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Stan Van Gundy Set for First Return to Amway Center

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

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By John DentonOct. 17, 2014

ORLANDO -- Always emotional, but never the touchy-feely type when it came to nostalgia, Stan Van Gundy said that he won’t be misty-eyed or reflective when he takes the court for a game tonight at the Amway Center for the first time since May of 2012.

Van Gundy said he certainly still feels great pride over what he was able to accomplish during his five highly successful seasons as the Magic’s fiery head coach from 2007-12. But because there are no players left from those days and most all of the staffers have changed as well, Van Gundy said the feel of tonight will be more of just another game. However, when it comes to the people he coached and worked with while leading the Magic to great heights, those are the memories that move his meter emotionally.

``I get nostalgic like anybody, but it’s more for people,’’ Van Gundy said Friday morning before his Pistons prepared to play the Magic at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center. ``It’s not even what we accomplished, but who we accomplished it with both staff, (former Magic GM) Otis (Smith) and his people and the players. I’ve got great feeling for all of those guys. The thing that I’m the happiest with – and I hope that they would say the same thing – that we developed that kind of closeness as a group to succeed.

``So when I get the job (in Detroit), I’m hearing from all of those guys and that’s what makes me feel good,’’ Van Gundy continued. ``And the reason that I’m not nostalgic about tonight (facing the Magic) is because, it’s a great building and everything, but I can’t get very nostalgic about cement and steel. There’s not really anybody (from 2007-12) still around. … There’s just not people around. The real nostalgia for me was Charlotte the other days seeing (former Magic assistant coaches) Steve (Clifford) and Patrick (Ewing). That’s a lot more nostalgic for me than this.’’

The Magic (3-1) have plenty of reasons to feel good about the present considering the way that they have played this preseason. Debuting a new up-tempo offense and an aggressive defensive approach, Orlando has been able to successful incorporate eight new faces onto the team and play well so far. Orlando beat Miami, Indiana and Brazil’s Flamengo and narrowly lost in Charlotte in a game that they led in the latter stages of the fourth quarter.

Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn is pleased with the team’s progress through a week of training camp and four preseason games and he wants to use the last half of the exhibition season to sharpen his rotations and hopefully get injured starters Victor Oladipo (sprained MCL, out tonight) and Channing Frye (sprained MCL, out tonight) back into the fold.

``What we have taken from the first four games is out ability to take things in practice and articulate those actions in the game,’’ Vaughn said. ``So we’ve had great carryover. That’s been very pleasing to see. We’ll stress some of the similar things that we’ve been talking about – our presence on the defensive end of the floor and how important that is and keeping things extremely simple on the offensive end of the floor. We want guys trusting their teammates and allowing them to make plays. Simple philosophy, but hard to teach and a hard one to continue to do over and over again.’’

The rebuilding Pistons certainly have a distinct Magic feel what with Smith being the team’s D-League head coach; Brendan Malone, Bob Beyer, Charles Klask and Malik Allen serve as assistant coaches; Quentin Richardson is the director of player development; Pat Garrity is the director of strategic planning; and Adam Glessner is a scout.

All of those staffers were employed by the Magic during Van Gundy’s run in Orlando. He helped the Magic win a first-round playoff series in 2008, the franchise’s first postseason success in 12 years. He guided Orlando to the NBA Finals 2009 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010. In his time in Orlando, Van Gundy’s teams were 259-135 and 31-28 in the playoffs.

But Van Gundy’s squads also lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2011 and 12 and his public feuding with superstar center Dwight Howard led to a major overhauling of the front office, coaching staff and roster. When long-time Magic point guard Jameer Nelson was waived last summer it meant that there were no players remaining in Orlando who played in the 2009 NBA Finals.

Van Gundy grew up with a coaching father (Bill) and a brother (Jeff) who was a coach before going into broadcasting. Coaches make up most of Van Gundy’s friends and coaching is all that he ever wanted to do in life. He admitted that being away from coaching for two years was extremely difficult even as he poured himself into social causes while continuing to live in suburban Orlando.

He said that being trusted as the Pistons’ president of basketball operations and coach has re-energized him. He is hoping that he can turn around the Pistons and enjoy the same kind of success that he had during five years with the Magic.

``It’s great to be back on the floor. I missed the competitiveness and the camaraderie of the coaching staff trying to figure things out. So it has been energizing,’’ Van Gundy said. ``I’ve got great ownership that is very committed to getting it done. I’ve got a great staff around me. And our organization has really good unity – my owner says synergy – from ownership to the business side to the front office to the coaching staff to the players. I think that we’ve got great unity and because of that we have a great chance to succeed. There’s really no excuses from my end of not succeeding long term because they are doing everything that needs to be done.’’