Stan Van Gundy

This guy's great, you know, and I've only done that, you know, he was early in his career, obviously right at the beginning.

And I did that one other time and it was with Sean Miller when I was at Wisconsin and I was only months on the job and I was like, whoa, this is a different level.

And I think what amazed me is when I came here.

I'd already been in college coaching for 14 years, so I was new to the NBA, but I wasn't new to coaching.

And to see somebody in their first job who had his intelligence, his knowledge of the game, his approach and players.

immediately trusted him.

Like he would go work with them and he just had this air about him.

The thing with Eric, and I think players still catch on to it with him.

It's always about them and about making the team better.

It's never about him.

And so I think they are attracted to that right away.

And then his competence, his,

You know, he can go out there and teach you and help you get better.

Yeah, I saw all of that right away.

And then just his demeanor.

I mean, he's not like me.

He's not with the ups and downs.

He may be internally, but externally, he's very even keel.

And so, yeah.

Now, if you had asked me at that time, this guy is going to be a Hall of Fame guy and go to six finals in 13 years and all of that.