SI: Who's the NAB's Best/Worst Coach -- Voted By The Players

I don't like JVG very much, but I don't think these sort of polls mean anything. Remember, these are the same players that voted Yao as 2nd most over-rated player in the NBA.

 

NBA Players know no more than we do, and they probably picked the best and worst coach accordingly to the team's record and assumed they were the worst. (except the already respected coaches AKA Phil Jackson)

And I don't think JVG makes any friends during the playoffs, he's made it his whole career as coach and players must hate playing against his tough, rugged defensive teams.

Oh yeah, there's the three we traded away... Mobley/Cato/Francis. Doubt Jim Jackson likes JVG too. I believe the personnel moves have something to do with this.

 

Two of the top coaches don't have good records.

 

That's why I said "the already respected coaches"...

Read >>> Assumptions

 

Of course the bigger question is why did you just now get your February 22 issue of Sports Illustrated?

 

Yao did (and still does) get a lot of media attention, but most of that attention were negative. The vast majority of the analysts at draft time slammed him as a bust waiting to happen. I wouldn't say that calling Yao the next Shawn Bradley is way over-rating him.

 

What pre-draft hype was there? Everyone seems to base their perception of Yao on his pre-draft hype when there was none. Give a few examples if you can of people hyping him up before the actual draft. At the time, it was a pretty controversial pick in the media and among fans. Half of those in the media didn't know much about Yao and the other half said he'd be a flat-out bust. We all remember Dick Vitale's assessment of the situation.

His Chicago workout left many executives wondering about his value because he didn't dominate some stiff in the workouts.

I'm tired of this myth about pre-draft hype. All the hype came when Yao showed that he could play in his rookie year. When he made Barkley kiss an ass, and he did decent against Shaq. The hype definately went out of control during that time. If people want to knock Yao about his hype, they should at least get their timeline straight.

 

He was hyped?! Well, by maybe a handful of people at most, which included Walton, RudyT, Caroll Dawson. After 2 years in the league, most analysts were saying that he would never be more than a above-average version of Rik Smits. Analysts have been saying he was overhyped since the draft, but overhyped by who, since they expected Rik Smits?

 

ole man grumpy sure as hell aint my favorite coach, but he isn't the primary reason for our dissapointment this season.

the Rockets can win with ole grumpy. its a handicap and challenge but they should be able to overcome JVG's lack of imagination/creativity.

 

Van Gundy is average. If we had Popovich on our team, we would still get that championship style defense, but he would adjust the offense to our players, like he did for Tony Parker and Ginobili and the Spurs. I like the way they can mix it up between fast break and half court offense. I wish Yao was utilized more like Duncan.

 

That's the difference between Van Gundy, who is a coach, and Popovich, who is a great coach.

Van Gundy's system of play works...if you can get all the right pieces.

Van Gundy should utilize his players' ability and not have them play ball the way he wants if they don't function their best at it. Either switch up the game plan, or get new players...

 

Geez isn't it easily verifiable whether such poll is on one of the recent issue of SI?
What's your beef about the date?

 

I think a large part of the "hype" associated with Yao is the fact that he is coming from China. It is more a human interest type of hype than a hype about his skills.

 

For every "expert" who over-hyped Yao there was 3, and maybe more like 4 or 5, who declared him a bust before he even played a game. Especially the local columnists. Yao got savaged by local guys all over the country when he came in.

The only place Yao gets legitimately overhyped is in All-Star voting. And that's more a function of having so little competition at the center position than anything else.

 

So JVG was voted the third worst coach in the NBA by the players? Interesting. Apparently a majority of players in the league have the same opinion of JVG as many posters on this board.

 

Or get a new coach. I still want JVG out of here.

I think the players know who the good head coaches are, because there are only 30 of them in the NBA. It's a lot harder to follow the progress of hundreds of players.