McGrady was that good. Remember when Adelman took over and everyone thought the scoring and offense would change - and it was basically the same thing? You create an offense around the talent you have, not always to some system you believe in. Thats' why college coaches struggle in the NBA.
Question, did JVG actually have a great defensive system or was it Thibideou or did Thibideou that wat he got from JVG?
Actually, after Adelman took over, that was the first time when we could win without McGrady. Remember during the JVG era we were like 2-15 when McGrady was down? Our offense looked like crap even with Yao in there because we couldn't generate any offense. Adelman was able to do that. That's the difference between a coach who knows how to coach offense and a coach who just give the ball to his best player.
They should really look to get JVG this offseason. No disrespect to McHale, but JVG would have this team on point.
More like an upgrade in personel. JVG had scrubs, Adelman had guys like Scola, Landry, Brooks, and others. JVG basically had Rafer. Everyone else was over the hill or had no offensive game. No wonder we had a defensive style.
This /\ The entertainment is in the action. Shot clock violations, foul shots and iso offense make me flip the channel. Run baby run!
Remember that game against the Suns under Van Gundy where it was literally a blow out loss after the second minute?
JVG is even worse in 4th quarter and clutch. under pressure, jvg has 0 offense... even passing inbounds were problems back then... i hated that era...
except that the offense would be slow and prodding with absolutely no rythem at all. Scores would be 90 to 89 or worse. The offense would be ranked in the bottom third instead of the top 3. We would go on extended 6 minute runs at the end of games not scoring a single point... regularly.
different personel. That wasn't the result of the offensive system, that was the result of only having two guys on the team that could score.
This team needs to figure out how to do both long term. The Denver Nuggets and the Spurs are two teams that seem to find a good balance between both ends of the court. In a year or two when they have a team that is a bit more established and well rounded, I think you will see more of a trade-off on the defensive end. Right now, playing with a frantic pace is the only shot they have to be competitive. In the future, their young players will learn alot more about NBA defensive schemes, get stronger, and play more like those aforementioned teams.
JVG would definitely make this team better. He wouldn't come with Tibbs this time around though, who I imagine is better at developing players defensively. This means instead of bringing along Motiejunas we'd probably sign someone like McDyess or Ryan Bowen to start at PF - and I'm only partially joking when I say that. JVG's defense coupled with Harden's playmaking and scoring ability + Asik's interior defense alone is enough to get to the playoffs. Parsons might become a dark-horse NBA defensive 2nd team candidate someday and improve as a player immediately. Lin would flat out suck. Imagine Francis under JVG but way worse. It'd be a train wreck and Morey would be forced to deal Lin at a deflated value by next years deadline. Don't forget - JVG coached a Knicks team devoid of a scorer in the post to the NBA finals after the lockout year. We'd be using that approach, not the Yao approach, so things would be different this go-around. Although you could still expect JVG's signature, periodic scoring droughts.
That is JVG's style. Even when he was in NY. Part of his defensive is to control the pace of the game with a slow offense that values protecting the ball over scoring points. Plus he is a micro manager. No way at all this team would have the offense it does now even with the exact same personel. JVG would try to keep it close with defense and let his one and only prime time scorer (James Harden) close out the game. That is just his style. At least before he had two prime time scorers in TMac and Yao. This team would be lucky to have 20 wins at this point with JVG coaching.
