Brooklyn Nets Gig Is Last Thing Jeff Van Gundy Needs

The Brooklyn Nets have prodded a few high-profile head coaches to take over their vacancy, and most recently were rumored to have contacted Jeff Van Gundy, according to The New York Times.  However, Brooklyn doesn't seem like the best scenario for Van Gundy, should he choose to return to coaching.

Van Gundy hasn't been a head coach in the NBA since 2007, his last season with the Houston Rockets.

The former New York Knicks and Rockets head coach holds a .575 winning percentage in 11 seasons between 1995 and 2007, along with a 44-44 playoff record and one trip to the NBA Finals under his name.

From there he went on to work for ESPN as a broadcaster, but rumors about his return have been heating up as of late.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Los Angeles Clippers have some level of interest in Van Gundy alongside the Nets, but Van Gundy seems to be a bit cryptic about his desires.

"

Jeff Van Gundy, via text message: "I don't just talk about jobs. If Billy wants to talk about who he has talked to, then that's up to him."

— Josh Newman (@Joshua_Newman) May 31, 2013"

Obviously the third-winningest coach in Knicks history wouldn't have much of a problem with the high-profile gig in Brooklyn, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right job for him.

The biggest concern for Van Gundy if he's thinking about a coaching situation with the Nets should be the actual makeup of the team, not the city in which it's located.

Obviously, you've got to start at the top, which would mean figuring out whether or not Deron Williams could lead a team to the NBA title.

While looked at as one of the league's best point guards, Williams has not only earned a negative reputation over the past few seasons, but his production has taken a nose-dive in the process.

Williams' field goal percentage has dropped from the 47-50 percent range in 2008 and 2009 all the way down to under 41 percent last year, before somewhat evening out at 44 percent this season.

He's seen a similar drop in assists, going from perennially averaging double-digit dimes to just 7.7 this year, his lowest assist mark since his rookie season.

Whether he's just found himself in a bit of a slump over the course of a few seasons, or he's actually in the decline at an early age, it seems that there's something fundamentally wrong with Williams since moving to the Nets.

Williams has now built up a history of clashing with head coaches when his team is going through an exceedingly rough patch.

He butted heads with Jerry Sloan back in 2011, a firestorm of anger and accusations coming out soon thereafter.

The Utah Jazz had lost 10 times in 14 games, and with the boat rocking ferociously. Sloan decided it was the right time to retire, rather than finish out the season.

Another situation arose this past season in Brooklyn with the Nets starting out 14-14 under the guiding hand of Avery Johnson.

This time there was no public spat, rather constant speculation that Johnson had lost the support of much of the locker room and that Williams had "totally quit" on Johnson, according to The New York Times.

There was a ton of speculation regarding Williams in both situations, and neither probing by the media nor the public left him totally blameless in either case.

It's not a definite reason to avoid a team, but you've obviously got to take into account the motivation behind the decision-making process of the front office before deciding it's the right situation.

Perhaps most damning about the Brooklyn situation is their financial tie-ups that have them locked into a middle-of-the-road Eastern Conference roster for the next three years.

A bad financial situation would be a team with too much money tied up a few years from now, but the Nets are locked in with $72 million already on the books for the 2015-16 season, a total of $89 million on record for next year.

Not only is that significantly over the league's salary cap (which was just over $58 million last year), but it's well over the $70 million luxury tax line.

Now, that wouldn't be terrible if it weren't for the fact that they're paying a combined $22 million to Kris Humphries and Gerald Wallace next season, and Wallace is on the hook for $10 million a year through 2016.

That, and Joe Johnson will be making north of $20 million a year through 2016 as well.

That means the only additions they can make to their team for the next two seasons (and presumably 2016 as well) is with a $3 million mini mid-level exception and whatever draft picks they happen to hold.

Therein arises another problem. Brooklyn has made a few big trades over the past few seasons, picking up Johnson and Williams, both involving draft picks leaving their grasp.

They're currently on the hook to give up two first round picks and five second round picks between now and the 2017 draft.

Brooklyn currently has a level of inflexibility rivaled only by the Knicks, but at least Brooklyn doesn't have Amar'e Stoudemire making $45 million over the next two seasons.

Given the level of interest the Clippers have in Van Gundy, that seems like a much more enviable situation, so long as Chris Paul re-signs with the team.

They're in a much cheerier financial situation, have a hold of all of their first round draft picks and have a few players to dangle in a trade if they please.

This season's Clippers seemed as if a solid head coach could have pushed them well over the top, making them contenders for the Western Conference Championship, while the Nets had many fundamental problems left to address.

Jeff Van Gundy shouldn't wait around for the Nets to do so, because it's going to be awhile.