Van Gundy gets bearings with Magic
All of the assistants will be interviewed, and the new coach wants players' input.
New Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy huddled Monday at his South Florida home with General Manager Otis Smith, formulating plans to hire a staff and move forward with revamping his roster through the upcoming draft, potential trades and next month's free-agency period. Van Gundy spent the weekend contacting many of the current players by phone, introducing himself while soliciting their ideas and input.
Van Gundy will begin interviewing the current assistant coaches this week in Orlando before deciding if any of them will join him for the coming season. All of the current assistants from former coach Brian Hill's staff have another year left on their contracts.
"I like what I heard from Coach [Van Gundy]," said Magic guard J.J. Redick, who was at the RDV Sportplex doing a promotion with NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Jeff Burton. "He told me he wanted offense. He wanted shooters on the floor. I told him all I want this season is an opportunity, a fair shake to earn playing time."
Redick and Burton played a promotional game of H-O-R-S-E, trying to drum up support for next month's race at the Daytona International Speedway. Burton finished 13th Sunday in the rain-shortened Pocono 500 in Pennsylvania.
Redick, whose rookie season was mostly wasted by a lack of playing time, is one of the few Magic players who has been working out daily at the RDV Sportplex. He will be part of their Rookie League team that will convene early next month.
"It has been a little awkward around here [with all the coaching upheaval] lately," Redick said. "I'm glad that's all over, and everyone can focus on improving. He [Van Gundy] seemed like he really wants to communicate with the players. He wants our input. That's kind of nice."
New Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy huddled Monday at his South Florida home with General Manager Otis Smith, formulating plans to hire a staff and move forward with revamping his roster through the upcoming draft, potential trades and next month's free-agency period. Van Gundy spent the weekend contacting many of the current players by phone, introducing himself while soliciting their ideas and input.
Van Gundy will begin interviewing the current assistant coaches this week in Orlando before deciding if any of them will join him for the coming season. All of the current assistants from former coach Brian Hill's staff have another year left on their contracts.
"I like what I heard from Coach [Van Gundy]," said Magic guard J.J. Redick, who was at the RDV Sportplex doing a promotion with NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Jeff Burton. "He told me he wanted offense. He wanted shooters on the floor. I told him all I want this season is an opportunity, a fair shake to earn playing time."
Redick and Burton played a promotional game of H-O-R-S-E, trying to drum up support for next month's race at the Daytona International Speedway. Burton finished 13th Sunday in the rain-shortened Pocono 500 in Pennsylvania.
Redick, whose rookie season was mostly wasted by a lack of playing time, is one of the few Magic players who has been working out daily at the RDV Sportplex. He will be part of their Rookie League team that will convene early next month.
"It has been a little awkward around here [with all the coaching upheaval] lately," Redick said. "I'm glad that's all over, and everyone can focus on improving. He [Van Gundy] seemed like he really wants to communicate with the players. He wants our input. That's kind of nice."
posted by OVERWADED @ 2:43 PM
8 Comments:
At 2:48 PM,
OVERWADED said…
There hasn't been much Magic news as of late. However, this article was released in the Sentinel today. Maybe I'm just starved for a little news, but I find the comments interesting in regards to player communication. Pretty much saying; Brian Hill didn't believe in communication.
At 4:30 PM,
Ken said…
I know how you feel, overwaded. Feeling starved for info myself. I'm looking forward to the start of free agency trades such. I got a feeling we are going to be seeing an entirely different team this year. Not so much different players, but a new style of Magic Basketball. It's going to be exciting. The BSH era just dragged the living crap out of everyone.
At 4:30 PM,
WeRDevos said…
Redick sounds a little pissed at the last little dictator.
I'm not too thrilled that they are making SVG interview all of the leftover staff so the team can save money. SVG should have the right to get his own guys here. Some things never change.
At 4:41 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Gee, what a surprise... Brian Hill wasn't good at communicating with the players.
Great move by SVG, calling the players to introduce himself and seek their input about things. That would be a foreign concept for BHill.
Hope the team doesn't pressure Van Gundy in any way too keep any of the current assistants unless he's comfortable doing so.
At 7:45 AM,
Matt said…
I have always said that of all Hill's deficiencies, lack of communication skill was the worst. SVG seemed to be always close to his players. There is no time to waste on whether or not retain some assistant coaches since the focus should be the free agency market and draft choices, in that order of importance.
At 10:51 AM,
Big Figure said…
Heat blocks Van Gundy raid.Former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said Wednesday he has been rebuffed in his bid to add members of the Heat coaching staff to his new staff in Orlando.
Speaking on WQAM's Hank Goldberg Show, Van Gundy said Heat coach Pat Riley has decided to hold his staff to their contracts."It's unfortunate for me, but Pat's got a great staff there. He recognizes it and he's not going to let 'em go, because he knows how good they are," said Van Gundy, who was hired last week by the Magic.
Van Gundy has been particularly close to Heat assistants Bob McAdoo and Erik Spoelstra, and also has spoken of the growth Keith Askins has made as a Heat assistant. Spoelstra has been mentioned by Riley as his possible successor. All three served under Van Gundy during his two seasons as Heat coach.
Among those Van Gundy said he now is targeting in Orlando are "a couple of other guys who have been head coaches in the league."
Van Gundy said he expected to complete his Magic staff next week. He said he spoke to his brother, Jeff Van Gundy, the former Rockets coach and current ABC television analyst, who bypassed an offer to join his staff as an assistant.
Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@sun-sentinel.com.
At 11:11 AM,
Big Figure said…
There's no secret that stan is a players coach and we will benefit from that. The thing that bsh instilled in this team is professionalism and we will benefit from that also. The thing that makes me most happy about the SVG hire is the fact that he stated the best 5 players should be on the floor and he doesnt want our point guard walking the ball up the floor. Plus always being in attack mode and looking to score at anytime within the shot clock,instead of trying to score with the shot clock running low which makes scoring that much tougher. These are important statements that let you into the mind of our new coach and how he likes his team to play.
At 11:14 AM,
Big Figure said…
Also,hopefully stan will be able to get some good coaches interviewed. Pat Riley's playin asshole again and just trying not to give a team close to him anything free. I guess i cant blame him,but i still dont like it.
Post a Comment
<< Home