someone as candid as him.

 

lol that was awesome

 

geez, jvg just layeth the smacketh down. just brutal brutal assessment, almost simon cowell-like

 

Very professional assessment by a pro.

 

I don't know why people keep saying this when they praise JVG's candidness. Do you realize that if he was our coach, or any team's coach, he wouldn't be able to say all those candid things without being fined?

I have no problem with people liking him as coach. Personally I think he is a good coach, but not as good as a commentator. I'd rather hear him speak his mind in the media than with him coaching on the sideline.

 

I love that man.

 

I remember that time where he defended Yao and got pinged for 100K from the league.
His commentary is incisive and thought-provoking.

 

One of my favorite guys in the NBA and my least favorite guy covering the NBA.

 

That was awesome! Id love to hear what he thinks of the Rox.

 

I was referring moreso to the Rox in terms of ownership and management style.

 

Love him as a commentator. Would quit the rockets for a while if he became coach. His style of basketball was just plain boring.

 

JVG is always awesome. I hope he coaches again.

 

If I were God, JVG would be the NBA Commissioner.

 

haha lets make a push for JVG the next Commish.

 

ditto for me

 

JVG ain't done yet!

[rquoter]“I know that in the three years before Stan came to Orlando, Dwight Howard had never had a winning record and he had never won a playoff game and he’d never been the Defensive Player of the Year,” Jeff responded. “He’d never been an All-NBA player. So I know all those things.

“Listen, teams have the right to change coaches. . . . Every coach has been through it except for the very few lucky ones. But there is a manner in which you go about changing that shows you have a dignity and an integrity about you. Their callous disregard for what Stan helped them to do — winning more playoff series in his five years and they have had in the entire time they’ve been a franchise. Add into that that he’s my brother? Sure, it impacted my comments.

“But I didn’t overreact. If anything, I underreacted, because when you see leadership by appeasement or appeasement as a leadership strategy, I think it’s wrong. I think it’s wrong for the individual player. I think it’s wrong for the team and the franchise. And that’s what I said in many different ways.”[/rquoter]