ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy “is witty, clever and uniquely original as a TV personality,” hails the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. But enough about performances like this, the former Knicks/Rockets head coach is pretty good working basketball games alongside Mark Jackson and Mike Breen, too, and as always, offers some helpful observations for the game’s powers-that-be.
“I don’t understand why we have to suspend guys for a full game,” Van Gundy said. “Why can’t a guy be suspended for a quarter or half a game? You take a step off the bench and on the court, that’s a game suspension. You hit someone, that’s a game. The two crimes don’t fit. There should be options.
“And I don’t understand on technical fouls, why do we make them shoot free throws? If someone says something wrong, why don’t you just give them the point? In football, if you have a holding penalty, you don’t have to kick a field goal to get the 15 yards.”
Van Gundy is serious about those opinions. Some others are offered tongue-in-cheek.
When a few people behind the basket didn’t cushion Wade’s dive Sunday, Van Gundy called out fans on the replay: “Coward one! Coward two! I’m so disappointed. There are no Joel Anthonys in this crowd. You have to save the franchise [even] if you have to get bloodied.”
On Sunday, he asserted James Jones “is a better open jump shooter than Ray Allen. Ray Allen would tell you that.” Jackson said, “No he wouldn’t.”
Van Gundy then thought better of it. “That could be the height of my idiocy,” he said after a commercial. “Ray, I apologize to you and your family.”