http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/lopez/4795039.html Alexander has plenty of options By JOHN P. LOPEZ Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle OVER the span of about five hours Thursday, former Rockets guard and NBA coach John Lucas opened the gym doors to some familiar young NBA draft prospects. Among them were North Carolina guards Wayne Ellington and Tywon Lawson, LSU forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Texas A&M stars Joseph Jones and Acie Law, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-footer Chris Daniels. Young NBA up-and-comers like Boston's Gerald Green and Denver's J.R. Smith stopped by. So did Rockets point guard and Luke's namesake — John Lucas III. Previously, Toronto's T.J. Ford, Memphis' Damon Stoudamire and Seattle's Chris Wilcox all have come to Lucas for grueling work, rehab training and Lucas' unique brand of unfiltered counsel. Lucas' tough love For example: Only one of these millionaires and future millionaires was thrown out of the gym Thursday for not quite living up to practice expectations. It was Lucas' son John III. So what does it all mean? Maybe nothing. But the Rockets appear on the verge of changing direction and parting ways with Jeff Van Gundy. Prevailing sentiment is that they will be looking for someone who can relate to young players, develop them, be a popular choice for fans and change the pace of the Rockets' attack. If or when the move is made, there will be no shortage of candidates to lead a team with a pair of bona fide superstars at its core and changes in attitude and approach the charge from owner Leslie Alexander. Most challenging is that every potential candidate seemingly out there has a big shortcoming. Someone like Lucas consistently brings out the best in young talent — players like Vassilis Spanoulis, Steve Novak and Lucas III. He is extremely tough and demanding, but players inevitably like him. That's why NBA teams often send players to work with Lucas during offseasons or while rehabbing. Elie popular but unproven Ford, whose career was in jeopardy after suffering a spinal injury, credits Lucas for getting him back on track. But Lucas owns a career 173-258 NBA record at stops in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Cleveland. And then there is the fact that Lucas would be coaching his son with the Rockets, although he certainly didn't show any favoritism Thursday. Other candidates have similar big potential in some areas, severe flaws in others. Mario Elie fits the bill in the developing talent and popularity mold, too, having sealed his place in Houston sports lore with a kiss of death in the 1995 NBA playoffs. But fired a year ago as an assistant to Golden State's Mike Montgomery, Elie was out of coaching this year and is unproven as a head coach. The Charlotte Hornets interviewed Elie for their vacant coaching job, and Elie certainly has a place in Alexander's heart, having been the first major acquisition Alexander made as an NBA owner. Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni would enter the hiring pool with impeccable credentials as well and would have the added plus of experience with the fast-paced, entertaining style of the Suns. He has won a world championship (Philadelphia), learned under some highly regarded teachers and coaches (Pat Riley, Pete Newell, Mike Fratello and Mike D'Antoni). And he's a New York kid, like Alexander. But would you put a team this close to contending for rings, yet in need of help as far as personnel is concerned to become a run-and-fun team, into the unproven Iavaroni's hands? Then there's the obvious choices of proven commodities seemingly on Alexander's short list — Larry Brown, Del Harris and Rick Adelman. They all have proven to be winners, with Brown and Adelman having taken teams to the NBA Finals. But Brown is a notorious coaching flake whose head would figure to explode the first time McGrady didn't go hard to the basket or complained about an ow-ee. Harris' nickname even among friends is "Dull" Harris, and he hasn't been an NBA head coach in nearly a decade. But Harris helped lead the NBA's best regular-season team in the Dallas Mavericks and coached Yao and the Chinese national team to a successful 2004 Olympic experience, including an upset of Serbia and Montenegro. And Adelman's public demeanor makes Van Gundy's look like that of Carrot Top. His is a prickly, snide personality that wore on star players at Portland and Sacramento. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. There are qualified options out there when the Van Gundy parting occurs, but none is without severe imperfections. As tough a decision as Alexander faces with Van Gundy and as much work as he figures to do making sure he gets the right guy, it will come down to guessing right.
Intel (lance)reported a gundy sighting at the airport this morning Probably needed to clear his mind even more.
I think Rick Adelman may be someone who could bring some life to this team. He was a choke from taking Sacramento to the finals and took two Blazers teams there. His motion offense creates easy shots and though focuses on pure shooters, was able to allow Drexler to flourish. He could maybe even persuade Bibby to come here cheap! (Joke) Imagine Yao playing the high post like Divac/Webber/Miller did. Instead of setting a pick at the three point line for McGrady he could play more in the middle and at 7'6 it would allow drop passes. He also did a pretty good job developing the talent he had with Peja, Bobby Jackson etc. As much as Les loves the Suns way of playing, it should be obvious that Utah/San Antonio/Detroit are the successful teams in the playoffs and its because they are top defensive teams and can execute in the half-court.
this is all I care about, but this article was more of a copy and paste job from clutchfans.net/forum nothing we don't know
Can you provide a link to something that shows Les saying that he loves the Suns way of playing? Les loves wining and he won with a slow it down half court game. FYI, Les told Gundy to smile not to run and gun
I don't think Mario Elie will pan out. Love him, but I just don't see it. I like the idea of John Lucas, but his in-game management and game planning abilities are gigantic question marks. He'd be phenomenal on any coaching staff, but can he actual call the shots? Del Harris....no. Adleman...no. Sam Mitchell...no. Mike Fratello...no. Mediocore is as mediocore does. I'd have a very difficult time rooting for my team if Larry Brown were a part of it. Just a wretched person. Iavaroni would be intriguing, but I'm not sure he fits our style of play or that he'd even be interested. Everything has pointed to him going to Toronto. Evan
I would like to see Mario on the bench as an assistant. Lucas? Agree that he doesn't have enough experience coaching. (any experience??) Isn't Del about a hundred years old? Iavaroni intrigues me, as well. Definitely don't want Fratello.
I, too, have wondered this. People have to realize that the Rockets don't need to play like the Phoenix Suns, we need to play more like the San Antonio Spurs. Run to get easy baskets, but win games with post-up offense and above-average defense. That is the Rockets formula to success coupled with at least an average bench.
Van Gundy's Rockets' legacy... Three 1st round exits, helping to build a team of untradable one-dimensional players and having a short hook for anyone that misses a defensive assignment thus thwarting player development... And we're concernned about imperfections of potetials replacements? Excluding the ultimate flake Larry Brown, any one of them is fine with me and you can throw in Scotty Brooks. I favor Iavaroni but it will take him awhile to get the current sludge of the intake valves of the Rocket engine.
This is so true, model your game after the Spurs and championships will come. Duncon>Yao (but Yao can be just as good or even more dominant in the post) of course Duncon is a better defender T-Mac>Manu Parker>Spanoulis (Billy can grow into a similar player) Battier>Bowen and so on and so on. If you think the Rockets can run and gun with Yao you are on crack.
