http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/06/sports/basketball/06jeff.html
Rockets Woo Van Gundy
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
In what essentially amounted to a recruiting trip, the Houston Rockets took Jeff
Van Gundy and his wife, Kim, around Houston yesterday.
Carroll Dawson, the Rockets' general manager, has said he wants Van Gundy to be
the team's next coach. But Van Gundy, who met with officials of the Washington W
izards on Wednesday, has yet to make up his mind.
"It's flattering," said Van Gundy, the former coach of the Knicks. "But as we al
l know when we've moved, it's a major decision in your life and a lot of things
go into it."
The Rockets have reportedly had preliminary negotiations with Van Gundy's repres
entatives, and it is believed that he would receive $4 million to $5 million a y
ear for four or five years. An Eastern Conference official said Houston had also
broached the subject of compensation with the Knicks, who own Van Gundy's right
s until July 31, perhaps giving up a second-round draft pick.
From a basketball standpoint, the Washington job does not compare to the one in
Houston. The Rockets have the 7-foot-5 center Yao Ming and the All-Star point gu
ard Steve Francis, while the Wizards finished below .500 in the mediocre Eastern
Conference.
Van Gundy, who resigned after nearly six seasons as the Knicks' head coach in
December 2001, realizes that Houston's roster makes it attractive.
"Somebody I really trust in basketball, I asked him what he thought were the p
luses and minuses," Van Gundy said. "He said that the biggest plus about Houston
was that every day that Yao Ming wakes up, he's 7-5."
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