Stan Van Gundy was not only a very popular guy to talk to but he is was also a very popular guy to talk about, starting with Matt Barnes’ comment about Stan Van Gundy and his fondness with text messaging.
"Stan’s a good dude. Stan texts a lot. Stan texts like a girl who just got her phone for the first time. I’ve never been in something like that but it’s always motivational, always makes me smile and lets me know how serious he is about winning."
Anyway, here’s the transcript of what I heard from Orlando’s head man.
On what Dwight has meant to the city of Orlando
"First of all, being the only major league franchise in the city, let’s face it, he’s revived the franchise. So from a playing standpoint alone, he’s made the Orlando Magic relevant again. Now, so have a lot of other people. I don’t want to put it all on his shoulders but I think when they made that draft pick and then he stepped onto the floor, the Magic became relevant again and that’s the first thing. I think when you pair that with his personality and charisma, not only is he a real good player who made our team better that people wanted to follow, but he’s a very charismatic celebrity that people really really like. And so, I think when you put all that together, he’s breathed life into the franchise and I think into the sports landscape of this city. It’s hard to overstate really to me, what he has done for the Orlando community at least from sports and I don’t want to overemphasize sports too much either. There’s a lot of people out there who do a lot more for what really has to be done for this city, but nonetheless from a sports standpoint, he’s meant a lot."
On Dwight being the reason he chose to coach in Orlando
"Well, that was certainly a plus but it wasn’t specific to one guy at that time. It was really specific to the organization, the direction they were heading, Otis, and the players that we here, the talent overall. I didn’t really get down to specifics, but when you look and you’re saying the talent made a difference, obviously he was a huge part of that so in that way, yeah, he certainly had an impact on my decision."
On falling just short last season and how it affects the off-season
"I don’t know that it really makes my offseason any different at all because until you win a championship, which I haven’t done, you’re always falling short of your goal, so the motivation is always the same. I would hope that I ever reach that goal, it wouldn’t change my motivation or anything else. I’d like to think that I have a professionalism and bring a pretty solid work ethic to the job and that I’m always going to be prepared and ready and looking for ways to get better so I really don’t think it has changed me in that regard. Now the specifics again of you know, you weigh every decision you’ve made and every game you try and go through and get better but I don’t think it’s any different because of the finals."
Stan Van Gundy is an excellent head coach and really tells it like it is. The whole “master of panic” stuff is inflated by the media because the most well-known, charismatic superstar in the NBA, Shaq, brought it up once when attempting to defend a flop that Van Gundy called him out on when he was guarding Dwight Howard last year.
What really matters is that his players like him, respect him, and as Matt Barnes said, “know how serious he is about winning.” Nothing is more important than that and that’s why Van Gundy brings a career NBA regular season record of 349-223 including going 111-53 in two seasons with the Magic. He also has a 35-27 playoff record (18-16 with Orlando), showing that he can coach and get his team to execute in tough playoff situations. If he’s such a master of panic, then why didn’t Van Gundy panic last season when his starting Point Guard went down halfway through the season? Why was Van Gundy able to win a decisive game 6 in Philadelphia without superstar Center Dwight Howard and starting SG Courtney Lee? How did he manage to defeat the Celtics in a game 7 in Boston for the first time ever and how did he take down LeBron James and the “unbeatable” Cavaliers (who hadn’t lost a playoff game before their series with the Magic)? Stan Van Gundy is one hell of a basketball coach and the Orlando Magic are lucky to have him.
Next up: Rashard Lewis
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)