Van Gundy says Rockets losing Yao kills title hope

I like how everyone's doubting us...it just makes it that much sweeter when we prove them wrong!

 

I don't think teams just make the jump to elite status instantaneously. They have to work to get there, and they have to lay the groundwork. I really think that no matter what happens in the playoffs the good work that the Rockets are doing now can really pay off next year in terms of attitude, good habits, etc.

Look at this win streak. What's really impressive to me is that the Rockets come out and play hard every single game. When was the last time you saw a team that didn't take a game off every week or two? That hasn't happened with these guys. Now they know what they have to do to get it done. Just as important, they know they can do it. Next year the Rockets could be scary.

Or this year in the WCF if Yao comes back early

 

Although the team must give it's best effort and try to do as well as possible in the Playoffs, one can only hope that it will be an exercise in experience!
Possibly with the right seeding they could go as far as the Conference Finals.
We should be able to win it all next season!
Next season, the team will need to play two styles of the game, one when Yao is on the court and and an up tempo style when he is on the bench.

 

agree completely. and man, if yao comes back early... wouldn't that be something!

 

I'm only concerned about Kobe for Lakers and Gino for Spurs. I like the fact that Shane can play great defense and Bobby jackson who is tough. So in the playoffs, I feel we can limit Duncan and Gasol's scoring by throwing, Scola, Mandry, and Chuck at them to wear them down.

The most important thing is that our new offense requires the star players on other teams to play defense for the entire game. I would like to see what Justin Williams can bring in the middle. Deke is too slow to get to long rebounds and Chuck is too short.

 

JVG likes Scola now, after Scola has proven he is a player. What I said was Scola, Landry, and Brooks would have never made it to the team to prove themselves. If JVG is here we ain't drafting Brooks in the first when we've already made the trade for MJ, we're looking for a PF. So, we're probably trading the first plus somebody else for Kurt Thomas. That's a Van Gundy type team because any GM understands their coach. They're gonna consider who their coach is and get players that fit the coach's mold.

JVG would have fell in love with Scola after Scola came in Houston and laid 20 points on us while playing for somebody else. JVG DOES NOT LIKE UNPROVEN PLAYERS. He's ultraconservative preferring the sure bet for the unknown. JVG DOES NOT LIKE ROOKIE PLAYERS. How many times have you heard him say, "Rookies get good coaches fired"?

My point is, and will remain, if we retain JVG as coach, we are going a whole different direction than drafting and trading for ROOKIES.

 

WOW you nailed it.

JVG is very short sighted and never looks ahead.

 

JVG is the devil and eats babies.

as a longtime van gundy watcher (from his assistant days with the knicks) you have to understand what forms JVG as a coach is what formed him as a player.

this is a dude who transfered from an Ivy League school to junior college because he wanted to play ball. nothing's come easy to him and the ONLY thing that made it possible for him to play ball at any level was pure hard work, discipline, hustle and heart.

that's why JVG has a hard time relating to guys like tmac who has all the talent in the world but will jack up a heat check from the parking lot or use his JUMPERS to get his driving to the lane started. the kind of logic that sublime talent engenders is something that's anathema to whatever allowed JVG to play basketball in the first place

so yeah, JVG relies more on "sure things" like lock down defense than the uncertainty of allowing players to create offense within the flow of the game etc. he likes proven vets over rooks. but JVG is still a great coach and he did a fine job in houston. Even with his prejudices JVG probably would have Landry in the rotation... from all reports it's his performance in practice that convinced RA to play landry and landry is the archetype of a JVG kind of player... hustles, gets the most out of his abilities, plays smart, and is TOUGH.

it's possible that JVG wouldn't have wanted to trade for landry. but I doubt Landry was on the top of RA's list either. everyone thought SF and MJ were the solution... scola was a possibility... and landry was just 2nd longshot

 

With JVG MJ would be going one on one all night long and Bonzi outta this team, we wouldn't have the chemistry and team work we have now, nor BJax. We wouldn't have Novak hitting that shot that kept our steak alive because JVG doesn't like him. We would be dumping the ball to T-Mac who would get worn out and others would stand there scratching their butts. Rafer wouldn't play outta his mind because he never played outta his mind like this under JVG. Last, the rookies would be buried deep on the bench or traded for veterans. Simply hustle and toughness won't win JVG over because he hates mistakes more than anything else, and he likes defense more than anything else. An initially foul prone and mistake prone players like Scola and Landry would find them getting spotty minutes in garbage time, while Chuck and another veteran pf traded with Aaron Brooks(because MJ would eat his minutes) will get most of the minutes. In other words, like posters already mentioned, there will not be this roster with JVG. Also, there will not be a 17 winning streak even if JVG was given the same team because JVG is not a rookies coach and only knows teamwork on defense.

 

Great, I hope this gives the team even more hunger and motivation.. I dont think these words will actually affect the team.. only affects the fans

 

In the playoffs you need a center that can score in the paint. Besides MJ's Bulls almost every championship team in the last 2 decades have been anchored by a great big man.

Hakeem
Duncan
Shaq
the 2 Wallaces....

 

Yao is the only one on this team who can provide top notch post scoring/shot altering/low post defense/ft shooting at the same time, his impact in the playoffs is vastly underrated. We wouldn't have a chance winning it all. I hope I'm wrong.

 

the traditional ole man grumpy ...

 

For that matter, so is Scola. If a young player plays hard in practice and shows he's effective, JVG will get him in the game. Scola hits all three things you look for: he plays smart, plays hard, and he's productive. If there's one thing JVG is, it's pragmatic -- there's no way Scola doesn't become a significant rotation player under him.

And this notion that Spanoulis didn't get his chance to play because he's foreign or because he's a rookie just completely misses the boat. Spanoulis was a whiner, by all accounts he did not perform well in practice, and he didn't perform at an even respectable level in the minutes he got on the court. And yet, somehow JVG is expected to keep him in the rotation when we're fighting for home court advantage in tightly contested conference? Please.