Former Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy Refers to Nets as 'Off Broadway'

Van Gundy Seemingly Takes Shot at Nets, Durant

Former head coach of the New York Knicks, Jeff Van Gundy, referred to the Nets as Off-Broadway when asked about the decision by small forward Kevind Durant to sign with the Nets this off season. 

"I don't think on-Broadway is for everybody. Off-Broadway is for some, On-Broadway is for some. Not everyone has the same taste. It's for special players," Van Gundy said.

Van Gundy took a shot at Durant, and said the perennial All-Star made a mistake picking the second best franchise in New York City, in his estimation.

"There is no place, no place, to play like New York," Van Gundy said. 

These statements were in response to an interview Durant gave earlier in the week where he described the factors that led to him spurning the Knicks in free agency, and choosing their cross-town rivals only added insult to injury for the team.

"So that whole brand of the Knicks to them [Prospective free agents and young NBA players] is not as cool as, let's say, the Golden State Warriors or even the Lakers or the Nets now," Durant said.

"It's like the cool thing right now is not the Knicks, Durant said.

Van Gundy was implying that Durant is not a player which is cut out to deal with the rigors, and pressure, that goes along with being the star player on the league's most visible franchise.

Van Gundy took umbrage with the comments made by Durant because the former coach was a part of the last truly great Knicks team. As an assistant coach under Pat Riley during the Knicks glory days in the 90's, and as the team's head coach in 1999 when the Knicks made their last NBA Finals, he has seen first-hand what it feels like to put a winning product on the floor of the "World's Most Famous Arena."

Durant was referencing the last New York Knicks championship being 46 years ago, 1973, and the mystique around the team from decades ago is not the case for players in the NBA today.

Before Durant signed with the Nets in free agency, he was linked to the Knicks all throughout the 2018-2019 season because many pundits believed the small forward would have wanted to bring a championship back to the New York, and Madison Square Garden itself.

Durant threw water on this argument, and reiterated during his interview earlier this week the Knicks were never a legitimate contender to sign him this July.

Granted, the Nets do not have anywhere near the history of the Knicks, but the Nets have experienced just as much success as their NYC rivals in recent years. The Nets never come with the expectations of the Knicks, and that has caused the Nets to be graded on a curve when compared to the other team in town.

The comments by Durant and Van Gundy have added fuel to fire of the cross-town rivalry between the Nets and Knicks that has never truly been a rivalry until now. In the seven years since the Nets moved to Brooklyn, neither team has entered the season with higher expectations than they have this season.

Both team's had successful off seasons and will be battling it out for generations to come for basketball supremacy in the "City That Never Sleeps."