Stan Van Gundy Reveals His Softer Side

Dude is dressing up (well, kinda) as Santa, and everyone on the team says he’s mellowed out a lot: “Dear Santa, remember about a month ago when you were checking your list twice to see whether a certain basketball coach had been naughty or nice? Well, hold off on delivering that lump of coal. Stan Van Grinch, er, Van Gundy, is making encouraging progress toward civility. The most impatient of patients is doing quite well, thank you. Van Gundy’s journey of self-discovery has been noticed by the people who matter most: His Orlando Magic players. ‘He’s most definitely changed,’ forward Rashard Lewis said. ‘He’s still the old Stan a little bit. He still kind of screams and yells when he doesn’t need to, but you can tell he’s been working on it. You can tell he’s changing.”‘