"In evaluating the Western Conference, he saw few scenarios in which the Rockets could pass Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio without a dramatic overhaul. He wondered if another coach could get through to McGrady in a way he hadn’t. " Right on. McGrady is the key. T-mac missed 2 golden opportunities in 4th quarters of game 6 and 7 by not penetrating when the Rox had the chance to either get the lead or increase the lead. This tells you that T-mac does not have the killer instinct. Probably only coaches with championships already can get to T-mac but not for other coaches.
More butt kissing from the Chronicle. Les is the owner not Assistant coach Gundy. Hiring an assitant GM is hardly a slight. Since when does the owner need to check in with the coach to make any front office personnel moves? For all of the negative spin he tries to put on it, I think Adelman can make the playoffs with Tmac and Yao and lose in the 1st round multiple times. I would hardly call Assistant coach better. What is his track record proof?
i have no idea if what he's talking about is true but i feel the exact same way in regards to jvg-adelman. i'm fine with adelman but jvg is my first choice.
Well, look at the headline Blinebury chose for his blog today: FEATURED BLOGS Courtside Fran Blinebury Justice is blind...and sometimes stupid So what's next, Justice retaliating with "Blinebury is fat, and has a girl's first name"?
that is a good article. adelman is NOT better than jvg for this current rockets team. the point is that the rockets didn't lose to the jazz because they were outcoached. sure, jvg had his faults like everyone else in this series. but the rockets lost because they were outmatched and because they lacked talent. our generally great defense was exposed because of matchups. and our offense couldn't deliver for almost all of this series because the rockets lacked the talent. the bottom line is that the current rockets have a lot of holes in their roster. they need a backup pg to cut down rafers minutes and to establish a different style of play. rafer is actually pretty soild at the things a well designed team would need from the pg position (low turnovers, good at distributing, solid rebounder, good at pushing the ball, etc.). but the current roster isn't well designed so rafer couldn't play to his strengths and our pg play became very predcitable. we need a scoring threat at the pg position to solve this problem (i'm thinking of chucky atkins here) because we won't get a better pg than rafer alston. the next hole - and that's an even bigger one - is the consistent 3rd scoring option. our offense was so predictable because we couldn't get any individual production out of anyone else of t-mac and yao. everything was either set up by mcgrady or by yao. the rockets need a jerry stackhouse type of player to make the offense more powerfull. with a guy like this teams couldn't force the rockets to go scoreless for 2-3 minutes every game. that's where our offense was really weak. when teams found out ways to stop our offense from rolling we had to keep going on the same way because there wasn't a plan b. normally bonzi wells should have been that plan b and it was a smart move to try him because the rockets had no other options. but we all know how this one worked out. and i still can't understand how people keep on blaming this on jvg. ridiculous. and the last important thing the rockets' roster missed this season was an athletically gifted big man. with yao on this team you just have to have another option against the smaller and quicker teams. we all have seen what happens when you don't have another option against boozer and the jazz. a great and reliable athlete here would help a lot. give the current rockets this three players and they are real contenders with jvg as the head coach. with jvg we had a great defense and an average offense (due to the lack of a backup pg and a reliable 3rd scoring option). with adelman and this current roster (with some minor tweaks) you'll get an average defense (at best, because you know we only have two good defenders on our roster and defensive talent is the only way adelman will have a better than average defensive team) and maybe a solid but not great offense (we don't even have half of the offensive talent around yao and t-mac that the kings under adelman had because we only have spot up shooters and hustling role players on our team). if jvg is fired and adelman is hired and the current roster is only tweaked in a minor way at this time next year everybody will know that this article actually was pretty dead on.
Rieff Van Gundelman would be a beast of a coach who's great on both offense and defense. He'd enforce discipline while knowing when to let things slide. The ugly factor would intimidate opposing coaches and make them lose composure on the court.
So Van Gundy got his panties in a bunch? Big deal. Mediocrity Talented players signing here and winding up in JVG's doghouse, not getting a real chance to play, then being released. Two playoff choke jobs. Regularly scoring 35 or so points in a half as a team because he has no clue how to coach offense. I think the Rockets and their fans have more cause to be pissed with Gundy than Gundy has to be pissed with the Rockets.
Totally agree. And what's more mind-numbing is how writers like Justice and posters on this board give Van Gundy a pass on the personnel decisions. And then turn around and say he (VG) did the best he could with the talent he had. Wake up and smell the coffee...Van Gundy's fingerprints are all over the Battier trade...the single largest factor in widening the athletic gap to the top tier WC teams. And it was Gundy's overemphasis of defense that gave the Rockets an NBDL-level starting PF. Of course, VG had a great offensive strategy to counterbalance Battier and Hayes as black holes of point production...let Tracy McGrady take as many shots as he wants. You could endlessly debate whether or not VG had any say in the drafting of Novak and the lack of the trade kicker to Mike James which then turned VSpan and Wells. Not much of a debate how much PT Wells, VSPan, Novak and one of the few Rockets not named McGrady who can get their own shot (Snyder) received under VG. IOW, you can't have it both ways...you can't give Gundy kudos for winning with personnel of low talent and low athleticsm AND a free pass on the assembly and playing time of that (lacking) talent. Said it before and I'll say it again....if any two of Battier, Hayes and Alston are starters next season, it's another 1st round exit. That's why I personally don't care who the next coach is...as long as there is a new coach. It ought to be fairly obvious there's a talent and athleticism gap to address first and formost.
GATER, According to Fran's blog, it seems that management (Morey: We are a 60-win quality team) are the one who want to stay the course while Van Gundy want upgrades made. It's also reflected in the fact that each side had "conditions" about JVG returning. It's likely JVG's condition was an improved roster. As for JVG's imput in the current roster, sure he has everything to do with PT, but scouting/signing/drafting, etc isn't really his department. He apparently didn't feel Spanoulis was ready when they signed him. And he gave people chances... Snyder started, Bonzi got his minutes, Spanoulis got meaningful minutes when Snyder first went down, Lucas got his shot here and there, Battier was the PF at the beginning of the season, even Padgett got his shot. But they didn't work out and he pulled the rather than prolonging the faield experiment. He played the groups that worked out best, that's all.
CH - So you want me to believe VG didn't love the Battier trade and isn't responsible for Hayes as the starter? Mega-crap! You're giving Gundy a free pass he doesn't deserve. I didn't read Fran's blog...but it appears further that you want me to believe that VG is the only person who is not responsible for the Rockets being the slowest and least athletic team in the WC...and that neither Les nor Morey recognize this fact? To that I say more "Mega-crap". And in addition to those items, you want me to believe that Van Gundy won't quickly pull any player from a rookie to Stro to Snyder to Wells for missing one of his unnecessarily difficult defensive assignments. I was born on a Thursday but it wasn't last Thursday. I realize VG talks out of both sides of his mouth but here is a direct quote which we all have heard multiple times before..."We have enough talent to win"... I for one won't give Gundy a free pass for the Rockets' personnel. If (beyond Battier and Hayes) Van Gundy doesn't like the talent...it's not because his vision is one of uptempo basketball. Van Gundy's vision of talent upgrades is more slow-footed slugs to run his overly complex defensive schemes and more stand-still spot up shooters...we've had enough of that.
I just read your first sentence and really was not expecting nothing else from a JVG lover....its pathetic! your first sentece and this article what the f is Justice on, bunch of random rambling!
I would agree the fact that you have two superstars and you are saying that it would have been hard for a coach to make it to the playoffs, despite the injuries, cmon seriously...
Sure, Van Gundy is responsible for Chuck starting.. and it worked out pretty well. Sure, he loves Battier, but which NBA coach doesn't? There's been reports about various very good offers for Battier made to Jerry West and rejected during all these year. And he worked out pretty well, too. So, while the Rockets lost a close series to Utah, I wouldn't call the use of these two complete disasters. And I wouldn't say the Rockets "didn't have enough talent to win." They did, and do did Utah. They had enough talent to have a chance in each game, that's different than having overwhelming talent to be somewhat certain of victory. Beyond that, the Rockets tried plenty of different combinations during the season, and what Chuck and Shane each got their minutes because the team played better with them than they did with other guys on the roster.
thx, i actually feel better now knowing that YOU think this way. that makes me believe that i'm probably not so wrong after all. and now please go on with your post count padding hating trash if that's all you've got.
