What's the Deal Stan Van Gundy?
The Orlando Magic stayed alive in the NBA Playoffs, with a gutty win in Game Four against the Boston Celtics at Boston's TD Garden.
Like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz , the Magic found their heart. Just like the Tin Man, they realized their heart always existed, they simply never used it.
Unlike The Wizard of OZ , the Wizard—head coach Stan Van Gundy—is real. For that reason, Van Gundy should be relieved of his duties.
To fire Van Gundy, after the team performed so well in Game Four, might sound ludicrous. It may, but the Orlando Magic need a new coach.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks have seen the light. An uninspired effort in the playoffs led to the firing of the head coaches for both teams.
Why would Stan Van Gundy be any different?
With the help of his ESPN analyst brother Jeff Van Gundy, younger brother Stan has been able to fend off criticism. Nothing like someone with the ears and eyes of the NBA television audience to make fans believe that the 3-0 deficit should be blamed completely on the players.
Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals exposed how badly Stan coached his Magic in the first three games.
J.J. Redick , though not a super star, helped to fuel both comebacks in Games One and Two. He took and made tough shots in Game Four. He found Dwight Howard in the post, and took care of the basketball.
Redick finished with twelve points, making three of five from three-point range. He finished with two assists and four turnovers. You can live with the turnovers, especially when two of them came on very questionable calls by the officials.
It took Stan four games to commit to one of only maybe two or three players who appeared ready to play.
Then comes the mystery of Brandon Bass , another gem in the rough. Bass came to Orlando with four years of previous NBA experience. He played two of those seasons with the Dallas Mavericks. That included over fifteen playoff games.
Yet, Stan waited until his team went down three games to none before giving Bass meaningful minutes. At 6'8” and 250 pounds, the discerning fan has to wonder why Bass received so few minutes throughout the playoffs.
Bass only scored three points, but changed the dynamic on the defensive end, forcing Garnett to play much harder for much longer periods. The fatigue could be seen in Garnett's face late in the game.
In addition, let's also note the block by Bass, he averaged one of those per game in Dallas.
Jameer Nelson delivered big for the Magic. Instead of sharing the ball with Carter— waiting for him to find his offensive game—Nelson took the game to Boston. In earlier games, Nelson attempted to run the pick-and-roll to no avail.
To the casual observer watching Orlando, it became evident, Doc Rivers had planned well defensively for the play.
In Game Four Nelson's objective changed, he sought to drive in the paint, looking for outlet passes and layups. The same thing Redick has been using to create offense the entire series.
So Stan, we want to know what took so long to figure that one out.
Then comes the Vince Carter debacle. Vince obviously missed the heart line before Game Four. Like in the previous three games of the series, Carter failed to deliver offensively, still shooting fade-away jumpers.
Carter continued his carelessness with the basketball, committing three turnovers. You could live with these numbers, were it not for the shoddy defense and lack of tough play.
Still, Stan chose to bring Carter back into the game with a little more than three minutes left. The time for protecting superstar egos passed once Carter blew two free-throws in Game Two.
Dwight Howard provides the greatest argument as to why Stan should be looking for a new gig at the end of the playoffs.
In two games, we've seen Howard's ability to dominate the paint.
When Howard gets the ball deep in the lane, and the rest of the offense stays active, Howard scores.
In Game Four the formula worked out to the tune of 32 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocked shots.
People often claim that Howard lacks a post game. Howard possesses a post game, it just needs to be developed. There in lies the question, why has Stan not developed Howard as a more integral part of the offense?
The answer, the same reason Bass just now got the opportunity to help the team: Stan still believes he can win with the three.
Be damned with all those years of NBA history, telling us all that the style has yet to work.
Stan has a player, who based upon pure physical makeup, can dominate without a good post-game.
At the end of last season, Howard and the Magic stated that their All-Star big man had to improve his offense. Howard himself openly committed publicly to working hard over the summer.
How hard Howard worked last offseason can be debated based upon what we see now. But coming into the season, Stan never made a concerted effort to force Orlando's center to play better in the post.
Using your center as a decoy works during the regular season, but creates a house of cards going into the postseason.
Howard has the basic fundamentals to play proficiently in the post. Given 82 games, I fail to understand why Howard got very little post experience during the season.
The problem: Stan believes the shooters will be the key to winning. That's not the way it works in the NBA playoffs.
As long as big brother Jeff has the mic, we'll hear a great deal about how the Magic quit.
But short of an NBA title, which won't happen, sooner or later Stan will and should answer to his inability to adjust lineups and game plans quickly enough.
Unfortunately, the players will be stuck with most of the blame, some of that warranted.
Fans will be left holding the broken dreams of a title.
Stan Van Gundy will most likely be left holding on to his coaching job.
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