Frontrunning with Stan Van Gundy

If there is anyone we love almost as much as the Warlock here at the PUNS it's our head coach Stan Van Gundy. Besides wearing suits way to small for him and absolutely refusing to wear a tie he has really been bringing the zingers lately.

I present to you in chronological order our 10 favorite Stan Van Gundy quotes which give a nice blend of hilarity and honesty:

1. On the NBA's player dress code:

I thought it was funny they can't wear any of the jewelry and stuff like that. That's stricter than the dress code in a lot of office buildings.

2. On Dwight's Lack of Defense Last Season:

When you're a great player and a franchise guy, there's more on you. He's got to accept it. He may not like it. He may not like the way I did it. But I've also done it before many times in private --- just he and I. I didn't think it was making an impact, so now it's out there for everybody. We'll see what happens. I think Dwight wants to be a great player. I think Dwight wants to be a winner. But we're in Year 4 and he hasn't won a playoff game.

3. On the BCS:

At the end of the day, we're going to get one win or one loss, We're not the BCS, where the polls and the power ratings and all of that ridiculous stuff matters. This is a legitimate sport. If this were the BCS, I'd have to be lobbying. In the BCS, an undefeated team doesn't get a chance to win a championship. I'm just glad we're in a legitimate sport where it's decided on the court, not one where it's a beauty pageant, where preseason rankings matter as much as anything to winning a championship. It's the most ridiculous thing in sport. For me as a fan, Florida has no more claim to the national championship than USC, Texas, Utah, a bunch of them. Why? Because a bunch of guys in the media or a bunch of coaches say they're better. That's not the way sports is supposed to be. I'm not buying it. But if that's the way they want to run their sport -- with a beauty contest -- that's fine. But it doesn't make it legitimate and doesn't make them (Florida) any more of a national champion than any of those other teams.

4. On Hedo Turkoglu becoming a father:

"We took a vote and there are a few of us that are concerned with Hedo being responsible for another human being so we'll see what happens." The 29-year-old’s coach, Stan Van Gundy, jokingly shared that he hopes the couple’s first child "looks like his [Hedo's] wife and has her personality."

5. Stan on Shaq flopping:

I was shocked, seriously, shocked, And very disappointed cause he knows what it's like. Lets stand up and play like men, and I think our guy did that tonight.

6. Stan on Shaq's reaction:

That's not his normal comments. Obviously I struck a nerve and hurt his feelings. Shaq's a very sensitive guy. If I hurt his feelings, I'm sorry.

7. Stan on Dwight's MVP chances:

For a lot of different reasons it's a perimeter league. Leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots while still averaging 21 points a game is just not as sexy as those guys going out and having 40-point nights. It's just tough and I think people are failing to recognize the other end of the floor defensively and his contribution.

8. On Cleveland's 3 second call:

You won't see that call again. That, I guarantee you. You will not see, with the game on the line, a 3-second call in the last 10 seconds. That's part of the reason they're 30-1 at home. They're a very good team, and when you get calls like that [expletive], you're in pretty good shape.

9. On the Patrick Chewing Commercial:

These guys are really hard on him with that commercial. I mean they are really hard on him with that commercial. He gets imitated on that several times daily. They’re on (the wig he wears in the commercial) too. They’re on every aspect of that; believe me. It’s been well commented on here.

10. On the Knicks celebration for Patrick Ewing pre and post game:

Patrick just went into the Hall of Fame. He's had nights there before anyway. I think they'll continue to honor him as times as they possibly can until they get good enough to put people in the seats on their own. I'm not trying to needle anybody or tell them their business. What's amazing is they honor the guy, I don't know, every year. They honor him, but while they've got a lot of ex-players in their organization, they've never made any move to try to hire him. That to me is amazing.

11. Like the Hemmingway cats, I was born with an extra digit, and it impacts my ability to properly count to ten with my shoes off. So here is a random Stan quote from some game at some point against the New Jersey Nets:

I like that title, by the way. George Bush, you know, is the decider. I can be the decider in Orlando.

As an added bonus here is a video quote from Stan on his catch at the Lakers game this season.