Link of the Day - Jeff Van Gundy retiring

Peter Vescey of the NY Post is reporting that Jeff Van Gundy will announce his retirement this week. The rest of the press is echoing this story, even though:

When reached by The Houston Chronicle, Van Gundy strongly denied he has decided to leave his job as Rockets coach.

The most humorously critical part of Vescey's article is here:

As evidenced by how the Jazz beat their opponents to countless rebounds and loose balls, Houston is desperate for livelier bodies and a more "athletically inclined" coach

I guess that's a (not very) polite way of saying what every fan has long known: JVG = ugly basketball. The upside is supposed to be that while it frustrates fans, looks terrible on television, and keeps player stats unimpressive, it wins the big playoff games. But recently, it hasn't: Van Gundy's team hasn't made it out of the first round since 1999-2000, when the Knicks lost to the Pacers in the Eastern conference finals.

The most amazing fact is that Van Gundy's tenure of 47 months with the Rockets was the third-longest in the NBA, behind only Sloan and Popovich. Less than four years, and he was the third-most senior head coach in the NBA. A lot has happened in the coaching world over the past few years: D'Antoni, Avery Johnson, the re-emergence of Don Nelson, and the usual revolving door at troubled franchises like Minnesota, Milwaukee, Seattle and Orlando.