The nostalgia flowed freely in a text exchange between two men near the top of their profession. John Calipari, now king of Kentucky, recently found a photo more than three decades old, one that captured an eager assistant on the University of Vermont staff, someone Calipari had planned to join before Larry Brown kept him at Kansas. He felt the need to share the snapshot with Stan Van Gundy.
"We got into the whole thing," Van Gundy told Bleacher Report last week, shaking his head. "He was a Division II player, I was a Division III player. We were both nobodies. I think about that stuff all the time. When I go all the way back, you just say, wow."
It is veritable Van Gundy to credit his coaching career, the one restarting in Detroit after a two-year interruption, largely to serendipity—a series of happy accidents marked by sublime timing. His brother Jeff cracking the NBA door for him with Pat Riley and the Miami Heat, after a six-stop collegiate rise stalled with a single unsatisfying season at Wisconsin. Riley burning out after two frustrating Heat seasons, elevating him to lead a team that just drafted Dwyane Wade. Tony Battie getting hurt prior to the 2007 preseason, giving him little choice but to try Rashard Lewis as Dwight Howard's complement at power forward, a move that would eventually fuel an NBA Finals appearance.
"So many things have to happen," Van Gundy said. "I've always been really aware of that, that this is not a meritocracy, as least not purely. Now, I'm not trying to be overly humble. You've got to be able to do the job when you get the chance. But there's a lot of really good coaches at every level out there, high school, small college, who just haven't gotten the right break, met the right guy, whatever. And that's what I expected. I expected coming out I'd be a small college coach, hopefully get a really good small college job. I would have been happy as hell with that."Van Gundy acknowledges that he has never been "easy to play for," but also notes that he stays in touch with "90 percent" of those who played for him. Many, like Butler, have told him they want to come back and play for him again. Others have chosen to collaborate in another capacity. Like Hardaway, who played for Van Gundy when the latter was a Heat assistant, and called for an interview immediately upon Van Gundy's hiring. Former Heat fora
rd Malik Allen is on staff too. Quentin Richardson, a Van Gundy favorite in Orlando, has a player development post.
"I think [players] sort of give you a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Van Gundy, who fondly recalled supportive visits from Nelson, Turkoglu and Redick during the Pistons' poor start. "I think they just, after a while, go, 'OK, that's Stan.' They don't like it. But there are enough other things. I think they do know that I try to do the right thing, and I care enough about them as people and I want to win. So they give me a chance."Sometimes, he'll even give players a smile, especially during the recent streak.They may even give a few back."Over the last (several) games, you've seen the guys buying in more because, oh s--t, this guy knows what he is talking about," Butler said.Brandon Jennings, who has blossomed since Smith's departure, compared Van Gundy to his first NBA coach, the more-maniacal-than-mellow Scott Skiles, "a guy who was really on me, who really pushed me, who made me play every possession hard." A guy like Van Gundy, who won't let you relax, even with just 0.1 seconds left, after you've made a miraculous shot to seemingly secure the victory against the Spurs.
Jennings brought up that possession to Van Gundy at a recent shootaround."I got a laugh," said Jennings, eyes gleaming at the accomplishment. "I said a little joke. We were talking, and I said, 'You see that (crazy) shot from Utah? The [Trevor] Booker shot?' I said, 'Yeah, that's why we got to build the wall!' It was funny. He started laughing."
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2325193-never-east-to-please-stan-van-gundy-is-finding-the-sunny-side-in-detroit
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