Van Gundy: "Resigned" or forced out?

      Stan Van Gundy resigned as Heat coach for supposed "personal family reasons" Monday, in what immediately seemed an encouraged move so that Pat Riley could take over.

     We'll pull a ligament patting ourselves on the back over a recent blog post (entitled "Stan Van Uh-Oh") that foretold the possibility.

     Forget for a moment the "fairness" of all of this. Whether SVG got a raw deal. Whether Riles is guilty of a hostile takeover.

     My question: Is the Heat a better team for it?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Do you think Van Gundy resigned on his own or was forced out by Riley?
Resigned
Forced out

---

Will the Heat be better off for the change?
Yes
No

Comments

[dmitry]

Yes...they're better. Enough said.

[Michel]

Not necessarily a better team. I hope we don't go back to plodding half-court sets. Not that I think we could because the rules have changed.

Riley couldn't beat the Knicks with a healthy Zo. I don't think he could have done better without Shaq in the first 20 either. If it is indeed personal that I hope everything works out for Stan. He is a damn good coach.

[leonard_hamilton]

Pat Riley is a better coach but he would have to adjust to what personnel he has, I see this as a nice move for Antoine Walker.

[Javier Antunez]

Shaking up a team that was an injury or two and one good quarter of basketball away from the finals seemed odd to begin with. Riley has the background and experience to make it happend. As a Heat fan I hope he does. Hope we don't end up like Redskins for example who are still waiting for Gibbs to rekindle the magic from his years past.

[Ed From Colorado]

Van Gundy was set up to fail with this team.

Riley is a con artist. This is why things never work for him. I don't see the Heat getting past the Eastern Semifinals (Shaq or no Shaq).

For Riley to pull this is gutless. Everyone should have saw this coming. The championship road still goes through Detroit and regardless of what anyone says, teams now will be really pumped to play the Heat.

What a lack of class move by Riley.

[chaz schlueter]

Its now all on Pat's shoulders. We cant blame anyone but him for not winning it all this year. He built the team (personnel) and now he can do it his way, which in the past was very successful. Go Heat!!!

[Hector]

Riley is a back stabber. Can't change that. But it was predictable that once the bitching and moaning started, plus a 4 game losing streak, Riley was taking over!

[David rodriguez]

Will the team be better? Undoubtedly. Will they be better than last years results, probably not. Detroit is better than last year but thankfully Artest has opened his mouth again, so Indiana may be in for a fall.
Stan is a good coach who is unfortuantely still learning on the job, and this team of veterans, needed a proven veteran coach, who Oh! by the way, is probably among the Top 5 of all time. Who can forget in the Young Gun year of Wade, Odon, Butler, Wade not being in the game for the last shot of the deciding playoff game? Or having the ball in D. Jones' hands for the last play of the deciding game last year. Two big plays, two too many wrong decisons.
My biggest concern is Riley's constant method/style of coaching. He never sits down and lets the team play, he grinds the players, so while the initial boost will be evident, the long term affects may cause friction.
Good luck to the Heat!! I hope they can win it all~

[Don]

Better? Who knows? Riley built this team and I'd imagine the impulse to run the controls from courtside was irresistible. Riley has something to prove. He's never won a ring with a team he built from scratch. Those Heat teams with Mourning, Hardaway, PJ Brown et al, never had a legitimate chance. After the acquisition of Shaq and the apotheosis of Wade, Riley knew he had a chance to duplicate showtime. Though Shaq is not the Shaq of old, Wade is clearly better than Kobe -- so who knows? Nothing Riley, Yahweh or Santa Claus can do to beat San Antonio, though.

[oscar]

Even though the heat were rather successful with Van Gundy as their coach, they will be better off with Riley at the coaching spot. Riley has both the experience and the knowledge to guide this team to the promise land. Perhaps the only thing that this star-heat time needs is a star-coach.

[Alex]

Yes the team will be better. Especially the play and effort of Shaq. Shaq was is one of the best players in the history of the game and should be coached by one of the best coaches in the history of the game as well. Shaq and Phil Jackson had tremedous success together in Los Angles and it should replicate here in Miami. Riley will help Shaq lead this team better than SVG.

[raul mendez]

Shaq is back & Pat is back…We just became contenders once again! Enough said.
I can see Mr. Duncan starting to quiver in his San Antonio boots. We started 10 - 7 last year and made it to game 7 of East finals…Give'um Pat and we are in Finals this year.

[Sonny]

Riley has no long term patience to build a winner. He always has to disembowel a team before they can develop any chemistry or rhythm. He had a real good starting five last year that was within a couple of key injuries of making the finals. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think that has been a key to Detroit and Indiana's success.

[Abel]

Yes they are better! No questions asked. Van Gundy is a good coach but he rubbed some players the wrong way. The only reason in my opinion why the players did not criticize Van Gundy more was because Riley made sure that that did not happen. Van Gundy has not adapted to having a dominant center, he did not know how to use Shaq. He had a good season last year, but I honestly believe that if he would have used Shaq the right way the Heat would have won even more games (not that they needed to) and would have won the championship.

[Garry]

I think that Abel makes a good point. Riley will make the offense run through Shaq, which is the way that it should be. As good as Wade is, Shaq is still the most dominant player in the game and you have to take advantage of that while you can. The heat are without a doubt a better team now then they were 24 hours ago. Good luck to Van Gundy, he is a good coach and I amsure whenever he decides he wants to get back into coaching he will not have any problems getting a head job somewhere.

[Phanatron]

Pat has done a wonderful job from a business standpoint with the Heat. He has added a lot of value to the franchise. The test is to whether that value is short term or long term. When Van Gundy took Wade, Butler, and Odom to the playoffs his first year, the Heat had the makings of a fine young team. Riley made a blockbuster trade and got Shaq in the process. The results were signifant in its first year. The Heat won 17 more games and instantly became a national media darling. American Airlines began having regular sellouts with it's own celeb row. The Heat were two injuries away from possibly going to the finals last year.
This year, the Riley blew the team up again. Initially, all the moves he made were being hailed as brilliant. However, as Shaq goes, so does Riley. Shaq does not appear to be the same player he was 3 years ago and it seems like he could rapidly be approaching to the end of his career. Shaq has been getting injured more frequently and taking longer to recover from his injuries. Shaq getting injured is no longer a fluke. It must be factored into his overall effectiveness. It isn't just that Shaq is getting injured more often either. Shaq's inability to play long stretches without getting winded or move without the ball slows down Miami. The area in which Shaq is effective is shrinking. Shaq draws double teams that clog the lane and adversely affects Wade and Walker. The Heat should win the division, but they are not a serious contender.

[David Tucker]

Wow...I know that the media has been singing about this for months now but I'll be honest, I never believed it would happen. It seemed too trumped up to me to be a real possibility. Stan has been a great coach for the past couple of years. I wish him all the best in the future and there's no doubt that if wants to coach somewhere else...he will. (If he doesn't try to coach anywhere else, I think we can be at least somewhat confident that the story Pat and Stan are giving is possibly true and the sport's media got lucky)

That said, are the Heat in a better position? I think that it is unquestionable that the Heat just entered another level. I remember when Riley first got here and jetissoned most of the team and quickly turned a long mediocre club into instant playoff contenders. His real problems came when Mourning got sick. Riley can coach. He's a fierce competitor and he knows how to win. And he knows how to use each player to the best of their ability.

Stan Van Gundy was doing a terrific job, but there were situations, as mentioned above, that he didn't make what would seem to be the call that made sense. Putting the game in hands of players named Jones when they were nothing more than 2 bit role players who should have been feeding the ball to Wade. Riley has too much experience to do little things like that and it's going to show. Will we get to the finals? Well, let's wait 2 weeks before we make any predictions.

[StanFan]

Pat Riley misses being in front of the cameras. He is a selfish bastard... quit when the team stinks and return when they have talent. Didn't he no longer have the heart to coach just 2 years ago?

Thank you Stan for the very good 2 years that you provided us with.

And Pat... Please let them run. I cannot handle another year of 75 point games.

[Titaneek Al]

...Cannot get any better that that....
A hall of fame coach running a loaded team:
Shaq, Dwayne, Walker...... Riley picked those guys so he can one day coach this team to a championship.
Great decision long overdue....this team belong to Pat...and we know it.
Back stabbing, coup d'etat, hypocrisy...who cares how one might calls this state of affair.
We cannot put up with mediocrity any longer with this load of talent...Riley is a difference maker and I support him. I wish Stan well...he gave it a good try and failed at the end.

[A Heat Fan]

The Heat will be a better team. Not because Pat is taking over. But because Stan will still be part of the organization. With Pat at the helm and Stan doing game films in the back, the Heat will be a much better team.

Best to Stan. A class act all the way and now he shows it will with his career sacrifice for the family. It is hard to know what that takes if one has never been in that position. But it is clearly the right move.

[Jim C]

You were great Stan. Thanks for your service.

[Bob on a Cell]

Le Bararded told me to come here so you can sing...So sing man....I tierd of coming to this Blog! So... to the two BIGGEST Claspers on the radio...The heat will make the playoffs even with Edwina "Eddie" Franklin.

[Alex]

11-10 does not do it with this talented team....Yes Riley may have pushed Van Gundy out but the time frame to win a championship is running out and these players need a motivating voice and disciplinarian in the huddle....

On another note how about a trade for Ron Artest to fill the void left by Eddie Jones....Lets say James Posey (once december 15 comes on thursday when he will be trade eligible), Michael Doleac, Dorrel Wright, and maybe a draft pick for Ron Artest...Awesome Starting five with both offense and defense firepower...Just a Thought...

[Christian Espinosa]

SUIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!SUUUIIIIIII!!!!!

[Christian Espinosa]

SUIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!SUUUIIIIIII!!!!!

[Christian Espinosa]

My only concern is wade's mvp status. I do not want Wade's play to be affacted in any way shape or form by Riley's old school teachings. Let the kid run Riles and don't forget about Simien he's more valuable then Haslem!

[David Gaines]

"He was a guy who left on his own terms, whether most ever believe that or not."

...Cote column today. This is the only respectable media view I have seen which claims this as "fact". As such a statement disavows any possibility that he did not leave on his own terms, just where did this "fact" come from? Other than taking their words at face value? Come on, this is in no way shape or form a probable fact. It might be true. It probably is not.

How did his own terms to leave change so markedly from the summer? This is such a bogus thought process, especially from a journalist that should look at the body of evidence and retain cynisysm when clearly appropriate.

[Donald pinoy]

Its good to have coach pat riley back.heat team needs a legendary coach.go heat bring
the championship to miami.