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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:48 am Post subject: That time Jeff Van Gundy told Billy Donovan he could beat out John Stockton for a roster spot |
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I see why JVG isn't coaching anymore.....
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/09/that-time-jeff-van-gundy-told-billy-donovan-he-could-beat-out-john-stockton-for-a-jazz-roster-spot/
| Quote: | That time Jeff Van Gundy told Billy Donovan he could beat out John Stockton for a Jazz roster spot
Rookie Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan had a 44-game NBA career, playing for Rick Pitino’s New York Knicks in the 1987-88 season. He didn’t see a lot of court time in those games, and his PER of 8.4 suggested more time in the CBA was the call.
Donovan, however, has one incredible draft story.
He was selected in the third round of the 1987 draft by the Utah Jazz, and from the moment of that selection he was a long shot to make the roster. Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman picks up the story from there.
At least one person thought (he could make the Jazz roster). It was Jeff Van Gundy, a graduate assistant during Donovan’s senior year at Providence. Van Gundy started chirping, gassing Donovan up about his chances as he helped prepare him for training camp.
“Jeff’s like, ‘Listen, man. I’m telling you. You’ve got a chance to make this team,’” Donovan remembered. “He said, ‘They’ve got a guy there that’s in, like, his third year named Stockton that I’m not so sure about. He hasn’t played very much.’
“Training camp starts and I call Jeff after, like, the first day of double sessions. I said, ‘Hey, Jeff, remember that comment you made to me about you’re not sure about Stockton? That’s the best guard I’ve ever played against in my entire life.’”
The season before Donovan was drafted Stockton was still coming off the bench for the Jazz (he started only two games) but in 22.7 minutes a night he was scoring 7.9 points a game (with a true shooting percentage of 57 percent) plus was dishing out 8.2 assists to 2 turnovers. He had a PER of 19. Stockton was poised for a breakout (which came the next season).
Van Gundy doesn’t deny that he dissed Stockton, but he’s not exactly taking ownership of those comments either.
“I’m not saying I didn’t say it, but I don’t remember saying anything specifically,” Van Gundy said of his alleged Stockton comment. “If I said something like that, I’m going to blame my sleep deprivation on coach (Rick) Pitino having us work 20 hours a night. That’s the only explanation for such a ludicrous statement like that.”
The old “blame Pitino” trick. That always works (or it used to with the Knicks, anyway).
I’m not so sure how accurate vs. exaggerated this story is in the retelling nearly 30 years later, but it’s a great story none-the-less. |
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TDRock
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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Oh dear.  |
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twisted
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 1:19 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for sharing
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DanielCollins
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| “Jeff’s like, ‘Listen, man. I’m telling you. You’ve got a chance to make this team,’ |
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DanielCollins
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Are you saying he was getting 8 dimes in just 22 minutes ? |
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Omar Little
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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| If you're spamming the General section with a bunch of non sequiturs just to get the post count to be able to start a thread, that will not end well... |
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C M B
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| 24 wrote: | | If you're spamming the General section with a bunch of non sequiturs just to get the post count to be able to start a thread, that will not end well... |
What if you spam every section of the forum with thousands of non sequiturs for the sake of the non sequiturs?
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non-player zealot
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Johnny was the most consistent player I've ever seen. That's not a new statement from these fingertips, neither(!) His game and movements were the same in the rare clip from Gonzaga to his rookie year, to his breakout year, to his final year. He had the full bag of tricks probably from HS on. One of those talents. He started surprising people in 87/88 WITH reduced minutes. Chick and Stu talked about him being a good little guard with surprise literally every game from that 85-88 span. Stockton was a slow comer, but unlike Nash, it seemed like he never struggled to force his style onto the game. It took Nash a little time.
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SuperboyReformed
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| non-player zealot wrote: | | Johnny was the most consistent player I've ever seen. That's not a new statement from these fingertips, neither(!) His game and movements were the same in the rare clip from Gonzaga to his rookie year, to his breakout year, to his final year. He had the full bag of tricks probably from HS on. One of those talents. He started surprising people in 87/88 WITH reduced minutes. Chick and Stu talked about him being a good little guard with surprise literally every game from that 85-88 span. Stockton was a slow comer, but unlike Nash, it seemed like he never struggled to force his style onto the game. It took Nash a little time. |
Also, regarding Nash, he wasn't the Nash we know now until he went to the Suns. So the highly reputable Nash version only existed for a few years on the Suns. He couldn't do that on Dallas or anywhere else. My point is, Nash is no Stockton. Stockton could do what he did wherever and with whomever. Nash needs the system and players to look like an MVP. (Same with Lebron too). |
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audioaxes
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| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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| SuperboyReformed wrote: | | non-player zealot wrote: | | Johnny was the most consistent player I've ever seen. That's not a new statement from these fingertips, neither(!) His game and movements were the same in the rare clip from Gonzaga to his rookie year, to his breakout year, to his final year. He had the full bag of tricks probably from HS on. One of those talents. He started surprising people in 87/88 WITH reduced minutes. Chick and Stu talked about him being a good little guard with surprise literally every game from that 85-88 span. Stockton was a slow comer, but unlike Nash, it seemed like he never struggled to force his style onto the game. It took Nash a little time. |
Also, regarding Nash, he wasn't the Nash we know now until he went to the Suns. So the highly reputable Nash version only existed for a few years on the Suns. He couldn't do that on Dallas or anywhere else. My point is, Nash is no Stockton. Stockton could do what he did wherever and with whomever. Nash needs the system and players to look like an MVP. (Same with Lebron too). |
I disagree with lumping Lebron in that. He has succeeded with a variety of different players on his team. |
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1hu2ren3dui4
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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I hated Stockton.
That's probably a sign that he was pretty decent. |
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activeverb
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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| SuperboyReformed wrote: | | non-player zealot wrote: | | Johnny was the most consistent player I've ever seen. That's not a new statement from these fingertips, neither(!) His game and movements were the same in the rare clip from Gonzaga to his rookie year, to his breakout year, to his final year. He had the full bag of tricks probably from HS on. One of those talents. He started surprising people in 87/88 WITH reduced minutes. Chick and Stu talked about him being a good little guard with surprise literally every game from that 85-88 span. Stockton was a slow comer, but unlike Nash, it seemed like he never struggled to force his style onto the game. It took Nash a little time. |
Also, regarding Nash, he wasn't the Nash we know now until he went to the Suns. So the highly reputable Nash version only existed for a few years on the Suns. He couldn't do that on Dallas or anywhere else. My point is, Nash is no Stockton. Stockton could do what he did wherever and with whomever. Nash needs the system and players to look like an MVP. (Same with Lebron too). |
Nash had a slow start to his career. He spent a couple of years in Phoenix behind Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd; he moved to Dallas in the strike shortened year and then hurt his ankle the next year. By his 6th and 7th year, he was an all-star for Dallas, averaging 18-7 and shooting 43% from 3-point line. He wouldn't have become a superstar if he had stayed in Dallas, but he might have been a perennial all-star.
I wouldn't put him on the same tier as Stockton, who I think can make a good case for being the second best point guard of all-time after Magic. Nash is in the top 10 in my book. I agree he needed the Phoenix system to be an MVP.
But here's a fun fact: Stockton made his first all-star team at age 26 (his fifth season); Nash made his at age 27 (his six season). It took Stockton a few years to grab the starting job from Ricky Green
Last edited by activeverb on Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SuperboyReformed
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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| activeverb wrote: | | SuperboyReformed wrote: | | non-player zealot wrote: | | Johnny was the most consistent player I've ever seen. That's not a new statement from these fingertips, neither(!) His game and movements were the same in the rare clip from Gonzaga to his rookie year, to his breakout year, to his final year. He had the full bag of tricks probably from HS on. One of those talents. He started surprising people in 87/88 WITH reduced minutes. Chick and Stu talked about him being a good little guard with surprise literally every game from that 85-88 span. Stockton was a slow comer, but unlike Nash, it seemed like he never struggled to force his style onto the game. It took Nash a little time. |
Also, regarding Nash, he wasn't the Nash we know now until he went to the Suns. So the highly reputable Nash version only existed for a few years on the Suns. He couldn't do that on Dallas or anywhere else. My point is, Nash is no Stockton. Stockton could do what he did wherever and with whomever. Nash needs the system and players to look like an MVP. (Same with Lebron too). |
Nash had a slow start to his career. He spent a couple of years in Phoenix behind Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd; he moved to Dallas in the strike shortened year and then hurt his ankle the next year. By his 6th and 7th year, he was an all-star for Dallas, averaging 18-7 and shooting 43% from 3-point line. He wouldn't have become a superstar if he had stayed in Dallas, but he might have been a perennial all-star.
I wouldn't put him on the same tier as Stockton, who I think can make a good case for being the second best point guard of all-time after Magic. Nash is in the top 10 in my book. I agree he needed the Phoenix system to be an MVP. |
sounds accurate to me. Who was the one that thought Westbrook is a better individual player than Stockton? lol. |
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activeverb
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| SuperboyReformed wrote: |
sounds accurate to me. Who was the one that thought Westbrook is a better individual player than Stockton? lol. |
^I think it's too early to say how Westbrook will be judged. I doubt he'll ever reach Stockton's level, but it's not inconceivable. That said, they are such dramatically different types of players that some people are always going to prefer Westbrook, especially if he carries through on some of his heroic play of last year. |
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