Atlanta Hawks: Could ATL Reunite Stan Van Gundy, Dwight Howard?

Former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy is reportedly the top choice of the Atlanta Hawks to replace Larry Drew, whose contract expires June 30. Could a reunion of Van Gundy and Dwight Howard actually happen in Howard’s hometown of Atlanta? (Flickr.com photo by RMTip21)

Yahoo Sports reported Friday night that the Atlanta Hawks are going after Stan Van Gundy for their head coaching position.

Sources told Yahoo that Van Gundy is the top choice of general manager Danny Ferry to replace Larry Drew, who has coached the Hawks for three seasons. Drew’s contract is set to expire on June 30 and Atlanta appears to want a change of direction after Drew went 128-102 after replacing Mike Woodson after the 2009-10 season.

The Hawks won just one playoff series under Drew and have been bounced in the first round each of the last two years.

Van Gundy and Ferry have been in contract, but have yet to meet face-to-face. There is some belief in the Atlanta organization that the hiring of the former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic coach could help the Hawks in their pursuit of native son Dwight Howard, who will be a free agent this summer.

The pair spent five seasons together with the Orlando Magic, making two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and playing in the 2009 NBA Finals before Van Gundy was fired after the 2011-12 season and the Magic traded Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer.

Under Van Gundy, Orlando was 259-135 in the regular season and 31-28 in the playoffs and Howard was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year three straight times (2009-11).

It was under Van Gundy that Howard began to develop as an offensive threat, averaging 20.6 points per game for the Magic while SVG was on the bench. He also averaged 13.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game in five seasons with Van Gundy at the helm and shot 59 percent from the floor.

The end in Orlando was awkward, at best, with this memorable press conference highlighting how the relationship soured during their final season together in the Magic Kingdom:

Despite the bitterness at the end, Van Gundy told USA Today in March that he remembered the good times in Orlando.

“We worked hard and I think guys had a lot of fun and enjoyed the success,” Van Gundy said. “It was just a good time here.”

As far as Howard goes, Van Gundy said he had a front-row seat to the big man’s maturation process.

“Dwight matured into an outstanding player … the best big man in our league,” Van Gundy said. “[Former general manager] Otis Smith did a great job of putting the roster together and surrounded him with outstanding players who really fit him very well.”

Howard created a stir in early March when he told a Los Angeles television reporter that the Magic were “full of people nobody wanted,” a comment that was rebuked harshly by former teammates Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis and J.J. Redick.

There has long been an assumption that Howard does not want to play in Atlanta, his hometown, but his father, Dwight Howard Sr., told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year there’s no truth to that.

“Dwight hasn’t said anything about Atlanta …,” the elder Howard said. “But he likes home. I think he would love to end his career here, even though he hasn’t said that publicly.”

Danny Ferry appears to be willing to take the chance that a season Howard described as a “nightmare” with the Lakers has helped the center gain a new appreciation for the coach he drove out of Orlando.

A Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard reunion in Atlanta? Stranger things have happened … just not very many.