JGV Hard on Lee Again…and he’s Right

by Tommy Dee on April 11th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Yesterday, fromthebaseline had a nice post about the former Knick coach as they reacted to an article in the Daily News.

“…The Knicks’ record is what the record is and the record for the decade is what it is,” said Van Gundy, the third-winningest coach in franchise history. “You can’t spin that for anything positive. But the positives they do have going for them is an owner that wants to win and will spend money to win. They have an executive in Donnie Walsh who has proven to be an astute judge of talent and character and has put together near championship teams. And they have a successful coach.

“What they need are starting-caliber players. They have nice guys if you’re talking about four or fifth starters or rotation backups. They’ve got to find a best player that they can build around.”

Van Gundy’s style is very direct. He’ll mix in humor with pointed commentary but he’s also loyal to the coaching fraternity because “I know how difficult the job is. My only comments about coaches have been positive.”

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FTB: I agree with Jeff Van Gundy 100%. The truth is as much as Knick fans want the Knicks to make it to the playoffs and be an above 500. team it is not going to happen with the current roster. It did not happen this year, and if we do not get a real star play next year it will not happen next year. There are many things that you can knock James Dolan for, but being cheap with players and the organization is not one of them. James Dolan is willing to spend money to put the right product on the court. Now it is up to Donnie Walsh to find the right star player. A winning team is all fans have asked for.  Knick fans want to return to the days that they can  finally be trilled to call themselves Knicks fans…”
Tommy Dee says…Here’s my thing about Jeff.  He survived and excelled here and every one of his players in NY would have killed for him. I remember a time when Jeff got after a beat writer (Berman?) for writing about John Starks’ family. The guy is a bulldog and THAT’s what I like about him. And he’s as smart a basketball mind that you’ll ever meet. Ask Pat Riley or Rick Pitino.

And he was very fair last night. David Lee hesitated on a jumpshot and missed and Van Gundy said that if he didn’t learn to consistently make that he’d be out of the league in 5 years.

The Bulls felt the exact same way about Charles Oakley and for those who recall, Oak buried plenty of open looks that were key to giving Patrick the space to post. Had he not been able to make those shots, his lack of an offensive game would have forced him to the bench late in big games.
  • ArbeeEye

    Jeff Gan Vundy?

  • BiggieSmalls

    Dolan, while willing to spend money on payroll, routeinely lets his emotions get involved in personnel decisions. Worse, DOLAN HIMSELF has gotten involved in personnel decisions.

    Examples of this are his forcing a trade of Camby and Sprewell and the absurd contract given to Allan Houston.

    Dolan should just sit on the baseline, watch the games and write the checks.

    He should not be in the locker room after games.

    He should NOT have any say over who stays and who goes yet he has inserted himself in decisions he has no business making since he took over this franchise.

  • Myles A. Mills

    If he doesn’t get a consistent jumpshot he’ll be out of the league in 5 years? What?

  • Jeff Cykiert

    I don’t like that people say we need to get a ‘star’ to build around if we want to be successful. That is not what this system is about. As d’antoni put it; if you have a winning team, “somebody’s gon’ be a star.” Talking about needing a superstar to make us successful makes it seem like if we don’t get lebron or wade, we will fail. Even if we get Joe Johnson: is he the kind of guy who can be a floor general and run a team? Can he be the ‘star’ that we build around and trust to lead us to the promise land?

    It doesn’t work like that. We need a great PG who has great court vision and IQ (rubio) and good defensive role players who have good shots and know what it means to be a part of a team. They have to all have a feel for eachother and constantly make desicions that benefit the team, play by play. Also, a great offensive PF who is lethal off the pick and roll is pretty necessary.

    If we resort to the train of thought that we need to get an amazing superstar to run the team and build around him, we will never get anywhere.

  • italian stallion

    Lee won’t be out of the league in 5 years if he doesn’t starting hitting his short jumper consistently (he’s getting a “little” better), but he’ll always be a 5th/6th man on a championship caliber team that will have to be teamed witha good defensive big man.

    Lee is efficient around the basket, but most good Cs and PFs are. He’s also a good rebounder, but rebounding is probably the most fungible skill in all of basketball. It’s important at a team level, but it’s pretty easy to find at an individual level if you need it.

    I like Lee, but he’s overrated by fans because of his work ethic and by some stats guys that overweight scoring efficiency and rebounding without much consideration for scoring production, opening up the floor, and the fungibility of rebounding .

    Efficiency is extremely important, but you also need scoring production. Lee’s production is up partly because of the Knicks’s game pace.