Why Did Stan van Gundy Leave?

[winwinz]

Hungry

[Hoops23]

I believe Shaq has a lot to do with it. Shaq calls Stan as "The Coach of Panic". That says a lot.

I also believe Stan has some resentment with Riley because the latter did not support him when Stan has clashes with Shaq that made Stan to quit. If Riley trade Shaq, then SVG is still probably the coach but Miami might not win the championship that season. One more thing that I can say that Stan has resentment with Riley, he did not accept he be given a championship ring in spite he remain with the franchise as "team consultant" after he quits.

Some says that Shaq was injured by that time and miss games thats why Miami is playing below expectation. But i doubt Miami will have a good record even he's healthy because he has a disagreement with the "Coach of Panic". Knowing Shaq, he doesn't play well when he doesn't respect the coach.

Its unfair to say Riley trust veterans more than rookies or sophomores. I thought that its just a coincidence these veterans play more or suits Riley's coaching. Riley gave Caron Butler a break in his rookie year, thats why when Riley's step down, Caron felt bad with his decision. If Caron was given a break, I believe Wade will have his too, considering the latter is better.

[Hoops23]

I heard this from people inside the team. It's not the entire picture, which is very complex, but was a part of it. In 2004-2005, Shaq had a legit MVP season and should have won it over Steve Nash. SVG's offense ran through Shaq, with Wade pretty much the only other live option. Remember that year we had severely declined Eddie Jones, Damon Jones chucking threes and one dimension fill ins like Dooling, Doleac, Laettner, etc, but we still were dominating and sweeping through the early rounds, which was when Shaq was hurt and didn't feel he could contribute as well. At that time, Wade took over on offense and when Shaq came back, SVG stayed with it, even after Wade got that rib injury against the Pistons. At the end of game 7 against the Pistons, Shaq was pissed that SVG put the ball in Wade and EJ's hands to win and didnt go down low to him.

We retooled that summer with more live players and SVG spent the first half of the season trying to acclimate J-Will, Posey and Antoine to Shaq and Wade, but Shaq was irate that the offense didn't once again simply go through him. He kept bringing this up to Riley and making it clear that he was ignoring SVG by always calling Riley "coach" in the media. It clearly frustrated Stan and Shaq would also make fun of the way Stan talked in practice and finally SVG went to Riley and said he couldn't take it anymore, but couldn't be around Shaq. Riley told Stan we weren't getting rid of Shaq and Stan felt Riley was not loyal.

Now the family stuff I'm sure is true because there were rumors his family was in trouble, but it wasn't that Riley kicked Stan out or even wanted to coach again, but he felt there was no one else to do it and save the season but him. However, I firmly believe that if Wade hadn't hurt his rib in game 5 of the Pistons series, we would have beat them in 6, been on to the Finals to play the Spurs, who the Pistons took to 7 games. Win or lose, getting to the Finals probably would have gotten Shaq to back down and respect SVG more and he would have toughed it out.

I also believe that was the reason why Stan and even his brother Jeff has hard feelings with Riley. There was a time Riley called the brothers "tag team" coz they team up to say something bad about Riley.

[Lord Hades]

God, that last 90 seconds or so against Detroit in the 2005 ECF sucked. We shoulda won that ****.

In addition to the family issues and Shaq simply not respecting SVG enough, I've read that Zo wasn't all that much of a fan either and was calling for Pat to come in too.

Stan hardly got pushed out so Riley could be a glory hound like some of these idiots like to believe though. He signed a contract to stay on with the team as a consultant after he had some time away for ****'s sake.

[fishfuego.]

Riley had no choice but to side with Shaq versus Van Gundy.

one can only imagine the public relations nightmare it would have created had Riley traded Shaq instead of the coach, considering the heartbreaking seasons against the Knicks and the sickness of ZO.
In my opinion Stan Van Gundy was the easy choice and the only choice really.

Regardless Riley proved that he is loyal as loyal can be by allowing van Gundy to remain with the team and you proved to be the right move as I don't think anyone but Riley could have used a master psychological and motivational step to make the team perform as they did in the finals.

[G.cracker]

I think it must have gotten to Riley too after being accused of being disloyal. If you notice, after that, the team marketed itself heavily in the lockeroom and out with words like Family, which suggests loyalty.

[Hoops23]

Between SVG and Shaq, its an easy decision to let SVG quit. Its easy to replace SVG than Shaq coz Heat has Riles.

God, that last 90 seconds or so against Detroit in the 2005 ECF sucked. We shoulda won that ****.

In addition to the family issues and Shaq simply not respecting SVG enough, I've read that Zo wasn't all that much of a fan either and was calling for Pat to come in too.

Stan hardly got pushed out so Riley could be a glory hound like some of these idiots like to believe though. He signed a contract to stay on with the team as a consultant after he had some time away for ****'s sake.

I didn't know he signed a contract as consultant, all I know since he quits, his existing current made him a consultant, and that is why when SVG agreed to coach the Magic, the Heat receive 2nd round picks as compensation coz he still have a contract with Miami