Which would you rather have? Yes, we are exciting now, and everyone loves to watch us, but blowing double digit leads, are becoming a thing of habit.
Would a JVG team have come back from 14 down in the 4th quarter against the Thunder? Take the good with the bad.
Simple. Draft offense, Teach defense. We have the offense but we dont have defense. You cant coach players to create offense and score. However, you can teach discipline and defense as long as the player plays hard every possesion.
Sorry...but i like this offense...we just need better situational defense and coaching...thats about it...JVG offense was like watching defense the entire game...
Ugly offense/great defense Good offense/ugly defense Hmm... Why can't there be balance? Just watching the Bulls & Thibodeau, some nights it's just ugly on offense. That said, I still take Van Gundy/Thibodeau ball over D'Antoni ball. (Hell yeah, we worked on defense for 30 minutes!" - ha)
The Rockets are trying to play a loose, instinctive, free-wheeling style on offensive end. The challenge is getting players to go from that on one end to disciplined and focused on the other. Because we want to run, our perimeter guys gamble a lot. They leak out instead of securing long rebounds. They tend to look forward to striking back on offense instead of just getting the stop. Harden is the worst offender, but Parsons and Lin also are gamblers.
I think there was a recent ESPN article that showed, how often Lin , Harden and Parsons gamble, and if anything it exposed us even more to anyone who read it
Rockets wouldnt be having this problem if Mchale just stop playing Delfino at the 4, especially in crucial situations. Playing D-mo or T-rob is a much better rebounding option than Delfino no matter if they have experience or not.
Putting a bigger guy on perimeter player on a crucial defensive possession is risky. You're putting him in an uncomfortable position where he could lose his man off the ball or be slow on a rotation, and a big guy isn't necessarily going to be better at getting to a long rebound or chasing down a missed shot from 20 feet out. And did we have a timeout there? We probably did, but if not that's another thing to factor in.
I voted for Van Gundy, but that is because I am biased to gritty plodding defensive styles in every sport. I desperately miss the physical hand checking kill any little guy that comes into the paint era of the NBA. I'm a Rockets fan first and foremost, but the Bulls are probably my 2nd favorite team because of their attention to defense. All that said, the Rockets current style of play is a lot of fun to watch as well. I even used to love watching D'Antoni's Suns, just because it was so unusual to see the lineups and tempo he played with. Personally I like smart and interesting basketball. The defensive mania of JVG was my favorite thing, but one thing this Rockets squad definitely is is smart and interesting basketball -- and I absolutely think they can compete in the playoffs playing this style.
Given our current roster, I say our current offense. Without Thibidauex, JVG's Defense is probably going to take a hit as well.
I think if Gundy had this personel he would have a pretty free wheeling offense as well. Remember he coached to what the people he had was, not some sort of style. People never thought of Pat Riley has being able to coach defense coming from the fast-break Lakers. But he did it big time. JVG has not had a young team with speed before. It's no wonder he choice a half-court strong defense game plan.
Adelman's offense and defense combined. If we could take a healthy and prime Lakers to seven games in the playoffs with only Aaron Brooks, Kyle Lowry, Ron Artest, Chuck Hayes, Chase Budinger, etc.... who knows what he could've done with this team?
JVG was great with his defensive philosophy. But if he had this team, his offense would consist of giving the ball to Harden and let him create. That's what he basically did with McGrady.
Did JVG Defense ever passed the 1st round? No... That's all I need to know Plus we are the youngest team of course they will "suck" of defense give them time to develop and I believe there D will improve with time.
