CHRON: Rockets hope Van Gundy perfect 10th

Rockets hope Van Gundy perfect 10th

New coach likes the 'fit' as he brings championship aspirations to the job

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Jeff Van Gundy spoke Wednesday of championships. With owner Leslie Alexander to his right, gushing as he officially introduced Van Gundy as the Rockets' 10th head coach, and his own unfulfilled ambition still within him, he had to talk about championships.

He spoke of basketball as he sees it, of balance and selflessness and hard work, because those are qualities of Van Gundy's teams that have made him, in Alexander's estimation, "great, great, great" and made his new boss "thrilled, thrilled, thrilled" to have him.

But as he and Alexander spoke of the "fit" they knew made him the right choice to succeed Rudy Tomjanovich, Van Gundy made it clear there was something more than imagined glories that bought him back into the profession 18 months after he stepped down as the New York Knicks' coach. It was everything about coaching and everything about coaching the Rockets.

"The misery is what you miss," Van Gundy said. "That pit in the stomach about what could go wrong, trying to find solutions to problems.

"The great thing about broadcasting is after the game, you don't go back to the hotel and worry about results. But you don't feel the elation you feel after a great win, after a playoff series. You don't miss the misery. The challenge is here."

Van Gundy repeatedly said he was not desperate to return to coaching and that only the right job would have brought him back. He turned down a more lucrative offer from the Washington Wizards and passed on overtures from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Hornets. Rather than point to any specific quality, he credited the more ambiguous "fit" for making the Rockets job right for him.

"You know when you meet people and you see a situation that it's a good fit," Van Gundy said. "This to me was a good fit. It's an organization that is committed to winning and winning big. I just feel that this was what is right for me."

Van Gundy signed a four-year, $18 million contract, according to sources familiar with the deal. He needed a tour of homes and schools and a weekend of deliberations to accept the invitation to Houston, but Alexander needed just one meeting to know Van Gundy was the candidate Larry Brown, Mike Dunleavy and Paul Silas had to beat.

"I always knew he was the bar people had to beat," Alexander said. "We liked him the best. There was never someone we liked more. All the candidates were terrific, but he was always the best.

"He's a humble guy, which I liked. He's hard-working. I think his whole life and being will be in getting this team to win."

Van Gundy said that is the plan and that when he returns to his home in New York tonight or Friday, he will start the process by evaluating every Rockets possession from this past season. He said he did not know yet what he will change but that he will build from the foundation Tomjanovich laid.

"The only goal that is worthwhile is to pursue a championship," Van Gundy said. "You may not reach that every year, obviously. You need to strive every year to be a championship-caliber team, championship-caliber players. That's what we'll try to do here from day one."

He said he could not be specific about how the Rockets, absent from the playoffs since 1999, will move toward that goal. He did not pledge to make them slow-down masters of low-scoring games as were his Knicks or to duplicate the half-court offenses he has used so effectively. He spoke confidently of the "core" of Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Yao Ming but said he did not know yet what he would consider the Rockets' strengths and weaknesses.

Of Yao, the attraction who helped make the Rockets position so coveted, Van Gundy said: "He's got 7-5 of upside. That's a lot of upside right there.

"He's a remarkably skilled post man. What I'm most impressed with, he seems like he is a great team player. He seems unspoiled by all you can get in the NBA. He seems like he's a very talented, caring, good teammate. If he continues to progress, he's going to be a great player in this league."

Without specifics, Van Gundy shared his beliefs as he had in a long, late-night meeting with Alexander and Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson in Dallas on May 26.

"I think winning crosses all boundaries," Van Gundy said, removing the importance of any particular style. "If you win, it's all good. If you lose, there's nothing good about it. There's no sense comparing and contrasting. In the end, all you want to do is have a good team you're proud of that wins big and conducts itself correctly. You do have a great core of talented players, young, that need to mature to win. You're talking about Steve, Cuttino and Yao; obviously, that is a team that has a chance to win.

"I think everybody, when you come down to it, would like to say every game is an exciting masterpiece. But the bottom line is to try to win the game. The way you have the best chance to win the championship is to be a balanced team; to have good balance between offense and defense; on offense to have good balance between a running game, a post-up game a pick-and-roll game; defensively to be able to affect a game in a number of ways so you can win a game in as many ways possible. If you limit yourself to only being an offensive team or only being a defensive team, it becomes much, much more difficult to win at the highest level. So what I hope you'll see is a balanced team."

With that, Van Gundy offered at least hints of the values Rockets players will soon hear. He will by then have hired his staff, likely to include his former assistants Steve Clifford, Tom Thibodeau and Andy Greer. He is talking with former Knicks star Patrick Ewing and on Friday will watch John Starks coach the Westchester Wildfire.

Van Gundy met with the Rockets' basketball staff Wednesday and said he plans to talk to assistant coach Larry Smith, possibly about a position with the team.

But for all the work to be done, even on his first day as Rockets coach, Van Gundy seemed at home. He admitted he won't look so at ease for long, but he sounded as if he looked forward to the signs of the misery he would soon wear on his face.

"Sometimes I look like I was under interrogation," he said. "Some people just don't look good in clothes. In New York, Armani and all those clothing people used to call me up and tried to pay me not to wear their clothes. This is as good as it's going to get ... and then it's all downhill. I'll be fine. I never feel as bad as I look."

On Wednesday, he just looked happy and, 18 months after he left coaching, "thrilled, thrilled, thrilled" to be back.

Didnt see this posted yet.


First things first: John Starks?!?! I cant stand his sorry a$$

Second: Why is he looking at talking to Larry Smith already? What about Mario and the tons of other potential coaches who want the job?