Former Houston Rockets Coach Jeff Van Gundy to Coach Some of Team USA

A former coach of the Rockets is making a big leap forward for Team USA.

Jeff Van Gundy, the former coach of the Rockets, is going to coach Team USA at the FIBA AmeriCup and FIBA World Cup Qualifying team this year. This job is a big leap forward for Van Gundy, who has not coached since he was with the Rockets in 2007. Since then, he has been an analyst primarily for ESPN and has worked many NBA Finals games.

USA Basketball makes it official, announces former Rockets coach, ABC/ESPN announcer Jeff Van Gundy to coach AmeriCup, World Cup qualifying.

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) July 5, 2017

Jeff Van Gundy had several successful seasons of coaching for the Rockets and Knicks. He helped coach the Knicks out of the Patrick Ewing days, and Ewing even was the assistant coach for Van Gundy during some of his seasons with the Rockets. Jeff Van Gundy got the opportunity to coach the talented duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady as well in Houston. Now, he gets the chance to coach young talent and some superstars.

FIBA AmeriCup

The FIBA AmeriCup this season will be fun to watch. Team USA will consist of mainly Gatorade Developmental League players and will start in late August. Though the players that will be on the team will not be star players, basketball is still basketball and it should be interesting. It should be a great event to pass time until the NBA season begins in October.

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FIBA World Cup Qualifiers

While the actual World Cup will not take place until 2019, the US will still need to qualify. In the past, this team has been almost a precursor to the Olympic team. However, team USA will be using non-NBA players and it should make the competition a little stiffer. Van Gundy will get to coach young players and truly test his ability. The first game for Team USA will be on November 23 of this year.

Congrats once again to Jeff Van Gundy on becoming the coach of these two teams!

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*Source: USAB.com*