It can be equally fun and frustrating to play the "what if" game. I'm not talking about draft blunders or bad signings that look preposterous in hindsight, or devastating injuries that derailed a team's championship hopes. And I'm certainly not in the mood to revisit painful memories, such as, "what if Mike Bibby's nose never fouled Kobe Bryant elbow?" that Kings fans have debated ad nauseum over the last 10 years.
But there's one question that has continued to bother me as I've watched the Orlando Magic emerge as one of the league's elite teams and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season. What if Stan Van Gundy had become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings?
It's easy to forget just how close he came to being hired by Geoff Petrie back in the summer of 2007. The Kings were at the top of Van Gundy's suitors after he toured Sacramento and met with team officials on June 6, and several news outlets reported that the two sides were close to reaching an agreement. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel even stated that Van Gundy was "on the verge of becoming the next coach of the Kings," while the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick corroborated the story by adding that Petrie and the Maloofs were in town for a likely forthcoming announcement. It's was as close to being official as it could get, and I went to sleep fully expecting to see the press conference the next morning.
But unbeknownst to the Kings, soon after Van Gundy had arrived in Sacramento, he learned that the Magic had worked out a compensation deal with the Miami Heat, with whom he was still under contract. He signed and faxed a copy of his new contract to Orlando from a Sacramento Kinko's, and news broke that Van Gundy had been hired as the Magic's new coach early Thursday morning.
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Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
He probably would've made the Kings better than they are now, but probably not into a dominant team, because there's no real path to winning your first eight postseason games in the West.
2 - Alex Kramers
I figured it would be because 31-year-old (or any year old) Brad Miller wasn't quite on Dwight Howard's level, but fair enough...
3 - doug m
Unfortunate what has happened to this franchise going from contenders to bums. Is the team losing the Maloofs money? Is that what they need it to do?
4 - Alex Kramers
Actually, yes -- there was a report last year ago that the Kings lost around $25 million in 2009, in large part due to poor attendance at the outdated ARCO Arena.
But the arena issues aside, I think team is on the right track with Tyreke Evans, Carl Landry, and company. We'll have to see what happens in the draft and during the offseason...