Gotham lost the best coach in basketball

He came in like a lamb, stalked like a lion, but when all was said and done, Jeff Van Gundy left the New York Knicks as their best head coach since Red Holzman. And even crazier, he might have left the game as the best coach in the NBA.

It was my second month writing and I submitted an article on my top 29 team preview for the NBA. I gave it to my fellow writers to read to see what they thought as well.

Everybody had their opinions on where they thought teams belonged, player info, etc. But there was a loud, unanimous shout in one thing I wrote, and that was my little comment about Jeff Van Gundy being the best coach in basketball.

Bee-otchedly (please don't translate out loud for your non-urban speaking friends), I made the switch from having him as the best, to making him just a great coach. I did a disservice to myself, and coach Van Gundy that day, but I'm here today to put him back on the top of the charts where I believe he belongs.

I know, I know. Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson.

This is what I think about Phil Jackson. Jackson is a great coach, who has used mental gymnastics, a hearty helping of preaching defense, and one offensive setup to claim eight NBA titles. Nothing wrong with that, except with the likes of Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in the mix, it makes working without a net that much easier.

Every coach knows defense wins championships. He wore a 21-year-old kid millionaire down in a mental Holy War of Wills getting the kid to help in his way of wanting the youngster to help. He assigned reading to his players in Chicago because it brought the other players to an even plane with a supernovastar, and it didn't project one man over the rest of his team...even though we knew better.

Then there's the "triangle offense," devised so the rest of the Jordannaires didn't burn down the village out of frustration for their lack of being used. He mentally kept the rest of the Bulls in the mix, and I always wonder what would have happened if Dennis Rodman didn't know he did have one hoops skill, which was to rebound, and be happy doing just that? Things might've been different...

These things were successful in making eight tickertape parades, yes. However, when coach Phil made his second coming as a head coach in the Association, he handpicked what team he would coach, and that team would be a programming away from winning a title.

Does that make him great? Maybe? Does that make him smart? Absolutely! Does that make him the best thing going today? I don't think so.

Bringing us to Jeff Van Gundy.

Who knew that the Knicks were thisclose to an improbable title run when he took over for Don Nelson six years ago? The answer is nobody, because they weren't.

Not even close. However, he got the respect of a team constructed like a college squad with a bunch of guys around the same height, some playing out of position, and centers either out of position or tall enough, but not strong enough to handle the inside work.

What he technically did is start with the defense. He did the impossible, and taught Allan Houston how to play defense. That's a bit of a rip, but Houston at the U. of Tennessee and with the Detroit Pistons, was one of the worse defenders this side of Luc Longley.

He made the most of what Cablevision would give to him, and with an improbable bounce in 1999; they were staring eyeball-to-eyeball with the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA title just days later. There's no way mental gymnastics gets that Knicks team to the Finals that season or any other season during this run.

He may have spent too many hours trying to make this a championship-probable squad, but like I said, what Cablevision gave him to work with, the crumpled Columbo look, and the large backpacking bags under the eyes are easily explainable.

As a New Jersey Nets fans, I sat by waiting during his negotiation with the Knicks back in 1999, and was hoping they gave him a lowball offer because the Nets, coming off the John Calipari screaming carnival, were ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Van Gundy did get a respectable deal with New York and stayed on the glitter side of the Hudson.

We got another year of Don Casey. Good coordinator...you know the rest.

And, you may have caught me trying to slip by without explaining why I jumped coach VG over Pat Riley. Riley had a team that was championship able. He was armed with guys like Patrick Ewing and Derek Harper before they ready for the glue factory. John Starks was at the top of his game, and the supporting cast filled in sufficiently when necessary. This was a team built for a championship run by the Madison Square Garden folks.

The team Van Gundy inherited, and continually got turned over, was one built for survival. A team that would keep The Garden as cool as the Forum or Staples in L.A. to go to on effort alone. Spike Lee and Woody and Soon Yi couldn't do it by themselves.

Then coach Jeff pulled off the ultimate surprise and guided that salvage squad into a "championship" team. With some tinkering here and there, it would be easy now to add one more piece to put them over the hump. Suddenly, the East got themselves a little better, and the Knicks were a one-hit wonder.

Now he's unemployed because he wants to be. Let me rephrase that: he's unemployed at the moment because his recently past situation made him so. Where my Nets are doing just fine with their current head man, any basketball fan who sees their team losing a head coach in the near future, and knows anything about a sure thing, should be itching at the shot of getting Jeff Van Gundy.

Or, as I like to say it, the best coach in basketball.