Afrigather 
Jeff Van Gundy and the LA Clippers have agreed to a deal that may convey the previous tv analyst to the group because the lead assistant on coach Tyronn Lue’s workers, a staff supply confirmed Tuesday.
ESPN first reported the information.
Van Gundy, 62, spent the 2024 season as a senior advisor for the Boston Celtics, serving to the franchise obtain a record 18th championship after the staff’s Sport 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks within the NBA Finals on Monday.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Celtics, Van Gundy served as an analyst for ESPN for 16 years however was let go amid a spherical of cost-saving layoffs at the network last June.
He joined ESPN in 2007 — most notably showing on NBA Finals broadcasts alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson throughout his time on the community — after 11 seasons within the NBA as a head coach for the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. His head-coaching report within the league was 430-318 (.575).
Lue performed for a season underneath Van Gundy whereas with the Rockets in 2004, and the 2 coached collectively on USA Basketball’s workers.
How Van Gundy matches with the Clippers
The Clippers already had an energetic offseason relating to their teaching scenario, extending Lue on a five-year deal in May. However Lue misplaced a number of members of his teaching workers, together with affiliate head coach Dan Craig, the staff’s de facto defensive coordinator. Craig left the staff to function the lead assistant for the Chicago Bulls.
That’s the place Van Gundy is available in. The Clippers known as Van Gundy “one of many brightest basketball minds on the earth.” Lue began the 2004-05 season with Van Gundy’s Rockets earlier than being traded to Atlanta for Jon Barry. Twenty years later, Van Gundy and Lue are on the identical staff once more.
Moreover bringing a recent voice in, it is going to be fascinating to see if Lue decides to have Van Gundy run the Clippers’ protection in Craig’s stead. These 2004-05 Rockets that Lue was on ranked fourth in defensive effectivity whereas permitting the fewest factors within the paint. It’s price mentioning that he had future Corridor of Fame facilities Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo manning the paint. Van Gundy’s teaching tree contains Tom Thibodeau, who is understood for packing the paint even now because the coach of the New York Knicks.
Van Gundy hasn’t been a coach within the NBA since 2007 and hasn’t been an assistant for the reason that Knicks fired Don Nelson in March 1996. However Van Gundy saved his basketball thoughts recent, serving as a advisor with the championship-winning Celtics this previous season whereas guiding the U.S. basketball staff within the 2017 AmeriCup event and qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
One other coach to observe on Lue’s workers is Dahntay Jones. Final 12 months, Jones led the Clippers in the summertime league, and he’s anticipated to be main that position once more, per a staff supply. When Craig was injured in 2022, Jones was given elevated tasks to assist run the protection. Now, Jones may very well be working with Van Gundy because the Clippers look to enhance from a season the place the Clippers had been sixteenth in defensive effectivity. — Regulation Murray, Clippers workers author
Required studying
- Clippers, coach Tyronn Lue agree to 5-year deal worth nearly $70M: Sources
- Clippers finally put their money where their mouth is by extending Tyronn Lue
(Photograph: Ethan Miller / Getty Pictures)
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