Former New York Knicks head coach and ESPN color commentator Jeff Van Gundy went back to memory lane to recall his stint at the helm of the Knicks (1996-2001) and how the franchise has crumbled down since.
A guest in Mike Krzyzewski's Basketball & Beyond with Coach K SiriusXM show, Van Gundy recalled the end of his tenure and how it came about.
Via SNY's Ian Begley:
“Yeah, and it comes back to I think that we had the right leadership,” Van Gundy told Krzyzewski. “(Former team president) Dave Checketts, who I'm sure you know. Great leader. And then we had unfortunately, at the end of my time there, we had a dilution of talent with the Knicks and it happened rapidly due to some just age, some injury. Patrick Ewing, one of the greatest all-time players, aged and got traded. Larry Johnson, a legendary UNLV player but just a terrific teammate and someone to coach who set an example every day, back injury. Then they traded for[Antonio] McDyess, he had a knee injury. Allan Houston had a knee injury. These are career-changing type of injuries.”
“And so they had all this talent and Dave Checketts left, and so there was this big void. Since then they've never settled on a direction of leader from a general manager standpoint or a coach.”
Van Gundy enjoyed success in each of his five-plus seasons with New York before resigning in 2001 in the midst of a winning streak and a 14-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He'd wait for two years before getting his next shot to coach at the NBA level, this time with the Houston Rockets, whom he coached for four seasons.
Yet JVG believes the Knicks have struggled a lot since his tenure due to a systematic cancer that has plagued the organization. The Knicks have become prisoners of the pressure that surrounds them, often causing them to make the wrong move, time and time again.
“It's been constant change and unfortunately that amount of change has led to an inconsistency of philosophy, of belief, and I just think they have to settle and give whoever they pick next the opportunity to grow and evolve,” he said.
“So many of these projects where you're trying to turn a franchise around, they're submarined because of a lack of patience. Everybody says, ‘We're all in to the rebuild,' and ‘We're going to be patient,' and then halfway through they lose the stomach for it and think change is the answer.”
There have been 12 coaches since Van Gundy left the helm in The Big Apple and none have lasted as long as he did. He is the third-winningest coach (248 wins) in the history of the franchise after the legendary Red Holzman (466) and Joe Lapchik (326).
Ironically enough, the Knicks are considering him and fellow ESPN analyst Mark Jackson as potential candidates for the job, shall things go haywire once again and force them to make a coaching change.
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