As Van Gundy put it a few minutes ago , “It takes 15 seconds to say, ‘I’ve decided to stay in Cleveland,’ but we’ve got another 59 minutes and 45 seconds to, what? Promote LeBron James? As if we don’t do that enough.”
Here we go with the transcript. In a normal Q&A we’d have Qs and As, but a lot of our conversation was myself and the two other reporters with me just informing/reminding Van Gundy of things that happened and letting him react. So we’ve got R’s and SVG’s. Reporters and Stan Van Gundy’s.
R. Your thoughts on all this free agency stuff?
SVG: It’s gotten ridiculous I think. It’s really I mean it’s almost like a parody of itself this whole situation now. Come on, an hour long? It takes 15 seconds to say I’ve decided to stay in Cleveland but we’ve got another 59 minutes and 45 seconds to, what? Promote LeBron James? As if we don’t do that enough. Look, the guy’s a great player and wherever he goes, my bet would be Cleveland, that place will be excited. But an hour long special?
R. Sign of the times, I guess.
SVG: It is a sign of the times. Unfortunately. It’s amazing that a guy as good as Kobe Bryant simply extended his contract with no real fanfare or anything else.
R. Kevin Durant did, too.
SVG: Yeah and Kevin Durant is more in the Kobe Bryant mode. You don’t hear Kobe Bryant and certainly not Kevin Durant talking about their brand. They don’t. I hear that from the other guys. I don’t hear those guys talking about their brand, they’re simply basketball players who want to be great players and win games. Not that those other guys aren’t great players and don’t want to win games. They do, but there’s also more to it. It’s not what I like. Other people, I guess, like it. I’m sure it will be a widely watched show tomorrow. It simply will not have me as an audience.
R. Chris Bosh made his announcement on ESPN. Said he’s joining Wade.
SVG: Well, he’s been following him around for two weeks like his lapdog. So that doesn’t really surprise me.