USA TODAY: Van Gundy brothers best friends, NBA rivals

Van Gundy brothers best friends, NBA rivals

By Roscoe Nance, USA TODAY

The Miami Heat vs. the Houston Rockets isn't a marquee match-up on Tuesday night's NBA schedule. But it will get top billing in the Van Gundy household: Brothers Stan and Jeff oppose each other as head coaches for the first time. They are the second set of brothers in NBA history to coach against each other and the first since 1977, when Larry Brown was with the Denver Nuggets and Herb Brown with the Detroit Pistons.

"It won't mean any more in terms of the results. But to say that this game is like any other game, to me that's just a flat-out lie," says Stan Van Gundy, coach of the Heat. "When I look back on it, it will probably be one of the truly memorable nights of my coaching career and my life."

Stan Van Gundy, 43, is a first-time NBA coach, being named four days before the season began when Pat Riley resigned. Stan was an assistant with the Heat for eight seasons.

Jeff Van Gundy, 41, is in his first season with the Rockets. He coached the New York Knicks for seven seasons before working as an analyst on NBA telecasts for TNT.

Each is the other's best friend. It has been that way since childhood. They don't spend as much time together as they would like, about 10 days a year, but they talk constantly on the phone.

"It won't mean more to win against him because he is my brother in terms of the result meaning more," Jeff Van Gundy says, "but my pride level (is significant) in what he has achieved. He worked hard and got rewarded in the same organization. I'm very proud of that for him."

Riley, who had Jeff Van Gundy on his Knicks staff from 1991-95, says the brothers are similar in many ways.

"They're both very serious about the game of basketball. No nonsense. They value hard work, professionalism and playing the game the right way," says Riley, still president of the Heat. "Both are absolutely in love with the game of basketball, and they're very detailed in their approach to it. They work long, long hours."

Stu Jackson, NBA senior vice president operations, says it was "almost inevitable" that the Van Gundys would become NBA head coaches.

Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy were assistants on Rick Pitino's staff at Providence College in 1986-87 — Jackson says Jeff was so absorbed in his work that he lived out of his car and slept in his office for the first two weeks — and Jeff was an assistant on Jackson's staff with the Knicks from 1989-1991. Stan Van Gundy was an assistant on Jackson's staff at the University of Wisconsin from 1992-94.

"The work ethic, the knowledge of the game, the passion, it's all there," Jackson says about the brothers. "They both have sharp, quick minds and articulate well. They can sell their players and peers on their ideas."

Neither Van Gundy can remember seriously wanting to do anything other than coach basketball. That's what their father, Bill, did for 41 years on the college level. He had them involved in it from the time they were in grade school. They kept shot charts, diagramed plays, attended practices and sat on the bench during games.

"He had a great passion for his job," Stan says of his father. "He was always very enthusiastic, felt like he never worked a day in his life. When you see someone having that much fun and enjoying his work that much, it always occurs to you that would be a great thing to do for a living."

Jeff says he and his brother got hooked on coaching without knowing it was happening: "You don't even realize what an opportunity it is when you're doing it because not everybody gets to do it. It was great."

However, Bill and Cindy Van Gundy won't be on hand to watch their sons coach tonight. They made that decision when Jeff was coaching the Knicks and Stan was an assistant with the Heat and they were involved in the NBA's fiercest rivalry of the 1990s.

"We tried to go to Heat-Knicks game, but we found it was best not to go," Bill says. "You don't want anything misinterpreted that you're favoring one child over the other. And the second thing is, when you're sitting in the stands, no matter where you are, one of them is the opponent. Things get said.

"Rather than say or do something that will be regretted, just don't go. They both know we're supportive of them."

Both teams in rebuilding mode

The Heat-Knicks rivalry strained the brothers' relationship to the point that Stan and Jeff decided not to talk to each other when their teams met in the playoffs.

"It was a tough time to talk," Stan says. "When it was over, we'd talk and things would get back to normal."

That won't be the case with the Heat and Rockets. They will continue talking as they always do, more about family matters and mutual friends. Basketball doesn't dominate their conversations anyway, and they never offer each other advice about their teams.

"You only know a team when you coach that team," Jeff says. "I don't know his, and he doesn't know mine. So we don't give suggestions."

Both have inherited teams that have struggled in recent years. The Rockets missed the playoffs the past four seasons, the Heat the past two.

Houston, 4-1 and in first place in the Midwest Division, appears to have the more promising immediate future with 7-5 center Yao Ming and All-Star point guard Steve Francis, despite playing in the tough Western Conference.

Miami, 0-6 in the Atlantic Division, the NBA's only winless team, is in a rebuilding phase and relying heavily on young players such as rookies Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem and second-year man Caron Butler.

Knicks forward Kurt Thomas, who has played for both Van Gundys, expects both coaches to turn around their teams ... in time.

"They're Van Gundys," he says. "They come from the same bloodlines. They're very intense. They're two guys who are intense and very detailed-oriented ... and players like playing for them.

The Van Gundys are so similar in their approach to the game and philosophy that it might seem as if they are coaching against themselves and not each other. They both place a premium on defense, team play, offensive balance and hard work.

"You'll see similar philosophies," Jackson says. "Defense wins. They may run different things, but the way they run them will be similar. It will be a real battle."

It was their work ethic that made the Van Gundys invaluable assistants when they worked for Riley.

On Riley's staff in Miami, Stan Van Gundy would arrive at his office at 5:30 a.m. every morning.

"He wouldn't leave until he had to," Riley says. "He's constantly thinking about how the team can become better. Jeff was the same way. He was the first to arrive, usually before daybreak. They take the same approach, even though they may do it a little bit differently."

Appearances are deceiving

Jackson jokingly says the most obvious characteristic that typifies the brothers is their disheveled appearance, the result of paying so much attention to their work and so little to their wardrobes.

"Jeff's wife has got him dressing better," Jackson says. "Stan is on display now. We'll see if he gets better."

Jackson says Stan "is a disorganized organized guy" whose desk at Wisconsin always had piles of papers and Diet Coke cans on it. But whenever he asked Van Gundy for a particular item, he would dig through the papers and always find what he needed.

"I asked him, 'How did you find that?' " Jackson says. "He said, 'I have a system,' which I believed."

Bill Van Gundy says his sons' personalities are as dissimilar as their basketball philosophies are similar. He says Stan is more the extrovert while Jeff tends to be taciturn.

"Stan's emotions show," says Bill.

Stan's personality is closer to his father's, while Jeff has many of his dad's mannerisms — such as standing with his arms folded across his chest during games — and his physical features, including a receding hairline.

"Jeff holds things in," Bill Van Gundy says. "As poker players, you would always know what Stan has. I don't think you would ever know what Jeff had."

That might explain why Jeff ended up in the middle of a fight between Miami's Alonzo Mourning and New York's Larry Johnson in the 1998 Eastern Conference playoffs. Mourning dragged Van Gundy several feet as the coach held onto his leg trying to restrain him.

"I was surprised to see Jeff out there," says Bill Van Gundy. "I don't know if Stan would have done that or not. I would have done it. I don't know if I would have grabbed his leg, but I would have been dumb enough to get out there and try to protect one of mine."

Jeff says he's not sure if he was trying to protect one of his players.

"People say, 'What were you thinking?' Obviously, if you're 5-9, 165, you're not really thinking if you're going in there trying to pull off Alonzo. It was a pretty pathetic attempt."

Stan still finds his brother's action unbelievable.

"That was a crazy situation," he says. "That's what I remember thinking. I was as surprised as anyone. I think he was surprised, too."

They both are surprised they're coaching against each other at the game's highest level.

"Two kids growing up in a small town in California, coaching against each other in the NBA," Stan says. "It is incredible when you think about it."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2003-11-10-van-gundys_x.htm