Jeff Van Gundy

I've always thought he was a great basketball coach. Then last season after the Rockets were bounced from the playoffs, he became a analyst for ABC's NBA coverage.

Now I know most people remember Jeff Van Gundy for comically latching onto Alonzo Mourning's leg (ala Father Al in the very funny Semi-Pro) during one of the numerous Miami Heat/New York Knicks fracas. What people don't realize was that he was a tremendous basketball coach. He took teams with little skill deep into the playoffs multiple times. The Knicks front office did him no favors by signing Allan Houston to a long term deal when his knees were falling apart, or trading for the team cancer known as Latrell Sprewell. All I'm trying to say is he did a lot with a little.

When he went out West to coach the Rockets he took over a team with some holes and got them playing at a very high level. Yao Ming was very green, Tracy McGrady still too selfish, but again he got them into the playoffs. After he was dumped last year he jumped into his second career. That of color man on the NBA on ABC.

You will not find a more knowledgable analyst on any channel covering a game. This past weekend he talked about how he didn't like the matchup of Dirk Nowitzki trying to box out Kobe Bryant on a free throw attempt. He spoke about how athletic Kobe was and how much of great offensive rebounder Kobe is. Then Gasol misses the free throw, and what happens... Kobe outrebounds Dirk for the ball and ends up going back to the line himself. Very nice analysis of the situation. Anyone who has been paying attention to his gamecalling will tell you that his work is full of that. Great breakdowns of both offense and defense and a very surprisingly funny side. Who would have ever thought that the sad sap former coach of the Knicks would be what makes me tune in to ABC's coverage of the NBA.