Van Gundy recalls entirety of time
Former coach prefers to recognize Harden era as ‘incredibly successful’
There had been a time that Jeff Van Gundy considered being part of the story he will tell on Wednesday. The way things are going, he might be more comfortable in his familiar position as observer.
The former Rockets coach was a candidate to be the current Houston coach before the Rockets went with Stephen Silas, a decision Van Gundy praised on Tuesday. But Van Gundy will be in Toyota Center on Wednesday, the first midweek game he has been on site to broadcast for ESPN this season, for James Harden’s return to play the Rockets with the Brooklyn Nets.
Van Gundy made it clear he will put attention not on how Harden left but on his years with the Rockets and the four seasons he and Mike D’Antoni — now a Nets assistant — had together.
“In all aspects of relationships, we focus in on the last part versus the entirety of the relationship,” said Van Gundy, who will call the game with Mark Jones. “There’s nothing anybody can categorize Harden’s time in Houston as anything but incredibly successful. The whole idea of, ‘Yeah, but they didn’t make the Finals or win the championship,’ all I know is they were knocking on the door. Pat Riley used to say this often when he used to talk about the Mavericks when he was coaching the Showtime Lakers, sometimes you’re just put together at the wrong time. The Rockets were clearly the second-best team of that time period. They were just in the same conference of an all-time, alltime great team.”
The Rockets’ losses to the Golden State Warriors were followed by last season’s to another eventual champion, the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I think the under-talked about part of this is Mike coming back, as well. To me, I always think of the Rockets and that era as not just Harden, but Harden and Mike and what they were able to accomplish together. I hope as much as everybody celebrates Harden’s greatness, which is so very apparent on a nightto-night basis, I hope people take time out to think about how much Mike had to do with their success because he really had a remarkable run in Houston.”
D’Antoni stepped down after the loss to the Lakers. Harden and Russell Westbrook requested trades. The Rockets, after initial success following the Harden trade, have been hit with injuries and slumped in a 12-game losing streak.
The Nets have won nine of their past 10 games, and Harden was named the Eastern Conference player of the month for February.
“Harden’s playing great,” Van Gundy said. “Even down (Kevin) Durant, they have such a good team because they’re so explosive offensively.
“I think the Rockets are going to play really well. As much as Brooklyn brings in this juggernaut of an offense, there’s a chance for Rockets players to reset and re-energize and get excited. I think it’s going to be a fun game. I think they’ll play hard. It’s just can they score enough to keep up with Brooklyn.”
Van Gundy said the upheaval of the two trades and “an awful injury” to Christian Wood combined with the compressed schedule that allows little practice time led to the struggles.
“The fixing things is the hard part. You’re trying to do it in a 45-minute shootaround,” Van Gundy said. “I think it’s the accumulation of it all. It’s so painful to lose this many games in a row.”
The Rockets coach from 2003-07, going 182-146, Van Gundy has been the lead analyst for ESPN and ABC games since. He has been a USA Basketball men’s national team coach in recent seasons but said he does not think about the Rockets job he was a candidate to land.
“It’s a great job,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a particularly great job for Stephen. What they have to do right now is understand where they’re at. Right now is when you show who you are as an ownership group and management. You keep the high standards, but you support, support, support both your coaches and players because they have to live it every day.
“Anybody can be there when it’s going well. How do you combine setting standards with understanding sometimes you get great effort but not the results? They’re going through a hard time right now, but it’s somewhat predictable when you have a major injury like they had with Wood and those two major trades. And when you look at the Rockets, you never know who is playing.”
Much of the spotlight on Wednesday, however, will be on the former Rockets player that will be back with a former Rockets coach making the short drive from his Houston home to describe it.