Stan Van Gundy Disagrees With Del Negro’s Firing

Hey, look at that: SVG has another unfiltered opinion! Awesome. The Magic head coach tells ESPN that he’s not cool with the way the Bulls treated VDN, and their decision to part ways with him: “Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy does not believe the recently fired Del Negro was given the proper backing from the Bulls front office, and Stan doesn’t think Jeff will return to the coaching ranks next season for the Bulls or any other team. ‘I was shocked by the coaching change,’ Van Gundy said. ‘I thought Vinny did a great, great job developing the young guys, and I think it will be very hard for anyone to come in and do a better job than he did … ‘From midseason on, I don’t think Vinny got much support from their organization,’ Stan said. ‘I didn’t understand — you never know the inner-workings, and so maybe there was some stuff behind the scenes — but from a coaching perspective, Vinny did a very, very good job with that team. They gave up their two best wing scorers in [Ben] Gordon and [John] Salmons, and they were a great defensive team that struggled to score. I don’t think that’s shocking when you give up two guys like that. The front office makes the decision to make those trades [Gordon left via free agency], and then Vinny’s the scapegoat for it. [It’s a] hard thing to understand.’ As for speculation that Jeff is a possible candidate for the Bulls opening, Stan was skeptical. ‘I don’t think he will coach again next season,’ he said. ‘I think there’s other priorities in his life. I’d be surprised, in fact, I’d be very, very, surprised if he were back coaching next year.”‘