I am not sure how long JVG will be here. But I will say this. More than ever he is "on the clock." With a superstar in Tracy McGrady and a star (with potential to be a superstar) in Yao Ming, there aren't any excuses now. If JVG cant get this team to work with those 2 players and some good role players, then we have to find a coach that can. This season there will be pressure on JVG, McGrady and Yao to perform up to the high standards we have set for them.
I think we'll be able to judge better after this year. If the defense is the same, but the offense is stagnant and turnovers are still high and we don't fast break, we need to dump him for Phil Jackson. However, if the defense is similar and the offense is improved, I'd give him 5 years. You have to worry about his longevity with the team if everybody in the organization hates him. This is Texas, not New York. Unless you are winning championships, you gotta be nice to people.
I learned to appreciate the hustle on the defensive end and the opposition allowing the shot clock to expire without getting a shot off (or a poor look) and allowing the opposition one shot and then seeing Cato or Yao snatch the defensive rebound to set up our plodding half court offense, and I loved JJ's clutch shooting in the half court O. I already miss Cato's presense in the paint.... I miss the national media raving about our D and the records that were set for fewest point allowed by many of our opponents. As long as we won, the struggling offense I think was still bearable. Francis' game was a total enigma to me last season and was the most frustrating thing to watch IMO (his J eluding him, foolish TO's and seemingly playing out of control when trying to penetrate)
In my opinion, his work here is done. I think he was brought in to see whether SF could be trained to play within a system. That question having been answered in the negative, and SF having been traded, I would not be surprised to see him go sooner rather than later.