Love him or hate him, JVG is consistent. This year he stated a theme: "No Excuses." He hasn't tolerated excuses from anyone, not from Francis or Boki or Cato or Yao. He doesn't let players point fingers at injuries or the refs or 4 games in 5 nights. Nothing matters but smart play and 100% effort. Yao's belly-aching smacks of an excuse. (Sorry, Yao, I love you, you're my boy Blue! and all that, but it's true). In a way, through his never-ending comments about fatigue, Yao has been obliquely defying the coach's policy all year. I'm not surprised he's calling him out. I do agree, though, that there is a second question: "Should JVG rebuke his players in public?" And here I am torn. I love Van Gundy, I think he's just what this team needs, but that does get on my nerves. Given, however, that he's already established a precedent of doing this in public--that's his style--the incident with Yao doesn't bother me one bit.
JVG = Drill Seargent Its time to go to war ladies! I'm glad our coach is trying to get the troops prepared. Go Rox!
I think this is an attempt to tell the team that they can not hide behind the excuse that Ming is tired. If you ever accept an excuse, everyone will rally behind it, and blame every loss on it. YM needs to come up with something else to tell the media. Maybe "I am having too many relations with different women to be more like Wilt Chamberlin, and it is making my knees a little weak in the fourth quarter"... now THAT would be an excuse that JVG could probably accept....
I have no problem with JVG sporting a "no excuses" attitude. I hafta say I really like the guy. Didn't think I would at first, but he's proven himself to me.
JVG is just no nonsense, period He wants mentally tough players, physically strong players, he wants players to step it up and play to the max. He doesn't pander or pet, even his stars. Yes he is negative and yes as a fan I want more diplomacy.... But I want the Rockets to win another championship. Van Gundy has said it, it's not about talent. We have the talent to win a championship. It's going to be all about squeezing every ounce of brain, muscle, effort and skill out of this group. We have underacheived for too long. We have played sloppy, inconsistant, uninspired too long. I don't see alot of improvement, but I do see that Jeff Van Gundy expects nothing less than the very best from these guys. If they will step up to this maniac's demands and grab hold... Well real soon we could be molding another team that will bring home that trophy to Houston. If not Les can fire him, because believe me we won't need to criticize Van Gundy, Les hired him to win it all and nothing short.
Give Yao a break...This guy is playing year round and has tons of committments...This will get better when he doesn't have to spend the off-season in China, training...
That's rediculous ... Plenty of players go through what Yao has gone through and they play all summer long non-stop. The difference is that they are not 7'6" .... But I can't believe people are criticizing JVG for this. This is exactly what is needed. He's basically telling Yao that THIS IS THE PLAYOFFS, Suck it up if you are tired, quit talking about it, and just play your heart out. I think Yao will respond. Every player gets a little extra energy with the excitement of the playoffs and Yao will respond. If he can't play more than 30 min a game in the playoffs this year then we can forget about our so-called dynasty over the next couple of years. If Yao breaks down every March-April because he is tired then what is the point of playing all year? He NEEDS to give it everything hes got in the playoffs and I think he will be able to fight through the fatigue. That is what great players do, and I believe that is what Yao will do.
JVG is a WHINEY b*tch NO ONE Whines more than he . .. every day I look in the paper to listen to him WHINE about the players and how HE COACHING HIS *SS OFF BUT THEY PLAYERs. . yea. . . its the players. . .they not doing what I want they not playing to my standards they not this they not that whine whine whine whine whine whine No one on this team whines more than JVG He does not whine to officials HE just whines to the media . . one the constant Rocket River
When we lose games: "They are not playing with any urgency" "We are not focus" "We don't put out the best effort night-in night-out" To Les, aren't these excuses?
ONE MORE THING when did JVG play through ANYTHING? Rocket River definately didn't play through his last season in NY cause u see. . . GREAT COACHES play through things like that but other HARD NOSE coaches just QUIT
I think JVG is full of crap. He openly criticizes Yao for being tired? What?- Yao hit the rookie wall LAST season and he hasn't had an offseason. Look at the starting lineup and tell me who has played in as many games as Yao. Has Yao ever sat out with a bogus injury (Cat's injury sounds questionable)? Look at Shaq- you know he takes extra time off by waiting to treat his injuries but I bet JVG would be quick to point out how great a player he is. And how is Yao a whiner? Just a few days ago, JVG was saying that Yao doesn't get the calls because he doesn't complain enough.
I have to say I agree somewhat. I like Van Gundy, glad he's the coach (even if he isn't as good as Rudy T.), but he seems to be in a constant Jerry Sloan impersonation. He does a lot of tough talk. Maybe he is tough, but its a little annoying to hear him tell me how tough he is all the time. I'm not concerned that it might be some kind of strategic misstep -- just a little annoyed. I think I am -- like many others -- very used to the Rudy T way off keeping things in the family. That's much classier imo, and is one reason (of many) that Rudy is just a more likable guy. Also, he's wrong about Shaq. I remember him complaining about fatigue.
What you are talking about? JVG doesn't give Yao love? He said all GREAT players play through tires, or whatever difficulties they faced. JVG give huge props to Yao. Yao has to play through pressure and grow through pressure. JVG is helping him. Yao's lucky to have a coach like JVG, who knows his stuff.
How many employees ever gave "110%" to anyone? Zero, because it's impossible. That phrase drives me crazier than the chronic misuse of "literally." AGBee has it right. Accepting Yao's year round schedule as an excuse for him to slump in crunch time is accepting Yao will never be a franchise player. China needs to release him from his obligations immediately or accept the fact that they are seriously holding him back from being the player he can be. He can either dominate in the NBA (in other worlds, the world) or he can keep burning the candle at both ends. He can't do both. I'm a fan and Yao's my favorite Rocket, but I'm sick to death of hearing he's tired too when there's a remedy. If Yao chooses to continue wearing himself out, I don't want to hear about it. I don't always agree with VG calling players out publicly, but I'm with him all the way here. Karl Malone's about to play us on a badly sprained ankle. Think he's gonna talk about that? No, he's gonna say it's the playoffs and you do what you've gotta do -- no excuses. I think the next interview I see with Yao where he doesn't mention how tired he is will be the first. It's time to cut that stuff out.
I said long time ago you can't build your team around someone who has a dual duty, playing for the team and playing for the NT. Put Shaq in the same situation, he won't be able to play 50 games a year in the NBA. It's not an excuse. It is that human body can't handle stuffs like this. Remember at the end of last season, Rox team doctor basically told Yao to stop playing, otherwise his career will be over soon.
If you spend any time in chat, two of the most common comments are "JVG's pissed" and "Yao's tired." Closely following those two are "why isn't Yao in" and "Yao needs rest." I can't even believe how many people were suggesting we bench Yao til the playoffs. He knew when he signed his first contract with us he would need to play 82 games and hopefully more. If he needs rest, he needs to get it in the summer. Or he needs to accept that he will have an exhausting and short NBA career. He is obviously serious about succeeding in the NBA and I don't think there's a harder worker in basketball, but he needs to face facts. And if the Chinese National team cares about Yao and his future, they do too.
it is one thing not to admit one is tired, and it is another thing not to admit one can be tired. what JVG is tired of is talking about it all the time, but he knows fatigue does affect one's performance, otherwise he wouldn't have rested Cat, Cato recently and played JJ fewer minutes last night. Don't interpret JVG's comment as "tired or not, I expect same excelence". He would be crazy to think that.
Cato did not sit for purpose of rest. That's a matter of record. Cat is injured, not tired. In fact, I don't think Cat ever gets tired. He gets a little dumb sometimes, but never tired. I think VG is sick of hearing about it because it is an excuse. If Yao is tired, he should get some rest. It's not like these guys are working 60 hours a week. They work, at most, a few hours a day. And they have the whole summer off to recuperate. If they choose to spend the summer in other ways, they shouldn't complain about it later. I defy anyone to find me one other player in NBA history who's said they were tired more than Yao has in his two years. There might be one, but I don't think so. And this is the guy we're building around. It is not okay to build around a guy who is chronically tired and, according to his forseeable plans, will be chronically tired for his entire career.
to those who want Yao to rest completely this off season: that is not going happen. If there is one occasion that an athlet has to paly for his NT, it is the olympic game. Out side of US, athlets don't pass that oppertunity, period. we can only hope Yao doesn't go through the long meaningless drills chinese NT like to have.
Yao Ming needs to rest in the offseason ... until that happens we are going to have to go into the playoffs with a tired Yao Ming....which SUCKS!
