USATody: Cleveland should be the place for Van Gundy

Well, Van Gundy didn't wait until Knicks got rotten to the bone to leave... Just a thought.


Cleveland should be the place for Van Gundy

While Larry Brown goes off on yet another self-important tour, feeding the relentless cravings of a job-offer junkie, Jeff Van Gundy should lock in on the opening that fits him better than a color man's headset. He should survey the roster of possibilities, weigh his championship odds in the competing markets, and make the smart play in the one game that could define his legacy as an NBA coach. Van Gundy should choose LeBron James over Yao Ming.
The choices might not be so attractive, depending on where Brown decides to make his next egomaniacal splash. But if the former Sixers coach succeeds in suckering the Clippers' lead sucker, Donald Sterling, into extending him a gold-paved road to retirement, Van Gundy might have Cleveland and Houston all to himself.

In that scenario, most NBA officials and observers believe Van Gundy would pick the Rockets. It's only the second best option on the board. Turning away Cleveland would be this candidate's very own mistake by the lake.

"I don't have an offer from either team, and I'm not leaning either way," Van Gundy said Thursday by phone. "I was impressed by the people from Cleveland I've met with (owner Gordon Gund and GM Jim Paxson) and the people from Houston I've met with (owner Leslie Alexander and GM Carroll Dawson). They're both going to be very good opportunities for somebody."

Better opportunities than the one being presented by the Sixers. Van Gundy decided against pursuing Brown's vacated job after a conversation with Sixers executive Billy King. "We both decided it wasn't a good fit," Van Gundy said. He wouldn't elaborate, but a person close to the situation said King and Van Gundy agreed that the last thing Allen Iverson needs is another intense, demanding boss.

Yes, the Sixers could've offered Van Gundy all those intradivisional chances to haunt the Knicks. But this is a coach who thought Allan Houston was too soft. He couldn't possibly put his career in the hands of Keith Van Horn, who makes Houston look tougher than Ben Wallace.

So instead of a choice between James, Ming and Iverson, Van Gundy has eliminated the Answer from his question. It is a mad, mad world out there, with more openings and applicants than there are X's and O's in Don Nelson's playbook. But if the 62-year-old Brown is No. 1 on everyone's list — he is, after all, the only known certified genius to have won a grand total of one NBA Finals game in 20 years of NBA coaching — then the 41-year-old Van Gundy is 1-A, a drop step ahead of Paul Silas and Mike Dunleavy.

A Brown return to Los Angeles or Denver could leave Van Gundy with his most difficult decision since he walked away from the Knicks. Cleveland or Houston? James or Ming? This is what Van Gundy said about Door No. 1:

"LeBron James has a chance to be a special player, and it would be a great opportunity to coach him. Everyone tells me he's coachable and unselfish, and that combination adds up to a truly great player. But people who want to rush him should go look at the first and second years of Kobe, McGrady and Garnett. It takes time.

"I like Jim Paxson, and Gordon Gund is as special a man as you can meet in the NBA. (Zydrunas) Ilgauskas gives you size, and they have some other young and talented players in place."

This is what Van Gundy said about Door No. 2:

"Carroll Dawson is a great GM and Leslie Alexander is a New York guy who wants to win. It's a great pairing, and I think Houston's a hungry team. As one wise GM told me, the best thing about Houston is that every day Yao wakes up he's 7-5. It's so simple, but so perfect. And with Steve Francis you have a great core to work with."

Pressed to identify the leader in his clubhouse, Van Gundy swore that he had no preference. So we'll give the confused candidate a guided tour through his two most likely landing places, free of charge, and throw him the keys to LeBron's Hummer and an "Art Modell is the Devil" bumer sticker as a bonus.

Houston:

How can one take a pass on Yao and Francis? Easy. Look at the conference. Just to get to the Finals, the Rockets must survive Tim Duncan's Spurs, the Mavs, the Kings, Kevin Garnett, and the empire-strikes-back rage of Shaq and Kobe. Yao is a more powerful force than this amateur scout thought he'd be, but those suggesting he'll end up as good as Shaq, if not better, are also picking next year's Texans to win it all. Van Gundy loves the fact that Yao has a kid's enthusiasm and a veteran's poise. He won't love the idea of rising every morning to the reality that he'd have a better chance in the East next season with Patrick Ewing in the paint.

Cleveland:

A young Magic Johnson ran out Paul Westhead in Los Angeles, and a young Michael Jordan ran out Doug Collins in Chicago. Will a younger LeBron James run out Van Gundy in Cleveland? If the coach is asking himself that question after two productive interviews with the Cavs, he should forget the $90 million Nike deal and the kind of fame and leverage no teenager has carried into the NBA. Van Gundy spent his Knicks career on the wrong end of Jordan's greatness; it's time he switched sides. The Eastern Conference will have one viable contender for the foreseeable future, assuming the Nets keep Jason Kidd. Van Gundy's sleep-deprived, film-obsessed, never-see-the-sun act is a perfect fit for this mid-major snowbelt market. There's enough supplemental talent (Dajuan Wagner, Darius Miles) and size (Ilgauskas) to temper any concern that Ricky Davis could share with LeBron his triple-double dogma.

"I'm not afraid of a rebuilding job, contrary to perception," Van Gundy said. "I'd love the chance to put my mark on a team. I'd also love the challenge in the West, where it's Duncan one night, the Lakers the next, and Portland the next. That's something I wouldn't back away from."

Van Gundy might have to wait for Larry Brown to find another franchise to humor him until he's off to the Olympics, or until he starts hearing whispers that Roy Williams is in trouble in Chapel Hill. But if Brown indeed returns to the Clippers or Nuggets, Van Gundy might have two legacy-defining options before him.

LeBron James or Yao Ming.

It shouldn't be that hard. At 41, Van Gundy can wait for a teenager to grow up and rule the world.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/oconnor/2003-05-29-o-connor_x.htm