Here’s an interview that Jeff Van Gundy gave to a local Houston radio show today after it was announced he won’t be returning to the Rockets. Pretty classy.

I’ve got to admit that the explanation that new GM Daryl Morey provided in his afternoon press conference was a very good explanation on how things went down. On the outside it looked bad, but it turns out everything seems to have been “above board” regarding the Rockets speaking to Rick Adelman while Van Gundy was still trying to decide what he wanted to do from a coaching perspective.

According to Morey, JVG had suggested that the Rockets keep an open mind about other candidates while he contemplated what he was going to do. He didn’t want to stall the Rockets while he tried to make up his mind. I can believe that about JVG. He’s an up-and-up guy who thinks more about the organization first than himself.

So JVG knew the Rockets were going to talk to other candidates, and Morey said that JVG even recommended that the Rockets talk to one of the other candidates (probably Adelman), and evidently JVG and Adelman even spoke to each other about it.

It just turns out to all have backfired on Van Gundy. When he finally decided he wanted to return to the Rockets as head coach, the front office had already become enamored with Adelman, and that was the end of it for JVG as coach. Then when the Rockets tried to retain him as a “Senior Consultant,” JVG decided he didn’t want to do that. I don’t blame him. It probably wouldn’t pay him that much, and he probably wants to have the freedom to take a coaching job he can’t refuse, even if it means temporarily leaving the city of Houston, a city he said he loves and where he wants to live. $5 million annual contracts can do that to the best of them.

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Hot off the press. Jeff Van Gundy was not offered a coaching position with the Rockets, and he declined an opportunity to be a consultant. Van Gundy did a decent job as Rockets coach, but not good enough. I think it was the right move, but it all played out terribly. It will be interesting to see what he says on ESPN tonight as he resumes his career as a TV analyst during tonight’s Spurs-Suns game.

It looks like it’s going to be Rick Adelman as the new coach.

I was going to predict it a few days ago that the best exit strategy for the Rockets and Jeff Van Gundy to part ways and still ‘save face’ would be to kick him upstairs so that he can still be part of the organization but have hardly any commitment to it.

This would be just like what the Rockets did with Rudy Tomjanovich a few years ago when they wanted him out as coach, but didn’t want to make him look bad. Surprise, surprise, Rudy T. then showed up in Los Angeles later as the Lakers’ head coach. He obviously wasn’t ready to retire despite wanting some time off to rest, as was explained at the time.

However, I thought there was no way the Rockets would go that route with JVG like they did with Rudy T. because it would be…

– too predictable
– everyone would see through it
– they already have ex-GM Carroll Dawson as a “consultant” that makes the organization already too top heavy
– JVG’s is not great at seeing the potential in young players
– a new head coach would not want to be bound to what JVG thinks should happen. Too many cooks in the kitchen.

However, this article from Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle suggests something like that may happen.

We’ll see how this drama unfolds in the next few days. Either way, it will be interesting to see if JVG says anything insightful about the situation Friday night on ESPN as he resumes his career as a television analyst.