Stan Van Gundy was often credited with pushing the NBA's stylistic evolution. The Orlando Magic , under SVG's leadership, spaced four shooters around Dwight Howard , a prototype of the modern pace-and-space offense.
However, "Stan the Man" was not too keen on accepting his flowers. After all, that playstyle was borne out of necessity more than creative genius, as he explained in the "Slappin' Glass" podcast.
"I think that whatever credit I've been given for that style is misplaced," Van Gundy said . "We lucked into the way we played; literally lucked into it. So I got the job in 2007 in Orlando. They were under 500. I think they're 40 and 42, but had gone to the playoffs the year before been swept in the first round."
The Magic went 40-42 in the 2006-07 season, and they had some nice pieces that Van Gundy could work with. Howard was named an All-Star, and a member of the All-NBA Third Team, plus Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson could still improve.
That said, Orlando lost Grant Hill in free agency to Phoenix. G-Money was the team's second-leading scorer behind D12 and also a capable secondary ballhandler. The Magic cushioned the fall by acquiring Rashard Lewis from Seattle, a 20-plus points-per-game scorer for the past three seasons.
Van Gundy had intended to take the traditional route from the start, but an unexpected event forced him to change course.
"Tony Battie, in September, before training camp goes down, hurts his shoulder and he's out for the year. So now, you know, because I'm a genius, no, because I had really no other viable choice, we said, 'Okay, we got to turn either Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu into a power forward,' and a mindful of the fact this is back in a day where people were still playing power forwards," SVG explained.
According to Van Gundy, he used the early-season games to see who was more suited to play power forward between Lewis and Turkoglu. He decided to make Rashard his starting PF based on the fact that he did a better job defending traditional 4s than Hedo did.
"So that's how we played. And so all of a sudden, we had four three-point shooters out there around Dwight. I didn't sit down and come up with this unique way to play at the time, even though everybody else was playing, everybody except D'Antoni was playing conventional power forward," Van Gundy recalled.
And just like that, Van Gundy introduced the style of play that became the bread and butter of modern NBA offenses. Howard played pick-and-roll with Turkoglu and Nelson all night, and worked inside. As soon as the defense collapsed, D12 kicked the ball out, allowing the rock to swing side to side and find an open shooter.
The Magic saw a 12-game improvement from the season before, finishing third in the East (52-30) behind the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons . In 2009, Orlando improved to 59-23 but remained the third seed behind the Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers , who owned the NBA's best regular-season record that season.
It was not until the 2009 playoffs that the Magic had solid proof of concept. They handled the defending champion Celtics in the second round by leaning into their strengths. Orlando blew the game wide open in Game 7, hitting 13 3-pointers to Boston's four. Turkoglu drained four, while Lewis, Rafer Alston, and Michael Pietrus combined for eight. JJ Redick added one 3-point make for the final total.
"I think one of the things you've got to do in coaching is you've got to find a way to get your best players on the floor and find a way to get them in the spots that makes them most successful. For us, that was a pretty easy choice, and the style of play just evolved from there," Van Gundy observed.
Unfortunately for the Magic, they ran into a determined Kobe Bryant in the finals and lost in five games. However, the template was already set. Van Gundy may not be comfortable accepting credit, but the idea outlived the result. What Orlando did that season, albeit unknowingly, became the standard practice years later across the league.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
