Knicks
at Night/Golfer by Day
by Ryan Sherwin
The coach of the New York Knicks made a guest appearance at Charlie Ward's charity golf event, Monday, September 25th which benefitted the March of Dimes. Van Gundy remarked to Teenspeak that, "Losing Patrick is a significant change. It's going to be an adjustment. But because of his injuries for the past three years, we are better prepared to play without him than we maybe have been before." While he admitted that the Knicks will have to compensate for Patrick's loss to the team, he said, "No one player is going to replace him." Van Gundy added, when asked how he gets players up for each of their 82 games, he said he has learned over time that you can't motivate un-motivated people, and "You try to get rid of the guys who have no passion for the game. I think really that the only motivation that lasts is self motivation. You try to get self motivated guys, and then you try to help them out on the days that are tougher for them." About the outlook for the season, Van Gundy said, "I learned long ago that it doesn't matter what you talk about. It's deeds not words. We are going to try to be a good team and play up to our potential. If we do that, we will be fine." Jeff Van Gundy is in his 5th season with the Knicks, and has an overall coaching record of 190-129. Van Gundy took over for Don Nelson in the 1995-96 season. He led the Knicks to the 1999 NBA Finals where they fell to the San Antonio Spurs in 5 games."
Ryan
Sherwin with Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy
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