The Kings had their best season ever in '01-'02, winning 61 games. This was the best record in the NBA. In that season, Chris Webber, their best player, missed 28 games. Of course Adelman was their coach. Yao Ming will miss 29 games this year. I can't remember the year but Sacramento also turned in a great playoff performance one year without Peja. As Battier said after the Memphis game, the Rockets can do great things without Yao because they have two things, a system, and a belief. I thought it sounded pretty cliche but I was always impressed with the way Adelman's Sacramento teams performed without their key players. Hopefully that will carry over to this team.
They had also traded their flashy style-over-substance PG for a more reliable one prior to the season.
the adelman system is the reason we can handle tmac and yaos injuries this year and still keep winning in full stride. JVG didnt really have a system and thats why when people would get injured it would be impossible to win, unless it required the heroics of an individual for us to win. But losing Yao is obviously going to hurt since he was arguably our best player. But if Scola can emerge as a solid low-post threat then we can sustain Yaos injury as well. Nice analogy btw. 5 Stars.
I think the problem with JVG was, his style really needed someone to step up large. For example last year I remember Juwan and Deke filling in for him solidly in both points and rebounds. But over this win streak we've seen Tracy Mcgrady not really score but distribute the ball and make the offence flow. As a result the whole team is scoring. The box score regularly has most of the lineup averaging over 10 pts. When earlier in the season we only had maybe two to three people having double digit games. This was also true for JVG's teams as well. Either someone (rafer) took an insane amount of shots to reach double digits to compliment Yao and T-mac or noone else scored that much. Adelman has brought in alot of balance. So the others will be able to put up with the scoring slack that Yao has left.
The problem with Jeff's system was that it simply couldn't work in a team with Yao and Tracy. Those two players are not guys you can "ride" on the backs of for a whole season. Yao always had conditioning problems because of how we made him play defense and post up every single play, which is the real reason he played fewer minutes under JVG than Adelman. With Adelman, Yao played more but they were less intense minutes, which is why I don't buy the fact that he was over-worked this year. With Adelman now, we don't need McGrady and Yao to do everything for us. We find the weak spot in the other team's defense and exploit it, regardless of who ends up scoring.
no matter how much i wanted jvg to be fired by the rockets, i have to admit he is a solid nba coach + analyst. just today, seconds before a mavs shot a free throw with less than 20 seconds left, jvg stated that kobe had a great matchup under the basket and is one of the best free throw miss rebounders in the game. i silently mocked him... but, BAM! free throw missed, and kobe with the outstanding rebound. he sees things normal people who watch the game dont. however, i still believe rick adelman has done wonders to the rockets this year. RA for COY!
LOLZ I KNOW!!! I MEAN WE TOTALLY SUKKD LAST YAER WITHUOT YAO CUZ WE HAD NO SYSTEM OR BELEIFS!!1 LANDY AND SCOLA LOOKED CLOOLES OUT THERE LAST YR UNDER JVG
Sound logic? Where? You're agreeing with an argument that basically states that Yao was forced to play too many "intense" minutes under JVG? (Whatever the hell that means) And that you take issue with a coach like JVG asking his franchise center to post up and play defense every play? This isn't some pro-JVG response either. I don't think Adelman has overworked him or any of that nonsense. Freak injuries happen regardless of whether your coach is Phil Jackson or Isiah Thomas.
i don't disagree with you, but drinking already? it's sunday and there's still 30 mins til the game starts.
Man, great point. I was thrilled when we got Adelman and really didn't expect Less to nab such a good coach to replace Van Gundy. The Rocks lucked into the perfect coach for the players we have (left) and situation we find ourselves in, IMO. Tonight will be a good test. I want to cheer the win over the Grizzlies, but they played so badly that Scola's old team in Spain would have taken them to the woodshed. The Nugz are a different animal.
If we win this game....I will lose my mind..... 15 in row, a league best with less than 23 games to go.
i said the same thing, but not because i had some historical info about kobe offensive rebounding missed free throws. about a couple minutes prior (in game time), kobe put a move on bass on the left side of the free throw lane and was free for an offensive rebound, but the free throw went in.
Was that sarcasm? I really couldn't tell ... dude's become one of the most bitter posters I've ever seen recently. Could be old age for all I know. Sure looked like time's passed him by with that most recent attempt.
Misses him? He just needs to roll over in the morning and kiss his bald head. Just kidding Cabbage, we know you love JVG..... An honest question, what did JVG do that got you so enamored with him? Why are so many people dedicated to him as Head coach? I thought he was OK, great in interviews, but lacking as a tactician, so I don't get it. DD
I think you might have missed the two losses in April. He made a very flawed team into a contender. He made a team that it would be generous to say had one PG and one PF into a contender. He is the only coach to ever take a #8 seed to the finals. For that matter, he is the only coach to take a #8 seed to the conference finals. How many wins do you think trading V-SPAN for Scola would be worth? Five? More? That he was an excellent coach is enough reason to discuss him. That he got a raw deal from the management just makes it all the more reasonable.
