I've spent a decent portion of this season writing about Jeff Van Gundy's remarkable turn-around in that he has risen to being my second favorite in-game analyst in all of basketball (no one can touch Walt Clyde Frazier).
It's comments like this that only increase my conviction regarding my happiness with this guy:
As reported by the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson:
"They haven't been putting a product on the floor that's representative of NBA basketball, whether it's true injuries or trying to manipulate their chances in the lottery. They should have been in the 40s [in victories], so I'm not going to give them credit for some turnaround next year if they try real hard and win because they didn't do that since Christmas this year.''
Love it.
Although he never coached there, JVG has some interesting ties to the organization. He was mentored in New York by the institution that is Pat Riley. Riley also mentored Stan Van Gundy, who curiously enough has the same last name as Jeff (this is because they are brothers, for those scoring at home}. Then Riley dropped the bop on SVG the year after the Shaq acquisition and came riding in to coach the 2006 Heat to the title. The word "backstabbing" has been used to no end in conjunction with this occurrence.
Not sure what that means about JVG's interest in all this, but it certainly makes one wonder.
For what it's worth, however, he is completely and utterly correct about this Miami squad. Entertaining and on the money. Gotta love this guy.