Stan Van Gundy isn’t any stranger to being brutally trustworthy.
The previous longtime NBA head coach, who’s now an analyst with TNT, gave a candid tackle Knicks followers throughout a Q&A with The Put up’s Steve Serby as a part of a prolonged dialogue concerning the staff forward of its 2025 NBA playoff run.
Van Gundy, who coached 4 NBA golf equipment and was president of basketball operations whereas teaching the Detroit Pistons, mentioned the pending collection between the Knicks and his former staff, which is able to start subsequent weekend.
Requested if he has “a sense for the love affair between” the Knicks and their followers, Van Gundy appeared to query the premise.
“Well, they’re passionate … love affair?” he stated. “I don’t know. Love affair when they’re playing well, and hate affair when they’re not playing well. The Knicks fans and the Philly fans, they are … they’re front-running fans. They’re in love with their team when things are going well, but they’ll boo their team off the floor when they’re not playing well. That’s not a crowd that’s focused on lifting you up.”
Knicks followers, whereas usually the topic of criticism nationally, aren’t typically side-swiped as “fair-weather” as implied by Van Gundy, brother of former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy.
Knicks followers instantly went on the assault on social media.
“Knick fans have sat through and cheered on 17 win teams. We’re the least front running fans in the NBA,” one fan wrote in response on X.
Different followers started posting photographs of stated 17-win staff and different less-than-stellar beginning lineups the group trotted on the market between 2014-19, particularly, a darkish interval within the staff’s current historical past.
“We literally watched starting lineups of this caliber for multiple seasons at a time, but sure, we’re front runners … go home Stan, you’re drunk again,” one fan wrote, posting a photograph of a Knicks beginning 5 that includes Langston Galloway, Alexey Shved, Andrea Bargnani, Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas.
Throughout a 17-win season in 2014-15, the Knicks have been fourth in common attendance within the NBA, and of their second 17-win season of the morbid five-year run in 2018-19, they have been ninth.
Relating to the precise collection between the Knicks and Pistons, Van Gundy insists it gained’t be straightforward for New York, which secured back-to-back 50-win seasons for the primary time since a four-year run between 1991-95.
“I know this: Tom [Thibodeau] and his coaching staff aren’t gonna overlook anybody,” Van Gundy insisted. “Tom never has. I think they’ll have great respect for Detroit and what they’ve done, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. And I think the Knicks have veteran guys who have been through battles, and they’re mature. They understand that you respect everybody. There’s no way you could look at that Detroit team — how well they’ve played, how hard they play, how hard they compete — and think anything’s gonna be easy. There’s just no chance of that.”
