Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy has had his share of unpopular opinions during his coaching career, but that hasn't deterred him from speaking his mind.
In an interview with Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, Van Gundy shined light on some facts about the Kevin Durant signing and his take on the situation.
“First of all, I don’t understand why there were people that were like pissed off that he went there,” said Van Gundy. “I don’t get that. Did he do something that was against the rules? He was a free agent, he picked the situation best for him and good for him.”
Comparing Durant to Aldridge
It's hard to say if it has to do with the quality of the player, but when LaMarcus Aldridge went to the San Antonio Spurs after Golden State won the championship, that team was stacked as well. It had a veteran core that had won it all several times, and a great coach and system that has proven to work for everyone that's played there in the past two decades.
Not only that but they had made the playoffs for 18 straight years and won four championships in five NBA Finals appearances in the last 12 years.
Was there uproar? The media understood Aldridge was a Texas guy — but he could have gone to Dallas, the place where he was born — so why San Antonio? Because he wanted to win.
But he was winning in Portland, wasn't he? Aldridge also made the playoffs every year and worked well with Damian Lillard, so why “jump ship”?
No one seemed to question that, yet San Antonio got much stronger and basically set up an insurance plan for Tim Duncan‘s impending retirement.
Yet somehow the amount of national hate for another free agent exercising his right to join the team of his preference has been absolutely demonized throughout broadcast, written and social media.
“He’s happy and the people that criticized him, I didn’t get and there were a few people railing on the Warriors and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right. There’s teams out there that wouldn’t take him?',” said Van Gundy.
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