Stan Van Gundy Admits to Dropping the Ball With Sacramento

A couple of years back, Stan Van Gundy was one of the hottest names on the coaching market. Initially Van Gundy wanted to sign with the Orlando Magic. However, because of complications with his contract with the Miami Heat, and Orlando's pursuit of University of Florida Coach Billy Donovan, Van Gundy believed that his chances of signing with the Magic were very small. Enter the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings flew Van Gundy and his family out to Sacramento, and thought all signs pointed to them being able to secure his services. Too bad Van Gundy was negotiating with the Magic behind the Kings' backs.

Long story short, Orlando worked out their issues with Miami and Donovan and signed Van Gundy. All this took place while Van Gundy was in Sacramento getting the red carpet treatment from the Kings. Van Gundy even told the Kings he was going house hunting, when in actuality, he was at a Sacramento Kinkos faxing a contract to the Orlando Magic. It was fine that he was being pursued by the Magic, but not cool that he didn't make the Kings aware of this.

Since then, Van Gundy has taken a ton of hits from the Sacramento media and Kings' fans. Today, Van Gundy tried to right his wrongs by admitting his mistakes:

"I'm not happy with the way I handled the whole thing," said Van Gundy. "I was not forthcoming on that day and I should have been when things started to break in Orlando.

"I was totally acting in my own self interest."

I'm sure this doesn't do much for the Kings, their fans or their beat writers. But in a business where very few will own up to their mistakes, it's nice to see at least one guy admit he was wrong.