You know how I feel, Max.

You know how religiously I've hopped on, uh, the situation involving black coaches?

How once again black coaches of being passed up, But I would like to remind everybody Doc Rivers still has a coaching job.

He's coaching in Philly now.

Tyler, who is now a head coach.

Um, thank God.

Alvin Gentry landed as a lead assistant in Sacramento on the Luke Walter because I thought it was kind of shady how he was let go in New Orleans, Uh, particularly considering the games missed by players, specifically Zion Williamson and things of that nature.

Um, and you have.

But you had people reaching out to me yesterday, said Stephen A.

You said it was white privilege when Steve Nash got the job in Brooklyn.

What?

What?

What about Stan Van Gundy?

And I said, Hold your horses now you're going too damn far.

Here's the reason why.

No disrespect to Steve Nash whatsoever.

I'm a fan of his is a person.

And just overall and as a when he was a player, my only issue with Steve Nash.

This is why I called him weeks ago to explain Max was to let him know it's not directed at you.

I've been harping on this point for a quarter century, all my years covering the N B.

A.

You know, no black man is going to get a head coaching job when they've never coached one any level, and then all of a sudden you land a job of that magnitude.

Coaching Kyrie and Kevin Durant has been white privilege, which you've defined as without the resume.

You get to skip steps.

That's right, and not on that to that step.

Like, for example, this black coaches that never coached but God head coaching jobs.

But they had rebuilding situations or reclamation projects.

They didn't inherit a championship caliber squad like they have in Brooklyn, with Durant and Kyrie assuming that they're healthy, let me get to my point about Stan Van Gundy.

That's not applicable here.

Stan Van Gundy was an assistant for years.

Stan Van Gundy was a head coach in three locations.

He did not fail in Miami.

He did take them toe une Eastern Conference finals when they lost the Detroit and then, obviously the next year, 21 games in Pat Riley had to get rid of him because he felt like, you know what his temperament or whatever wasn't ideal for shock.

D.

Wade a young d Wade with Alonso on those boys, and then Pat Riley went on and won the championship That year with Dwyane Wade averaged 39 points the last four games off that Siri's against the Dallas Mavericks.

Then Stan Van Gundy goes to Orlando.

Stan Van Gundy goes to the playoffs.

Stan Van Gundy goes to the NBA Finals with Dwight Howard anchoring that defensive front line.

Stan Van Gundy has proven he can coach.

He has proven he is a good dude with the right conscious is.

Well, I'm a fan of Stan.

Van Gundy is as a person.

I wish him nothing but the best.

What I will say.

What?

That's right.

What I will say about Stan Van Gundy is this.

He never deserved to be the president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons.

Now, if the pelicans have brought him on and giving him complete control of basketball operations, I would have said this is nonsense because based off of what happened in Detroit, No, you don't deserve that.

But David Griffin is running the pelicans.

Stan Van Gundy deserves to be a head coach in this league.

Would I have liked to see another black man get an opportunity because of the paucity of African Americans as head coaches in the NBA?

Sure, but I can't look at Stan Van Gundy, who's a damn good coach who's knowledgeable about the sport, who's contributed greatly to the NBA over the years.

And I can't say enough about what he has contributed to the communities disenfranchised communities across America with his willingness to address certain subjects and bring attention.

Toe all these things there is.

I can't sit here with a straight faces and complain about Stan Van Gundy.

He has a resume, and he's conscious interest enough to care about the things these players care about.

If I'm gonna blame anybody for white privilege in the n b A, I got news for you.

I'm blaming the players Marquis dudes who never say a damn word about the port city of African American coaches.

I'm certainly not gonna blame Stan Van Gundy for taking this job, and I can not David Griffin offering it to him.

Um, first of all, Stan Van Gundy is an ally to the righteous.

Yes, he is and and an excellent coach.

And I love this higher for the New Orleans Pelicans.

And I'll tell you why.

First, um, his failure in Detroit was because he was wearing too many hats.

It's the same way with Doc with the Clippers.

They took GM responsibility away from Doc, and then they had a chance to win a championship at least a chance.

Once he was just coaching.

I have a feeling the same thing will be with Stan Van Gundy.

I want to tell you why I think it's perfect.

When you draft in a market like New Orleans, a guy like Zion Williamson, you're on the clock.

You have six years to win a championship.

Because let me tell you what's gonna happen in heading into year seven.

After six years, the agent is going to come to you more than likely and say we're gonna We're gonna sign with the Lakers and the Heat or the Warriors, or fill in the blank, sexy team in great market that they want to go to write big market with other opportunities, usually warm weather.

That's what's gonna happen So you have six years, you're on the clock.

What did he do when he took the Orlando job?

Dwight Howard, a limited offensive player but a great defender, had already been there for three years.

Stephen A.

Right.

He got drafted in 04 and he and I want to say Van Gundy got there in, 07 So you only got a couple more years with Dwight Howard to make a run at a championship.

What did he do?

Surrounded him with shooters, turned Dwight Howard into a really good passer who could find the Open guy and created an offense that optimized whatever they had and got to the Finals in 2009.

So it was 89 season, right?

Right in time before Dwight Howard then got his way out of town.

I mean, he has a he's shown you what he could do.

Not that Zion Williamson is Dwight Howard, and they will follow the same exact formula, but he was willing to think outside the box at the time.

It wasn't exactly revolutionary, but it pushed the boundaries off the way the game was played like extreme four shooters around that guy in the middle, so he's not afraid to think outside the box.

Look forward, Thio.

Think of creative solutions, and more than that, has a track record of getting the number one overall pick in a small market to make a legitimate vinyls run.

You know the difference between the pelicans and the magic are thes pelicans and those magic teams things.

Team has more talent.

He has.

They have not only assets they could bring in the right pieces, for they may already have a lot of the right pieces.

Lonzo Ball.

Brandon Ingram.

You'll figure out who works.

Who doesn't trade away.

Bring in someone the Drew holiday.

You have a veteran who can really play a shooter like Reddick.

He has much more talent on this team that he had in Orlando, and he has more time to get it done.

Because Zions, only in his second season, I love this higher for the pelicans.

Well, let me say this.

Van Gundy is gonna have to be careful because we might love him because he's out spoken, highly intelligent, very, very conscientious.

All of those things are true, but he's also incredibly intense.

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