There would have been no way luther would have seen the court last year if he didnt work hard and learn from the coaches in practice. there is a reason why stromile last year hardly saw the court despite all the "potential" he had and the injuries the team had. van gundy is willing to develop his players, but his players must have the ability to learn and show results from what they have learnt. players must show improvement in practice i have never been a believer of lets just throw them out there so they can learn. you improve to be a good player in practice, you improve to be a great player in games. there is no way you can overleap the first one. dont forget about chuck hayes a guy undrafted jvg took a chance on and now is the regular starter when yao is playing. for that matter look at YAO. everyone wanted him to play the high post, make those amazing passes and play the finesse game while JVG forced him to be a traditional post playing center. I do remember how a lot of you claimed he was never going to be like shaq and look what has happened after 3 years of JVG developing Yao. Yao has become the inside force we all dreamed he would be and is punishing teams (and even shaq!) on the inside. None of this would have happened if JVG wasnt here. (dont get me wrong yao would still be a good player but i dont think he would be the player he is right now with Rudy T at the helm) some of you guys are too unrealistic and dont look at the good at what coach has done for the team and just the bad. Honestly I think van gundy has been a better coach for this team than Rudy T was his last couple of years. As much as I love Rudy, he did nothing to discpline Francis into becoming a team player they way JVG did. Honestly if Francis had JVG has a coach from his rookie season I honestly think he would have developed into a much better player and decision maker. (and yeah dont say you wouldnt have traded francis for mcgrady either, that deal was a no brainer)
NO coach can make everyone happy until a championship ring is won. For those Jeff-Haters rockets fan, hey, nobody is stopping you to root for another team like Spurs.
I think it is laughable to see all those guys calling JVG a championship coach while he never wins a championship as a NBA coach and he doesn't even win one playoffs series during all those years in Houston. You want to call him a championship coach? Why wait till the end of the season and see what he can do anything different other than the first round exits?
I think its laguahable to declare any coach a championship coach until they actually win one. Besides Phil Jackson, Greg Poppovich, and Pat Riley... WHO is a championship caliber coach in the NBA?
You should have also asked: What coaches that haven't already won a championship are better than JVG?
JVG is Faultless. . . . if they don't win it is the players fault If they do win . . it is JVG's get coaching I don't think he is championship caliber Coach Is think he is a Championship Caliber Asst Coach he doesn't inspire his players IMO Rocket River IMO this years team has Championship Talent If properly mixed and matched and coached
JVG is not a championship coach, IMHO. I don't think he has it in him......he is too controlling and does not develop any players. Please do not say...Luther Head and Hayes...that is just ridiculous....JVG cut Hayes, and did not want him, then CD brought him back on a 10 day contract and he proved his worth.....BUT....and this is a big BUT......he had to play Hayes and Luther because of injuries and guess what? He found out they could play. Now he has a guy who just led his team at the PG position to the FIBA finals and at a position which we are extremely weak in...but JVG can not find time to play him? The difference IMHO, is that Popovich is willing to see talent and to play it and live with the mistakes...ala a 19 year old starting PG in Parker and playing Manu when he came into the league....KNOWING that they would have an adjustment but also KNOWING that their adjustment period would be shortened by them getting some quality minutes with the better players on the team. JVG is a good coach no doubt about it....but he is not a championship coach....he is just not enough of a risk taker....IMHO....You got to be willing to roll the dice. DD
Avery Johnson, Mike D'Antonio to name 2 whom I would rather have than JVG.... I would rather have Rudy back, he would be perfect for this team and is not afraid to play young players to give them a chance to prove themselves...ala Cassell and Horry. DD
Here's Van Gundy's playoff history: Code: [B]Year Result Opp Record OppRecord[/B] 1996 2nd-round (1-4) CHI 47-35 72-10 1997 2nd-round (3-4) MIA 57-25 61-21 1998 2nd-round (1-4)* IND 43-39 58-24 1999 Finals (1-4)** SAS 27-23 37-13 2000 ECF (2-4)*** IND 50-32 56-26 2001 1st-round (2-3) TOR 48-34 47-35 2004 1st-round (1-4) LAL 45-37 56-26 2005 1st-round (3-4) DAL 51-31 58-24 [SIZE=2][I] * Won first round against Miami without home court advantage ** Won first three rounds against Miami, Atlanta, and Indiana without home court advantage *** Won 2nd round against Miami without home court advantage[/I][/SIZE] He's won a series five times without home court advantage. Conversely, he's lost only once with home court advantage (against Toronto in 2001, which had a nearly identical regular season record). He's the only coach to have ever taken an 8th seed to the NBA finals.
So, in your mind... Vassilis Spanoulis has all the talent of a Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili... he just needs playing time to show that? You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize how far off you are on this. Tony Parker and Ginobili showed much more at both the international level, as well as the pro level (when given brief stints of playing time) than V-Span has his entire basketball playing career. Also, why can't people cite John Lucas III, Luther Head, and Chuck Hayes as examples of young players who improved under JVG? Isn't that the argument? That he doesn't make young players better? That he doesn't give them opportunities? Finally, cut the Carrol Dawson cord.... he hasn't made personnel decisions on his own here EVER... Rudy had more say, and now JVG has more say. Carroll is a figure-head, a damn good one, but he doesn't do things without consulting ALL of the Rockets brass.
Both Cassell and Horry were 1st round picks. The alternative to Cassell would have been Scott Brooks. I have little doubt that JVG would have played Sam ahead of Scott with that roster. As for Horry, again what were the alternatives at small forward? Horry was an athletic and lengthy player who was versatile defensively and could shoot the outside jumper. JVG would love that kind of player. And if you want to bring up Eddie Griffin and how Van Gundy let him go from the team (with pretty good reason, I'd say), recall that Rudy wanted to trade Horry for the more veteran Sean Elliot but the deal collapsed.
Did you want D'ANTONI when he was struggling to keep a job in Denver? Did you notice that Avery's Dallas team blew a 2-0 lead WITH home court advantage, as he was severely outcoached by the so-called "championship coach?" I'm not saying that JVG is better than either of these two... they're both great coaches... I'm just saying that you can't just take a coach, put it on another team, and wallah.... success. And finally... Novak isn't a 6'10 athletic small forward who can sky above the rim, play defense, rebound, and shoot three's like Horry was. Spanoulis has never been the perfect blend of mid-range shooting/offensive game plan-running that Cassell was as a rookie. Sure, lets convienently forget that Rudy failed to have substantial success with other rookies like Bryce Drew, Eddie Griffin, Rodrick Rhodes... let alone high priced players like Moochie Norris or Kelvin Cato.
I am not sure if Jerry Sloan has won a Championship as a head coach in NBA, I think he hasn't, IIRC. He is better than JVG.
Did y'all check out Feigen's blog entry from yesterday? He must be doing something right. http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/01/juwan_the_young_guns_and_novak.html Does this make him a championship coach? I certainly don't think you can conclude that he's not given the personnel and injuries the Rockets have had. And his success with the Knicks makes me vote 'Yes'. This year, barring further major injuries, we will have a chance to really find out. It should be fun.
Let me say this,I love JVG more as an Analyst on TnT than as a head coach. But I dont have a choice in the matter;So I will continue to support him until he is exiled back to NY,whenever that is. People now want rudy back,but I remember the entire city complaining that the game had passed him by,that the Isolation offense was crap
Rudy was more of a motivator/ego-manager than an actual coach. That's great to have when you have a bunch of guys who know how to play (like Hakeem, Clyde, Kenny, Otis)... but not so good when you have a bunch of kids. Rudy also made the mistake of trusting/rewarding guys too much... there was no more accountablity. Guys like Moochie, Maloney, Cato, and Mauriece were rewarded far too much far too quickly, for far too little. Rudy also made the mistake of reaching a little too far for intangibles in his draft picks... and thus Bryce Drew, Rodrick Rhodes, and Mirsad Turcksan are barely in the league. Eddie Griffin and Nachbar aren't what they thought they would be by now.
I think the continued praise from the veterans shows that he is. It's not like he's a "players' coach" by any means and he still receives that praise.
Pop yanks Manu out of the starting lineup whenever he does crazy stuff and Manu is an allstar. Have you seen the way Pop "belittling" Tony, Manu, sometimes Duncan caught on Camera? How many rings does Pop have? Now was Tony their first round pick? Kinda like Luther for us. Also at the time I remember the spurs were very thing on the PG spot. As for Manu, the guy didnt get to play for Spurs after the draft even he had been a stud in Europe for many years. And with the limited playing time, Manu quickly showed that he could contribute right way. This is differnet from Vspan, whom JVG was willing to give PT but fail to show he could contribute. When the season is very much on the line and we have other vet guards, I dont think it makes sense to risk games by developing a late 2nd round draft pick.
Right there with you RR... JVG in my opinion is the equivalent to Buddy Ryan and Norv Turner of the NFL... One is a GREAT Defensive Coach the other a GREAT Offensive Coach. But neither were great head Coach's. JVG is a Very Good Defensive Coach but not a Good Head Coach. T_Man
