Stan Van Gundy: I've Used 'Posse,' And Not About Whites
BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy says he has used the term "posse" before, and it was always in regards to minorities.
A day after LeBron James criticized Knicks President Phil Jackson for using the word in an interview to describe James' friends and business partners, Van Gundy was reflective Wednesday when thinking about his own words, calling on people to be aware of their language and attitudes.
"I'm going to be perfectly honest here, I've used that word before, OK," Van Gundy said, "and when that all came out I had to ask myself, have I ever used that word before with a white player, and the answer is no. So, I think, look, you have to be aware of the language and you have to be aware a little bit of your own biases if you're going to overcome them and so I took that seriously."
In the ESPN interview , Jackson recalled a time when James asked for the Miami Heat to stay over in Cleveland while on a road trip, a request that put coach Erik Spoelstra in a bind.
"You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland," Jackson said.
Van Gundy, speaking before his Pistons played the Knicks, said he never used the term publicly but had when speaking with people he knows and "it has never been in conjunction with a white player."
"And so I think at the time where you're going to call out other people on attitudes, I think you need to be willing to look in the mirror and call yourself out," he added. "I don't think I've used that term in a long, long, long time, but I think going back to my days as an assistant when I was younger I know in the past I have used that term. I'm just being honest and it's not right."
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