Fire/Replace Coach JVG!!!?

I think Mr. Van Gundy is a middle-of-the-pack NBA head coach who has done a middle-of-the-pack job with the Houston Rockets. The organization and the fans deserve better.

 

I'm still on the fence as to whether or not JVG is the right coach for this team. For all the problems I have with JVG, though, I have to admit that he has done a great job of toughening up Yao. These days, Yao rarely plays that meek game that he did for the first 3 years.

 

i think jvg has done a terrific job with the team he inherited. first, some people dont realize how much rudyt screwed this team over. he traded away three first rounders for eddie griffin, and we know how that turned it out. rudy also signed mo taylor,cato, and moochie to horrendously long contracts. when jvg came on board he did not have much to work with as we didnt have any tradable players or expiring contracts. jvg basically inherited a team with 3 quality players: Yao, Francis, and Cuttino. To trade away our trash for Tmac and Jho is pretty amazing in my book, he also traded mo taylor and moochie too!

our season is a wreck mainly due to injuries, but jvg has done a terrfic job in transforming yao and tmac into great players. tmac played his best last year in the playoffs thanks to jvg. yao has also turned into a low post beast, and it wouldnt of happened without jvg. i believe most coaches would of turned yao into a brad miller type center.

 

I don't think JVG is a good fit. The "Team" is really only Tracy and Yao, and they are both finesse players. JVG isn't the best fit for them, Phil Jackson is, then after him perhaps someone like Rick Adelman, who can weave their talents into a team game. JVG is one of the less-flexible guys coaching in terms of working in new talent and coping with different personalities. He is tied to his kind of guy, even when that may not be what he has. JVG is also bad for the franchise, delivering an unappealing product and bad-mouthing his own team when it desperately needs a positive sense of fun to draw.

Thanks for your opinion, though. We all have one, and yours is valid with merits. As I read your post, I didn't get the sense that you were argueing JVG is the absolute best man for the job, just that you thought he hadn't performed so poorly he deserved the axe. Feel free to correct that, and tell me why he is best, if that is what you do feel. I think that's not the best way to operate a franchise - you should jump on opportunity to better the team, whenever it presents itself. In my business, I wouldn't keep an "ok" employee with obvious flaws in a position of authority. I'd rather fire him and search for a really good leader. I may go backward by taking that risk, but I'd rather shoot for excellence than settle for mediocrity. I think a continuous process of seeking excellence is the thing that takes the good to the great.

I think JVG would do better in the east with a different kind of team. I think he could do better with a group of role players than with a group of stars. Maybe he could excel with Chicago. I personally don't like the Riley brand of basketball unless Magic Johnson is running the break, but that's just my preference for a more fluid game.

 

Let's not get too high on this whole "when Yao and T-mac are healthy, we win". Please examine the actual schedule (who we played) when we went on that winning streak. Let's not get carried away, we beat the Clippers and that's about it. The rest were scrubs. This team sucks, face it. We have Rick Brunson and Ryan Bowen on the same team, two people who shouldn't be in the NBA.

 

So now you are blaming Chinese fans for the anti-JVG sentiment? And you are definitely wrong about the history of Chinese fans following NBA games. A lot of them started watching since the Jordan era, some even earlier than that, although it is true that most of them support Rockets because of YaoMing. So if you want to say Chinese fans are short-sighted, that is just not a smart way.

 

I did not like the Van Gundy hiring. He has "grown" on me. I am a supporter now. Do not fire him yet. I respect the idea of firing the mediocre and striving for the excellent, but in my world I often have to make the best of a situation and try to work with what I have to maintain forward momentum. I will replace the mediocre with what may be better, but wait until I have a better alternative.

One of the posters here I really respect said that the coach is less important to the team winning than the players, health, and schedule. I support this. If we can maintain the strong defense JVG has installed, our players stay healthy, we can be competitive and win.

I am not a zealot of Van Gundy, but I do not want to fire him. Find out if Adleman or Elie would come here before you do.

 

JVG has done well by YAO

but not much else
While we can scream about the Eddie Griffin situation
I think eddie would have been better under Rudy
JVG's people skills didn't match well with Eddie's Personality
Eddie can come back . . but unless a GREAT coach lights a fire in him
I doubt it

I think JVG maybe good at X's and O's
I'm not entirely ready to give all the credit for YAO's growth to him
and him alone [tibideuax]
Who else has he made better?

T-Mac is T-mac

JVG does not IMO Inspire his players

Rocket River

 

The players JVG picked and the fact that he cant win a game without One player shows you alot although some of you dont want to admit it.

In this situation, I'd rather have Calisle coaching this team.

 

Van Gundy is not the right fit for this team. In fact, I really think he is kinda overrated. I was for hiring Mike Dunleavy. I personally think theat Rick Adelman would be a better fit for this team.

 

It seems that you know a lot about Chinese. Let me tell you something. To me, Chinese fans are actually more mild to JVG than US ones. And Chinese fans don't mean short history of watching NBA. Most of them were watching MJ's games since NBA was broadcasted by CCTV. BTW, I think NBA is not the only basketball league, am I right? My advice to you - judging
people by what they did or said, never by their nationality. If you have frustrated experiences with some Chinese fans. The problem may be either with those fans or with you. But definitely not with all Chinese fans. Be controled and you will be cool.

 

Its funny that a lot of the people that write about not liking JVG for this team are recommmending better coaches that are most likely not going anywhere. The coaches mentioned were Carlisle, Dunleavy, Phil Jackson etc. Those coaches all have better records than the Rockets this year, I bet the person recommending Dunleavy would not have said that last year. I think its easier to change the players on your team than reimplementing a credible and effective system. JVG is a proven winner.

Main reason why a lot of these threads are always coming up is because people either dont like JVG's style of coaching and offensive tempo or they think that some other coach, that is not going to be leaving their team anytime soon would be better for the Rockets. And also for those people that do not like our offense, what is to say that the Rockets could not get an assistant coach that could inject some new ideas like eddie jorday did with the nets.

Keep JVG establish a team identity of defense and toughness. Dont second guess the system that the team is playing under everytime it is not successful. Sloan and Papavich were not always winning coaches, but they never changed their system - all they did was get better players.

 

Isn't CD supposed to be responsible also for those stupid contracts?

 

I love how everyone wants Rick Adelman now when earlier in the season his head was on the chopping block.

Funny how everything turned around for the Kings by adding one player to the mix.....and now Adelman is a good to great coach again....

 

You do realize that there were limitations on who he could get for this team, don't you? And that a lot fo those limitations were caused by things like giving Kelvin Cato and Mo Taylor thier ridiculous contracts?

Who should we have gotten that would have come here for the money we had to offer, that we let go somewhere else?

Man, seriously. Without injuries, this team would be 15-20 wins better, and nobody would be crying like this.

 

Why, oh why are you a JVG supporter? Have you forgotten what a decent coach is like? Have you forgotten what a decent offensive scheme is like? Have you forgotten what clock management is like? Have you forgotten what timely substitutions are like? Have you forgotten what it's like to have a coach who doesn't badmouth his players in the media in order to deflect criticism of his job performance? Have you forgotten what it was like to give a player a chance to get in the flow before you relegate them to the bench or cut them?

JVG is a freaking horrible coach. He is the worst offensive mind in the league, and his vaunted defensive philosophy is not all it's cracked up to be. It's no wonder Yao has had fatigue problems. JVG has him rotating around and chasing guards around out by the 3pt line, all so that they can then make a pass inside for an uncontested basket. Purely ridiculous.

Any team with a healthy Yao and TMac will make the playoffs, no matter the coach.

But as long as JVG is our coach the team will not be as great as they could be.

 

Have you forgotten last season?

 

I saw Patterson get picked up for peanuts. Even Evans. I mean if you're going to sit here and tell me that all this team could do is get Gerald Fitch and Rick Brunson, then Les needs to get some better management and some better scouts.

With or without injuries, the team shouldnt be this awful. Im sorry, but you tell me why Ryan Bowen plays so much more than Chuck Hayes. He has nothing to offer.

The fact of the matter is the team is awful, and thats the reality. You can sit there and blame whatever factors you please, but they need to address a myriad of issues from the top down.

Oh yes, and they did rush trading Mike James