With his Orlando squad up 30 points in the second half of a game over the Nets in the early 2010s, Jameer Nelson seemed to get a bit lax defensively vs. Deron Williams, allowing Williams to drain three straight three-pointers. As Nelson walked to the sideline during a timeout, he received an earful from the Magic’s head coach, Stan Van Gundy.
“He’s just kicking your (butt),” Van Gundy bellowed at Nelson, describing Williams’ dominance.
Nelson, who wasn’t pleased by being singled out and called out, responded, “Forget you!” back at Van Gundy. After being subbed out of the game, an angry Nelson walked to the locker room. He eventually calmed down and returned to the bench.
When Van Gundy later saw his starting point guard come back to the court, he simply looked at Nelson and asked, “So are you ready to go back in the game now?”
Nelson – now part of the Philadelphia 76ers front office – enjoys telling that story partly because it sums up Van Gundy’s essence as a coach: Brutally honest, capable of a delivering message that needs to be heard, but also not taking disagreement or confrontation personally.
As Nelson puts it, “It doesn’t get any more real than Stan Van Gundy.”
It’s a lesson former Orlando (and New Orleans) forward Ryan Anderson also learned quickly when he joined the Magic via trade in ’09. As a second-year NBA player, Anderson often felt like Van Gundy didn’t like him personally, and that it was difficult to ever please the coach. At some point during the ’09-10 season, Van Gundy finally gave Anderson a pat on the back as the player exited the game, signifying a job well done. Anderson felt a huge sense of accomplishment.
“With Stan, you’re not going to get any compliment unless it’s deserved,” Anderson said, smiling. “When I got the first pat on the back from Stan, I was like, ‘Wow, I did something right!’ He doesn’t deal out (praise) easily. He pushed me harder than anyone, because he believed in what I could do. He really appreciated me. Stan has this ability to get the best out of you. He did that by pushing me and driving me. He taught me how to work and push myself.”
For a youthful New Orleans team coming off an up-and-down 30-42 season in 2019-20 and now trying to ascend to playoff status in the unforgiving Western Conference, that’s something Anderson believes Pelicans players should know about their new head coach. According to Anderson, playing for Van Gundy isn’t always going to feel like “fun” on a daily basis, but it’s not supposed to be. His practices and shootarounds can last longer than most, up to three hours in some cases, but at the end of the day and season, Anderson said it will be worth the work and commitment.
Anderson: “It’s not fun going into practice every day, but you leave thinking, ‘Man, we (accomplished) something today.”
From that standpoint, Anderson believes Van Gundy is ideally suited for what the current Pelicans need, in order to make needed improvements and capitalize on their vast potential.
“If they’re willing to let him do his job – and he deserves that respect – he can make some of those guys All-Stars and some of the best players in the NBA,” Anderson said. “Obviously with Zion (Williamson), Brandon Ingram, (the Pelicans) have a lot of talent. It’s really (important for) them being willing to work and let him take them to the next level and get on them. This is a league where that’s not very normal and not appreciated the way it used to be. It used to be, you’re the young guy and you’re kind of the whipping boy Coach is going to get on and develop.
“My recommendation – if I said anything to these young players – is let him do his job, because he’s one of the best coaches in the NBA. Let him push you and work. Because you will reap the benefits of it. (The Pelicans) have a bunch of great young guys who are willing to work. So I’m excited to see what happens.”
“He’s a worker,” Nelson agreed. “He wants his team to work. He’s going to squeeze all of the juice out of the lemon. He’s going to make guys comfortable and uncomfortable. The one thing I’d tell (players) is listen to the message and not the tone. Some guys can take what he says personally, but it’s never personal. My first year, I thought ‘This guy screams and yells all the time, he doesn’t like me.’ But whether he liked me or not, he just wanted to win. Once I realized that, I was like, ‘Let me work as hard as I can and do what he says, and see what happens.’ Next thing you know, it was a sense of relief, because I wasn’t fighting it as much. Because honestly I was. I was fighting it (because) I just didn’t understand it. I’d never had a coach yell and scream, or who tried to get everything out of me. But he did, whether it was in a workout or in the offseason. You can’t take it personal when a coach is trying to get the best out of you, in his way. He’s going to do a great job with (the Pelicans).”
New Orleans players also should be ready for a coach who’s often described as obsessively prepared for practices, games, opponents – you name it.
Orlando TV sideline reporter Dante Marchitelli remembers Van Gundy carrying blue index cards in his jacket pocket that detailed each opponent’s three best late-game offensive plays. As a result, Magic players were extremely prepared for what might happen in crucial possessions.
“No one ever beat us on a game-winner that I can remember,” Marchitelli said, recalling Van Gundy’s 2007-12 tenure in Orlando. “He would set the table defensively. A lot of times other teams would have to take a timeout because they couldn’t get the ball (inbound). When they did get the ball in, he’d have the play (predicted). Every single time. The preparation was such at the end of ballgames that his team knew exactly what to do. There was no gray area. You know exactly where to be and what to do. He works around the clock, diving into the film.”
Although NBA observers sometimes downplay the significance or meaning of clutch-time stats or records, the fact is that Van Gundy’s Magic teams were above .500 in clutch games (via NBA.com) in all five seasons there, going a combined 105-82. They went 28-13 in ’09, en route to a No. 2 seed in the East and trip to the NBA Finals.
“He’s a preparation nut, to the point where it’s like overkill,” Nelson said. “For a young (player) it can be a little intimidating. He’s going to overprepare you. He has a lot of cards in the inside pocket of his jacket, and it’s a lot of things written down. He knows other teams’ plays. At the end of the game, you knew exactly what to do and the timing of your plays and the other team’s plays. He’s a guy that always prepared for that stuff. He’s big on end-of-game situations, after timeouts and scheming things so you’re prepared and you know (what to expect).”
New Orleans could specifically benefit from Van Gundy’s track record of defensive success; the Pelicans have finished in the bottom 10 of the defensive rankings each of the past two seasons, as well as six of the last eight.
“Details,” Anderson said of Van Gundy teams being strong defensively. “He knows how to train guys to get their bodies to peak shape. Being in shape is huge for his (teams). That obviously helps when guys are locked in and detail-oriented, but also in great shape and ready to dive on the floor for loose balls, or take charges. Also he’s had dominant centers that really protect the paint.”
Nelson: “He’s very defensive-minded. He’s a number guy. Not to the point where it gets so analytical that it throws you off, but his numbers work. His system works. He’s going to ask (Pelicans players) to do some hard things consistently. As long as you do what he’s asking you to do, he kind of lets you have a little more freedom offensively if you take care of the defense. He prepares you, when it comes to closing out, help defense, rotating.”
And if the advice of Van Gundy’s former players isn’t enough to convince the Pelicans, Nelson points out that there are two very bottom-line reasons why players should recognize the value of allowing themselves to be coached hard, even if it’s not always fun or easy.
“Some (players) might be more sensitive than others, but for the most part, if you realize what he’s trying to do and win and help you make money, then you’ll listen to him,” Nelson said. “He’s proven in the league. He’s proven that his system and what he does works. He’s gotten a lot of guys a lot of wins and a lot of money.”
