Jeff Van Gundy
Win-Loss Record: 430-318 (.575)
Championships: None (1 Appearance In 1999)
This guy is probably my favorite coach of all time just from having personal experience in my basketball days. Jerry Buss and the Lakers organization have been preaching a defensive philosophy for two years and what better coach to have than one of the best defensive-minded coaches all time in Jeff Van Gundy. With Ron Artest loosing his ankles on a weekly basis and the Steve Nash’s liability in the back court, Van Gundy could instantly re-spark the team on the defensive-end which Mike Brown had failed to do this year with his new offensive-philosophy.
Oh but wait, the best defensive big man in the NBA is on this team, Dwight Howard. If you remember, Stan Van Gundy, the brother of Jeff was fired in Orlando which many blamed Dwight for the departure so it would instantly become an issue that would need to be resolved if Jeff were to come to LaLa land. The outspoken Jeff Van Gundy would immediately change the face of the organization defensively and run the offensive primarily focused around Kobe Bryant and Dwight in comparison to previous teams.
In the past, Jeff has coaches for the New York Knicks and most recently the Houston Rockets. In NY, his team had become victim to the Michael Jordan wave as a few years later he would leave right before the team drafted Antonio McDyess starting the 6-year run of Knicks bad management decisions. In Houston, their management would make the right decision bringing together T-Mac and Yao Ming; but those two would fail to stay healthy as Van Gundy would later be fired after and now currently works for ESPN.