The Sorcerer- Stan Van
Written by Daniel Doyle, Wednesday June 10 2009
Has any coach's stock risen more in this year's NBA playoff's than Stan Van Gundy?
Who would have believed before the season that a Ron Jeremy look alike would be one of the biggest headliners of the basketball postseason? While he looks more like a used car salesmen rather than an NBA coach, his solid regular season resume, along with a run to the Finals this year, has elevated his status as one of the best in the game. Looking back at the choice of Mike Brown as coach of the year for 2009 almost looks silly. That debate is for another time though and I want to remain focused on what exactly Jeff's brother has done to spark his Orlando Magic.
Who was Hedo Turkoglu before Stan Van Gundy? He won the Sixth Man of the Year award in his second year in the league, but was little more than a nice role player. When Billy Donovan backed out of his contract with the Orlando Magic in June of 2007, they quickly offered Van Gundy the job which he took. The following season Turkoglu won the NBA Most Improved Award and is now mentioned among other elite players in the league. It is hard to ignore the coincidence of Van Gundy's arrival with the emergence of Turkoglu.
One of the most impressive facets of Van Gundy's style is his ability to get his players to mesh together. Early in February this year, his All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson went down with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. The organization made a deal for point guard Rafer Alston of the Houston Rockets a couple of weeks later and never looked back. Analysts always compare the point guard position in basketball to the quarterback position in football. To encorporate a change like that over halfway through the season and keep the team playing at not only a high level, but through the first couple rounds of the playoffs, even better, is unbelievable.
After taking shots from Shaquille O'Neal and other members of the pessimistic media, Van Gundy always found a way to let it roll off his shoulder. Through these playoffs, his press conferences have been must watch television. Rarely will you ever hear some cliche come out of his mouth, and he is never scared to give his honest opinion. You get the same analysis from Stan Van in front of cameras and microphones that you would get sitting next to him at a bar. No matter how this NBA Final ends, we have a yet another star born in the playoffs. And it makes no difference that this one looks like he might work under the hood of your car.
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3 comments
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I absolutely love the Magic, and Stan the Man as well. But I disagree saying that his stock rose that much last offseason. He made more then a few calls that absolutely lost games at the end for us. His stock has been rising the past two years of course, he turned the Magic into a top contender. But the playoffs weren't exactly his high point. Sure he was great in the playoffs, but he also made some awful awful coaching decisions. In my opinion his stock remained the same.
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Thanks for the comment dogdig. When I first saw Stan Van Gundy, I unfairly assumed he wouldn't last long as a coach in the NBA. He has proved all doubters wrong and done a fabulous job with his Orlando Magic.
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love stan