Kevin Durant helped introduce Stan van Gundy to a flavor of urban lingo that the latter wasn’t quite familiar with, not being a hip-hop fan.
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van Gundy had taken to Twitter a couple of months back to discuss the increasing occurrence of injuries to NBA stars. He pointed out that teams in the 90s and 80s traveled in worse conditions and practiced more, but still played more games.
At the time, Durant had voiced his approval for van Gundy’s words with the simple tweet: Stan spittin’. However, van Gundy, who was unfamiliar with the term, found himself on the defensive and tried to nuance his take. It definitely made for a generation gap moment.
van Gundy explains his mentality while talking to Kevin Durant on Twitter
Stan van Gundy was recently a guest with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast. The trio touched upon this topic, which reached 5.7 million Twitter users, for a brief while.
van Gundy flat-out admitted that the reason he couldn’t figure out the slang was because of his dissociation with urban legends since the time his kids left home – decades back:
“I tweeted out this thing that in the ’90s, when I came into the league, guys practiced more. More back-to-backs, travel was harder, and they played more often. And we practiced all year long.”
“So all I said is something’s not working. So Kevin Durant just tweeted out a reply: Stan spittin. I had no idea what he said. I didn’t think he was busting on me, but I didn’t think he agreed with me either. So I’m explaining myself, and he came back with ‘LOL, I’m agreeing with you.'”
“So everybody’s like ‘Stan, you coached in the NBA! You’ve gotta get that Urban Dictionary’ and s**t. Honestly, I knew more about this slang stuff when my kids were home.”
How good a coach was Stan van Gundy?
Stan Van Gundy began his coaching career as an assistant coach at the college level before joining the Miami Heat as an assistant coach in 1995. He later became the head coach of the Heat in 2003 and led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
Van Gundy’s most successful tenure as a coach was with the Orlando Magic, where he served as head coach from 2007 to 2012. During his time with the Magic, he led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances, including an NBA Finals appearance in 2009. He also coached the Western Conference All-Star team in 2010.
Van Gundy went on to coach the Detroit Pistons from 2014 to 2018, where he helped the team return to the playoffs in his first season as coach. He also served as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2020-2021 NBA season.
Throughout his coaching career, Van Gundy was known for his defensive-minded approach and his ability to develop young talent.
