MSN Home | My MSN | Hotmail | Search | Shopping | Money | People & Chat HOME NFL MLB NBA NHL Nascar NCAA FB Golf Soccer WNBA U.S. Open More Fantasy Arcade Shop NBA Home · Scores · Schedules · Standings · Stats · Transactions · Injuries · Teams · Players · Tickets · Fantasy Both Van Gundys have title hopes in 2004-05 Story Tools: Print Email Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com Posted: 8 minutes ago Don't be fooled by Jeff Van Gundy's unkempt cuteness and pouty game face. This guy is renowned around the league for being arrogant, secretive and relentlessly manipulative. Several times during his tenure in New York (1995-2002), Van Gundy would address the gathered media after a particularly inept Knick performance and shame-facedly assume the entire blame for the embarrassing loss. He hadn't prepared the team properly, hadn't motivated them, hadn't made the appropriate in-game adjustments, etc. Naturally, the media scurried over to the players to record their reactions. And, just as naturally, all of the players dismissed Van Gundy's mea culpa and claimed the onus for themselves. What was Van Gundy's agenda here? To force his players into giving him a public vote of confidence, thereby securing his job while the Knicks were wallowing at the bottom of the league. At the same time, Van Gundy also "proved" to his players that he was protecting their backsides. Jeff Van Gundy has a knack for self-preservation. ( / GettyImages) Much has likewise been said about how Van Gundy signed off on trading for Marcus Camby, then when Camby played poorly, let it be known through media leaks that he had nothing to do with the deal. This was the first shot in a power play that eventually led to the sacking of the Knicks' general manager, Ernie Grunfeld. VG next took on the team's president, Dave Checketts. The damning evidence that Checketts was a nefarious operator was his secret meeting with Phil Jackson during the last weeks of the 1998-99 season. This was when the then-unemployed Jackson was supposedly offered Van Gundy's job. In truth, no such offer was ever tendered. And how did the news of this meeting become public knowledge? Several New York sportswriters have testified that one of Van Gundy's minions rifled through Checketts' desk and thusly discovered the notation in a personal appointments calendar. And how did Van Gundy get the Knicks head coaching job in the first place? By sucking up to Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson, the Knicks' reigning superstars. And why did VG quit so abruptly after only 19 games into the 2001-02 season? Because the Knicks latest star-power player, Latrell Sprewell, wasn't taken in by Van Gundy's brown-nosing tactics. Nevertheless, if Van Gundy the Younger isn't quite as naïve and guileless as he pretends, he's still a capable coach. This season, the arrival in Houston of Tracy McGrady is both Van Gundy's biggest blessing and biggest curse. He must find a way to make T-Mac play hard, play defense, and eagerly share the ball with his playmates. On defense, Van Gundy preaches the same chest-to-chest aggressiveness and wing-denials that he imbibed as Pat Riley's assistant in New York (1989-96). At the other end of the court, just as Ewing anchored the Knicks' offense, Yao Ming is the center of the Rockets' point-making alignments. The difference is that the former passed only under duress while the latter is a willing and accomplished passer. Besides T-Mac's habitual sticky fingers, Van Gundy must be concerned with his point guards: Charlie Ward, Tyronn Lue, and Bob Sura. Could he combine all three to form a single tough-quick-hard-driving-3-ball-popper, Van Gundy could easily lead the Rockets to a championship. Should T-Mac's careless defense and generic selfishness prove to be intractable, and should the Rockets' point-guard dilemma remain unsolved, everybody in Houston's front office would be well advised to watch their backs. Van Gundy the Elder likewise served his NBA apprenticeship as an assistant to Pat Riley (1995-03). That's why SVG espouses the identical defensive philosophy as his brother. Stan Van Gundy may have to change his coaching style to fit Shaq in. (Andy Lyons / GettyImages) Among NBA cognoscenti, it's called the Riley-Harter defense, Dick Harter being a long-time NBA assistant and defensive whiz. Besides general bogarting and wing-denials, in its purest form, the system also calls for doubling screen/rolls and fronting the low-post. However, since even a slimmed-down Shaq will not play front-defense nor jump the S/R, SVG has two choices: Brainwash the big fellow or change his own preferred style of defense. Just like in the almost glorious days of Ewing-and-Riley in New York and Alonzo Mourning-and-Riley in Miami, the Heat will now be able to center their offense around a dreadnaught pivot man. But what will happen to Dwyane Wade? Shaq claims that the Heat is "Wade's team," even though the young man is a slasher, driver, and brick-layer. (Wade's shooting deficiencies would seem to prohibit plugging him into the shooting-guard slot.) With Shaq planted near the paint, all of Wade's favorite alleys and angles will be clogged. Elsewhere, the sharpshooting of Damon Jones, Eddie Jones and Wesley Person will make opponents pay for the necessity of two-timing Shaq. If Keyon Dooling is routinely out of control with the ball, the Heat's roster does feature sufficient backups and shooters to successfully challenge the reigning champion Pistons. In addition to finding half-court scoring opportunities for Wade and domesticating Dooling, Van Gundy needs to find a ferocious rebounder to play in tandem with Shaq. Like his kid brother, SVG is always an intense presence on the bench and has proven his bona fides as a successful coach. A significant difference between the two, however, is that Stan is not the closet ego-mania that his sibling is—and is much more of a team player. Charley Rosen, former CBA coach, author of 12 books about hoops, the next one being A PIVOTAL SEASON — HOW THE 1971-72 LA LAKERS CHANGED THE NBA, is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com. 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True or not, that writer obviously doesn't think highly of JVG's morals. But that bit about JVG the brown noser made me laugh! I always thought that he has a look on his face like he's smelling crap all the time
All of this reporter's complaints seem to stem from Van Gundy's dealings with the media, not his coaching ability. Interesting, but not much to do with how he runs the team. I'll tell you one thing, he sure didn't suck up to Steve Francis.
I was thinking the same thing...it comes off that he is more hung on the fact of JVG dealings with the press.. It was fun to read, i love things like this..
There must be nothing to talk about in Rocketland. This is about as useful as Shawn vs Marlon Wayans Ashley vs Wynonna Judd Ashley vs Jessica Simpson Tiki vs Ronde Barber Mario vs Luigi Willis vs Arnold Joe vs Gavin Maloof Gerald vs Dominque etc..
Man, that article was negative. In one way or another it attacked Jeff and Stan Van Gundy, McGrady, Dwyane Wade, Shaq, and all of the Rockets' point guards. Way to go, Charlie.
How could you be Head Coach in the NBA and not be a manipulative, hard-nosed, son of a gun? Hell, you can't be a decent manager at Dairy Queen (to borrow from Mark Cuban) without those qualities.
Not easily... we saw about a year ago what being a nice guy will get you. Rudy was the Man, but I don't have any complaints about JVG's coaching... yet.
This was why JVG did what he had to do early in his coaching contract of 4 years. Doing it early as possible in his contract allowed him leeway because there is no way that Les Alexander is going to eat the rest of JVG's contract for. You trade the guys who will not be in your corner when it comes time for contract renewal. Most everyone on this roster would not mind JVG coming back after his 1st contract. Look at Carmelo basically bumping heads with Bzedlik in Denver. The likelihood of Bzedlik coming back without Carmelo's blessing is much lower. Phil Jackson was coaching as if it was his last year with the Lakers. He knew Kobe was in charge. Phil still went with Shaq to run the offense. Phil Jackson is no dummy. He knew the consequences as seen when Kobe basically gave a thumbs down to Phil getting his contract renewed. Astros fans know how Craig Biggio got Dierker canned. Star players play a large role in the choice of a coach.
Charley Rosen can be massively annoying with his Phil Jackson love, and injecting his biases against certain players and coaches. But he's one of the only columnists that actually breaks down x's and o's and routinely provides indepth scouting reports on players and teams. I always look forward to reading his articles even if they drive me nuts sometimes. Hopefully the part about "Van Gundy could easily lead the Rockets to a championship." turns out to be correct.
Good point. But I bet even if Rudy is the nicest NBA coach in the history of the world, he'll rip your throat out if you back him into a corner. Every coach has a persona that they used to manage the team, the fans, and the front office. Some personas are more likable than others. Some are more successful. But every single head coach in the NBA is a guy I wouldn't want on to sit next to in a poker game, or end up a in a fist-fight with. That's why they make the big bucks, and we waste so much time scrutinizing their work.
Read the quote. I don't believe there are any secret labs Frankensteining those three guys into a single entity.
Has JVG ever missed playoffs? If I remember correctly, the Knicks were still .500 team when he resigned. How come the Knicks wallowed at the bottom of the league under Jeff Van Gundy?
