Left at the Altar: Van Gundy Says NO to Kings

by louismg on Jun 7, 2007 1:09 AM PDT in News

The Sacramento Kings were the backup, and the Magic got their man.

When most sane Kings fans went to bed on Wednesday night, all indications were that Stan Van Gundy was to be the Kings' new coach in the morning. But the only clues you had that he was ever there were the lingering smell of aftershave, your rumpled sheets, and the toilet seat was left up. Because we got screwed.

In a breaking story posted short of 1 a.m. Thursday morning, the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick has the goods, like he has all week, saying that Van Gundy will be making an announcement today that he is the new head coach, but not of the Kings. Instead, he will take the head coaching position recently made available by the Orlando Magic, after the "Runaway Bride" act pulled by Brian Donovan in the last few days. Essentially, everything that had driven Van Gundy away from Orlando and to the Kings in the first place has been undone.

Just when it appeared the Kings' search for a new head coach was drawing to a conclusion, Van Gundy's last-minute withdrawal will see the team scrambling. It's been well-documented that Van Gundy and Kurt Rambis were the only candidates who had made it back for repeat meetings with the Maloofs, and now Amick says this opens the door again for "Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, New Jersey assistant Bill Cartwright and Kings assistant Scott Brooks."

ESPN.com also has the news that Van Gundy is headed to the Magic.

Update [2007-6-7 4:42:7 by louismg]: From TZ's favorite source, The Orlando Sentinel: Stan Van Gundy is the man for Orlando Magic, "The Orlando Magic have signed Stan Van Gundy to coach the team after reaching a compensation agreement with his former team, the Miami Heat..."

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Re: Left at the Altar: Van Gundy Says NO to Kings

It seems fishy, now this may be a stretch but couldn't the trip to Sacramento be a way to up the bidding war for Van Gundy. This could have been totally Van Gundy's move to make more money, but to me he never really felt like Geoff Petrie's kind of guy. And it is obvious that Petrie is pulling the cards now. Even with the recent hype lately I never thought they were going with him. If Geoff Petrie is a genius, which I believe he is, then could he have played the Magic too? There's no telling what kind of back door discussions could have happened.

by CAB on Jun 7, 2007 2:15 AM PDT reply actions

Re: Left at the Altar: Van Gundy Says NO to Kings

This is no big deal IMO. It's not like we lost Red Auerbach of Phil Jackson. It's Stan Van Gundy fer chrissakes!

by otis29 on Jun 7, 2007 6:09 AM PDT reply actions

Re: Left at the Altar: Van Gundy Says NO to Kings

Yea Kingsfans should be used to rejection by now

trade em all

by kangsfan on Jun 7, 2007 7:32 AM PDT reply actions

Re: Left at the Altar: Van Gundy Says NO to Kings

I think Van Gundy is an excellent coach and all that. I would rather have him turn us down for orlando now. Rather than getting the job in a year and have this thing go down then or something. Plus what conclusive evidence did we ever have that he was coming here? That 2nd piece of info you need to confirm never came and the longer the night went on, and I saw the espn message minutes after dun originally posted it, it was obvious something was never quite right. Plus it is only Stan Van Gundy.

I am the stone that the builder refused I am the visual, the inspiration That made Lady Sing the Blues..I'm the spark that makes your idea bright...

by pookeyguru on Jun 7, 2007 11:01 AM PDT reply actions