Win or lose, Stan Van Gundy insists his current job as the Detroit Pistons’ head coach and president of basketball operations will be his final job in the NBA.
Van Gundy is in the first year of a five-year contract with the Pistons, and he emphasized that he’s open to remaining with the Pistons in the same role after the contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season.
But Van Gundy added he’s made a promise to his wife that their family won’t relocate again in order to take another job.
“I promised my wife,” he said. “I wanted one more shot at it. I’ve got a great owner. I’ve got a great situation with great tradition, and I should be able to get it turned around in the time that he’s given me. If I don’t, I don’t. But I should be able to. But this’ll be the last one.”
Later, he added, “That’s the last move we’re going to make.”
Van Gundy, 55, spent five seasons as the Orlando Magic’s coach, compiling a 259-135 regular-season record and a 31-28 playoff record.
Van Gundy’s Pistons entered their game Tuesday night against the Magic with a 7-23 overall record.
Although he coached a preseason game in Orlando in October, Tuesday’s game was his first regular-season game at Amway Center since April 25, 2012.
Before Tuesday night’s tipoff, the fans inside Amway Center gave Van Gundy a nice cheer when he was introduced as the Pistons’ coach.
Frye’s feat
Channing Frye‘s basket with 8:50 remaining in the fourth quarter Monday night wasn’t selected as one of SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the night, but Magic players would vote it one of their favorite plays of the entire season.
Frye received the ball on the right side of the court, took three dribbles and launched a 16-foot pull-up jumper that extended the Magic’s lead over the Miami Heat to 85-80.
The three dribbles that stunned everyone. Frye takes most of his shots shortly after he catches the ball.
Frye’s basket prompted almost everyone on the Magic bench to catapult themselves from their seats and cheer.
“It was just fun to see him do something different and step out of his comfort zone,” guard Victor Oladipo said Tuesday. “And he made the shot, so that made it even better. I was excited, but everybody on the bench was, too. I thought it was pretty cool.
A mere mention of Frye’s play brought a smile to Tobias Harris‘ face.
“Seriously, it was the biggest shot in the game, I thought, because Channing never takes three dribbles,” Harris said, tongue in cheek. “Because it was a pull-up jumper, it got us excited just because it was something new.”
Josh Robbins covers the Orlando Magic and the NBA for the Orlando Sentinel. You can reach him via e-mail at jbrobbins@tribune.com and connect with him on Facebook at facebook.com/JoshuaBRobbins. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
