Yep, guys like Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady make absolutely no difference in the 2/3's of the games that they played with Chuck in the JVG era. I miss the days when there was a near 75% chance at least one superstar would be playing for the Rocks with another 40% chance that you got two.
They would have a similar record with the same players and be worse offensively. If their defense improved due to different (i.e. better defensive) players, they would have a shot at a better record. You can't take poor defensive players and make them into a good defensive team without giving up offense. Coaches aren't miracle workers.
Who Pat Riley brought to the Heat after the Rockets let him go. Luther Head's issue was his epic playoff fail and it mentally brought him down. No bench player has worn out a welcome in the city as much as Luther Head. Once he got a change of scenery he went back to playing at semi-serviceable 10-12th man option on mediocre teams. I don't think JVG ruined him, I think he ruined himself.
I dunno... Juwon Howard, Jon Barry, Scott Padgett, and even T-mac played better defense under JVG than they ever did anywhere else. Everybody in the NBA is capable of playing good defense... all it takes is attention to detail and effort. Hell, some would say its easier to be a good defensive player (which simply takes hustle, and effort) over a good offensive player (which takes skill and athleticsm). And JVG's teams were primarily good defensive teams because of TEAM defense, not because of individual defensive skill.
I would agree with all of this. However, I would say players have a finite amount of energy to expend. If you use up more on defense, that leaves less for offense, and vice versa. Moreover, the adjustment in scheme required to turn bad defensive players into a good defensive team will hurt your offense. For example, a JVG team will forego an offensive rebound in order to run back on defense. I would say an Adelman team will play to its full potential on both ends, while a JVG team will underachieve on offense and overachieve on defense. The end result is probably around the same. The only difference is in the over/under.
I think the end result would be more wins for the defensive team. How often do you see an elite defensive team with a losing record? Not very often. How often do you seen an elite offensive team with a losing record? There are several every year.
Why would better defense and worse offense lead to more wins? That makes no sense. If better defensive teams have better records (which I'm not sure is true), I would say there are other factors involved. If you give up less points but also score less, it gets canceled out.
What a load of crap. You can't name a single player that JVG benched that went on to be any good, and yet this is not proof that he plays the young players if they are good, but instead somehow it is proof that based on whatever arbitrary reason he has for playing some young players but not others the ones he doesn't play would have been good but for his stifling of their talents. That isn't a paradox, it is you tying yourself in logical knots to try to hold on to the notion that JVG refuses to play young players.
<span style='text-align:left;display:block;'><p><object type='application/x-shockwave-flash' data='http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/plugins/audio-player/player.swf?m=1236370442g' width='290' height='24' id='audioplayer1'><param name='movie' value='http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/plugins/audio-player/player.swf?m=1236370442g' /><param name='FlashVars' value='&bg=0xf8f8f8&leftbg=0xeeeeee&lefticon=0x666666&rightbg=0xcccccc&rightbghover=0x999999&righticon=0x772124&righticonhover=0xffffff&text=0x666666&slider=0x666666&track=0xFFFFFF&border=0x666666&loader=0x772124&soundFile=http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d1/d0/dA/dK/dR/10AKR_3.MP3' /><param name='quality' value='high' /><param name='menu' value='false' /><param name='bgcolor' value='#FFFFFF' /><param name='wmode' value='opaque' /></object></p></span> http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d1/d0/dA/dK/dR/10AKR_3.MP3 http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/16/jeff-van-gundy-talks-about-dwight-howardstan-van-gundy-rift/ 29 minutes long. Haven't listened to all of it yet, but JVG is usually as good a interview as there is out there. About JVG's fund-raiser: Draft Party on April 26th, from 6:00 pm to whenever the first round is over at the 51 Fifteen Restaurant and Lounge inside Saks 5th Avenue in the galleria. A few Texans will be there. $150/ticket or a VIP table for five for $1500 (http://www.provision-inc.org, 713-748-0030 Kyra Thomas).
He says he admires what Morey is trying to do. But the problem is we are trying to piece meal a team and he doesn't know without tanking what we do to improve. Agreed
What is "piece meal"? I agree that we are just stuck in that middle area but it is hard for me to root for the Rockets to lose either...
JVG says we're not on the right track and might be a pro-tanker??? What does he know about basketball???
A team of parts that don't match. We are a scrapy team of scraps. That might win some games and a few fans but it will not win a trophy.
I can't root for them to lose either...but when they do, it's pretty easy for me to see the silver lining.
-Interesting to go back to MSG in that, seeing the familiar faces is good. This NYK team, with how hard they're playing right now, reminds me of the teams we had in the 90s and early 00s. When the Heat came in and I remembered all the Miami and NY tussles, my Heat hatred went back through the roof. When I normally do/watch their games, I really [slobber all over them] like their team. I saw those jerseys yesterday and thought I was going to lose my mind. -NYK are the team no one wants to play in the opening series round. Carmelo is so dominant right now. They're dangerous. -The Rockets road trip was special. I think what happens is when a pretty good team achieves an incredible amount in a short time like they did on that road trip, it becomes expected of them and they're not able to do that every night. To lose to Phoenix, thats a 50-50 game to me. Losing to Utah, thats a big, strong, talented team. None of those to me are where you say are a bad loss. McHale has done a good job. Their team has done a good job. You take out a starting backcourt, most teams fall apart. What Houston did was get stronger. Ive been impressed with Dragic, Lee, and Parsons. Those guys have really played. I think they'll make the playoffs and I think, who they get in the first round, they're capable. -Tough call on Dragic, Lowry. Daryl has a tough call to keep him and pay him or lose him. Lowry and Dragic have shown they can both be capable starters but sharing minutes is difficult. They'll have to make a choice. I hope they can get value for the one they dont choose and get a good backup in as well. -The problem with the Rockets is, not the problem, I actually admire it so much, they continue to put out a good product while searching for that star, which is much more difficult than the teams that up and quit and tank and hope for Anthony Davis. -(On if they've been trying that since you were here): We had a better shot because we had Yao. He broke down as did McGrady. At least we had those guys to build around. For Houston right now, the problem is, down the stretch, where does the ball go? Its just, they're always having to piece meal the process. I dont know, other than all out tanking, what their other options are. -[...Talking about pro-vision fundraiser/charity...] -Down the stretch of games, you notice OKC puts Durant at the 4 and its hard to guard. I dont worry about them scoring at all down the stretch. Worry is, when they downsize, can they defend and rebound? Fisher hasn't shot the ball well. I would make him make the shots. Ive been impressed with Westbrook. People talk about his decision making but he is there every game and plays hard every game and is putting up incredible numbers. -SVG/Howard understand each other perfectly from my point. But I dont talk to him about it. From my personal view, when...he definitely did what he did and is now trying to run a PR scam on the media to say he really didnt. Stop the nonsense. You did it. THe cover up is always worse than the act. Its unfortunate. Its really divided the team. Not pro-Stan or Pro-Howard but the constant drama. His trade demands, his fire demands, and now his back injury, it sucked the life out of their team. They dont have a lot of talent to begin with. They've always relied on Howard's greatness, 3 pt shooting and great team chemistry. Howard hasnt played nearly as well because I dont believe he has been all the way in and all the way committed. Because of that, 3pt shooting hasnt been as good. Team spirit has taken a big hit. -When you have an organization at the highest level with the Magic enabling his behaviors and being held hostage to it, I think its never going to reflect well on the player ultimately and always will reflect poorly on the organization in the long term. Orlando has a history of allowing subversion of coaches. When you have that, those accomplices, what happens is, the team takes a back seat and winning takes a back seat. When thats a secondary goal, thats hard. To your point, its not like every AAU guy behaves like this. Howard has had many advantages. Raised in a great family. For whatever reason, and I dont say this is an AAU issue, I think its an entourage issue and enabling issue from his organization, unfortunately these things rarely work out for coaches. I hope that if Stan wants to stay, he can stay. -OKC will continue to play well. SA to me, has had a remarkable season. I thought Parker has never played better during Ginobili's absence. To me at one point, he could've been easily discussed in that MVP category. The Lakers have a puncher's chance of winning it. When you have Bryant and that size, you have a good opportunity to control the paint. If you can control the paint in a 7 game series, you have a legitimate chance. They need and they have been getting better play from World Piece. Adding Sessions has given them much needed speed. Barnes and Blake have played better recently. They have a chance, I dont think they'll do it, but certainly have a chance. -(On Blake Griffin): Blake as a person, I love what he stands for. Great character and work ethic. Harder and harder to find professional athletes with that character. His FT shooting has to get better. He and Jordan just not good enough in close games. The refinement of his back to the basket game, the jump hook, ability to use either hand with the jump hook, because he has great strength and quickness and balance, to add that to his back to the basket game, and then continue to develop the jump shot and the passing out of double teams. When he puts it on the floor now, the 2nd defender is coming and his passing is not as precise. -(Thoughts on NBA rule DNP-OLD): The Spurs to me, I love the way they go about their business. The compressed schedule has made it difficult on everyone but I want to go above the Spurs. I think a huge problem in the NBA is developing with the undervaluing of the regular season and devaluation of the regular season. Players say the reg. season doesn't matter and I'll sit out until I'm ready for the playoffs. Teams tank, not the last 10 games like before but seasons. Think about it. What happened to Michael Jordan? This was the most competitive player in my time in the NBA. Dominant. Now he has an abomination of a team. MJ the player would've detested MJ the owner. I dont understand for the life of me why we give teams that arent trying to win the best chance to get the best players. Its not hard to lose. NFL teams arent doing this. They value their regular season. I think we're building up a huge problem in the NBA where the media, teams, the owners are all like, they're not saying it but are doing it and devaluing the regular season. I ask: if no one thinks its valuable, why advertise, why watch, why buy tickets, if the teams themselves, and this is why I give the Rockets a lot of credit - they could've gone this way but they would've been making their fans buy an inferior product. I give them credit. They're trying to give their fans the best possible value for their money and a lot of teams are not. I think its going to absolutely hurt the NBA. (Solution?): Starts with the lottery. Served its purpose at one time but the way its structured now, to try and lose the most so you get the most chances for the #1 pick, is now backfiring. 2nd, somehow there has to be a financial incentive for these teams to win, even down the stretch when they're not making the playoffs. To play their best players and try to win. If you dont incentivise the owners by money, then they have no incentive. There are no easy ones on this but there should be discussions but the people you need to agree with are the owners, who set the tones. I find it...when teams are trying to lose, doesn't it say something about the credibility of the(your) sport? -(On if the NBA product is diminished in a general sense): I think again, because there are so many good stories in the NBA, but at times they get overshadowed by sometimes instead of talking about Bynum's emergence, we're talking about him defying his coach by shooting a three. Unfortunately, there are so many of those stories out there that overshadow...what the Chicago Bulls did without Rose. They're a team of high basketball character. So, there are a lot of good things to watch. I do think retraction of teams in the NBA would serve them well. I dont think because of, every answer is the same. I dont know what the question is about the NBA but the answer is always money. I know thats why they would never reduce the amount of teams. I think it would serve the NBA better right now to continue to build the product up vs watching some of these unwatchable teams.
