NBA Coaches: Ranking head coaches likely to be available this summer

7. Jeff Van Gundy

Best known for his time as head coach of the New York Knicks where he led the team to the NBA Finals, Jeff Van Gundy has an extremely solid resume should he want to get back in the head coaching game.

In 11 seasons, Van Gundy’s teams have missed the playoffs just twice, and he has a win-loss record of 430-318 (.575).

The biggest downside with Van Gundy is that he has not coached since 2007, so there’s no guarantee that what worked for him then works for him now, but solid coaching principles often translate era to era.

Maybe more of a concern is that Van Gundy doesn’t exactly give the impression that he likes the way the league has trended as of late when commentating on games for ESPN. Fans have long complained about the tendency he and Mark Jackson have to take digs at the league as it is today rather than providing quality takeaways of the product on the floor.

I’ll give Van Gundy this — Most of his complaints are reasonable and might reflect the fact that he cares about the purity of the game and could very well instill some principles within the players he leads.

A larger part of me has a hard time seeing him adjusting to this era, though.

Van Gundy is most recently connected to the Houston Rockets according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.

Bonus: Stan Van Gundy

Stan Van Gundy technically doesn’t qualify for this list given that there are no credible rumors out there about him being interested in or eyed for any open coaching positions, however, it’s not inconceivable that he emerges as a candidate. I figured while we talked about his brother we could mention him as well.

SVG is a quality coach who has led Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons teams. His teams have made the playoffs in 8 of the 12 seasons he’s coached, and he has a very impressive 523-384 (.577) win-loss record.

In 2009, Van Gundy’s Magic went to the NBA Finals.

SVG has been doing some analyst spots with TNT and seems quite comfortable in that role for the time being. He provided some of the most intelligent and insightful analysis of any commentator all season long.

Having been out of the coaching game for two seasons now, he may want to continue in the media role, sticking around the league in a role that brings about less pressure.

If we swap JVG and SVG, SVG becoming an analyst and JVG going back to coaching, I think that’s a win for people who enjoy quality commentating everywhere.