Jeff Van Gundy maintains his stance about Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins - NBA Update
Nearly a week ago NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy lashed out at Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins after the latter fired coach Stan Van Gundy, Jeff’s brother.
Jeff took Martins to task for the mismanagement at the franchise and asserted that the Magic official doesn’t even know the basics of the game.
The blunt criticism drew turned a few necks and many analysts termed it as a reaction to Stan’s firing. The backlash however has not forced to back off and he re-iterated his stance recently;
"Sure it had an impact," said Jeff. "He's my brother. Do I feel strongly, I know the situation better vetting it? I know in the three years before Stan came to Orlando, Dwight Howard had never had a winning record. And he had never
won a playoff game, and he had never been the defensive player of the year, he had never been an all NBA player. So I know all those things."
Stan coached Magic for 5 seasons and successfully steered them into the playoffs every time.
Orlando won 259 games and lost 135 under Van Gundy and under him, triumphed in more playoff games then they had done in their entire franchise history.
Jeff maintained that he felt for Stan, but what was more frustrating was the way the whole situation was handled;
“He's my brother sure, it impacted my comments. I under-reacted. Because when you see leadership by appeasement or appeasement as a leadership strategy, I think it's wrong."
The Dwight Howard trade saga has taken a huge toll on the franchise. Along with Stan, the franchise also fired GM Otis Smith, who developed difference with Howard ever since the All-Star started to talk openly about his trade.
The exit of Van Gundy wand Smith was always on the cards after it was learnt that the Magic had offered Howard his own choice of coach and GM, just to make him stay.
The situation that has unraveled is following the same script, even though both Howard and Martins deny that claim. What remains to be seen now is that whether Howard stays or not. If he does, it will be interesting to see which
coach and general manager will be basically willing to work under Howard.
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