Originally Posted by
Chris Sheridan
Is Shaq calling the shots in Miami?
If, as Stan Van Gundy said, he had been thinking of quitting since opening night, a couple of questions need to be asked concerning his resignation Monday as Miami Heat coach.
What, exactly, aside from Van Gundy missing his family, was the underlying source of his overwhelming discomfort?
And how much of a role did Shaquille O'Neal play in making Stan feel so miserable so early in the season?
O'Neal has always held Miami Heat president -- and now coach -- Pat Riley in the highest esteem, and it's hard to fathom his having the same regard for someone like Van Gundy, whose credentials paled by comparison.
So how much sense did it make, in O'Neal's mind, for him to have his career legacy so closely tied to a coach with about one-tenth as many career victories and four fewer championship rings than Riley?
O'Neal was miffed after Miami's Game 7 loss to Detroit in last season's Eastern Conference finals, his postgame comments indicating he felt Van Gundy did not call the right plays during the 125-second meltdown that doomed the Heat's chance to advance to the NBA Finals.
"I'm not making the decisions," O'Neal said after Game 7 when asked whether he got the ball enough down the stretch. "You have to talk to the guy that's making the calls out there."
But O'Neal's postgame unhappiness did not linger over the summer, its staying power trumped by Riley's comment that he planned to be more involved in the 2005-06 season -- a statement that caused such a furor that Van Gundy and Riley had a sit-down early in the summer to discuss it. Van Gundy supposedly left that meeting with the reassurance that Riley had not meant to undermine him in any way, even though what Riley said had the effect of doing just that.
The Heat tried to get everyone to believe during training camp that the coaching situation was not an issue, and one of the hottest topics of the offseason quickly dropped off the radar -- even as it remained a huge factor outside the spotlight.
The uneasiness Van Gundy was feeling (and only he knows whether it was fueled, consciously or subconsciously, by Riley's looming presence and O'Neal's residual resentment) was obviously substantial, and he went to Riley early in the season and told him how he was feeling.
Riley wrote Heat owner Micky Arison a note regarding Van Gundy's displeasure and gave it to his boss after a game against Philadelphia on Nov. 16. Arison's impulse was to make a change immediately, but Riley counseled him to wait. Arison again wanted to make a change before the team left Dec. 1 for a West Coast road trip, but Riley again persuaded him to wait and flew to California for a sit-down with Van Gundy. The team returned home on Thursday, and Van Gundy's decision apparently became final over the weekend as he was coaching his final two games for Miami, against Denver and Washington.
Sunday's game against the Wizards was an overtime victory in which O'Neal returned after missing 18 games with a sprained ankle. Van Gundy told the team to report for a 9:30 a.m. meeting, and by all accounts he stunned the players with his announcement he was stepping down. The team then flew to Chicago, with Riley and Van Gundy staying behind to try to explain the move, along with Arison, at a news conference.
The similarities between Stan Van Gundy's departure and his brother Jeff's parting from the New York Knicks four years earlier are striking. Jeff resigned as Knicks coach on Dec. 8, 2001, with an 11-9 record, announcing publicly that he had "lost his focus" and explaining how he had been mulling his decision and discussing it with then-team president Dave Checketts, who he said had tried to get him to change his mind. Jeff, as his older brother would do four years and four days later, also cited family concerns as one of the main contributing factors in his decision.
Anyone who watched Stan Van Gundy's parting statements could not doubt his sincerity when he told of gazing longingly into the stands at a recent Heat game and waving toward his son, realizing he'd prefer sitting with him to standing along the sideline.
Van Gundy also spoke of having only four more years with his 14-year-old daughter before she leaves for college and how he didn't want to miss his last chance to be an at-home father for her.
"It got to the point where it was literally painful to be away," Van Gundy explained. "I can't believe people will have a problem believing a guy would want to spend more time with his family."
The problem, however, is the undying suspicion that the Heat's franchise player, O'Neal, had an unfulfilled hankering to have Riley trying to lead the team to the next level.
Did O'Neal believe Van Gundy was the person in the Heat organization best-equipped to get that job done? If so, he never said so.
"The team is a mess," said Riley to sum up the state of the Heat, whose 11-10 record is good enough for first place in the Southeast Division but not good enough to preclude Riley from using such a damning piece of vocabulary.
Miami has been without O'Neal, James Posey and Jason Williams for long stretches, and the chemistry that should have developed by now is still in its infancy.
"I believe the team is going to have to make a decision as to whether they want to be a part of greatness," Riley said.
With that, expectations were raised to a level Van Gundy never would have dared to set. "I'm going to enjoy the Christmas season. Somebody told me it's upon us now," said Van Gundy, who also made it clear -- just as his brother did four years earlier -- that he plans to return to coaching someday. Jeff went into television before surfacing on the bench again in Houston, and it's anybody's guess where Stan will land in the years ahead.
By then, however, we'll all know the answer to the question that was probably a bit too touchy to be raised at Van Gundy's farewell news conference: How much did O'Neal's desire to have Riley on the bench contribute to the anxiety and discomfort level that sent Van Gundy packing?
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Anyone have espn insider?
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