Stan Van Gundy rips into Nets
— -- Former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy referred to the Brooklyn Nets as a "bush league organization" in a radio interview Monday.
The Nets, who entered the season with title aspirations, went into Tuesday's night's game against the Spurs with a 10-20 record, which dropped further after San Antonio cruised to an easy 113-92 victory.
Aside from its poor play on the court, the Nets were dealt a devastating blow recently when center Brook Lopez was lost for the year due to a broken foot.
"I think with all the injuries it's been hard to evaluate Jason Kidd. It's been easy to jump on him not just because of the record, but the things coming out of their locker room, the situation with Lawrence Frank, the incident of spilling the drink on the floor," Van Gundy told the "Amani and Etyian Show" on NBC Sports Radio.
"I mean this has looked like a bush league organization much of the year, they don't play with much effort at all, a very uninspired team. But at the same time they had so many people hurt you just don't know. And now they are not they are not going to be healthy all year…
"You can do whatever you want with the coaching situation but it is not going to change the situation with their roster. They just don't have a lot of options -- they don't have draft picks, they are way over the salary cap. They are probably in the worst situation of any team in the NBA right now."
Kidd responded directly to Van Gundy's comments later Tuesday before the Nets faced the Spurs.
"Well I think we have one of the best owners (Mikhail Prokhorov), and so I'm confident," Kidd told reporters in San Antonio. "We've got a group of guys in there that are fighting, and we can only take care of one thing that that's tonight's game. Everybody has a right to their opinion, but the guys in that locker room are fighting, and we look forward to tonight's game."
Mike Mazzeo is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com.
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