I liked Van Gundy and I think he instilled a toughness and a work ethic in our team that is still there. He and his coaching staff also deserve a lot of credit for Yao's development. Adelman, however, has proven to me that he is a superior coach. The countless adjustments he has made before games and during games have really been genius. He experimented early and he showed alot of guts playing our rookies over the vets that had egos and big contracts. I'll admit that he has more pieces than Van Gundy did, but I don't see JVG playing Landry and Brooks Over guys like Hayes and Mike James. He was just too obsessed with defense and experienced vets. With all that being said, I think the most impressive thing about Adelman has been his ability to adapt to our personel. He has sacrificed alot of his offensive philosophy for the better of the team. He understood that this is Yao's team and that we're at our best when Yao is on the block surrounded by shooters. He basically said last night in an interview that even if we still had Bonzi, we would probably play Head over him. TO me that is a clear sign that he accepts that we're better equipped running the inside outside game as opposed to his preferred cutting and slashing style. He has not totally abandoned his style andI still see a few wrinkles that he has put in, but I think he has really done a great job of understanding what our players are best equipped to do....That is great coaching, and if we can remain hot until the end of the year, I think he should get some consideration for COY. Byron Scott is having an awesome year with the Hornets and he deserves the award if he wins...I just think Adelman has done an excellent job and its very possible that he can win the award.
He's not even close in the runnings. Even with the recent winning streak. We aren't suppose to be in this position. We should be playing for home court advantage and not a playoff birth. The team isn't doing anything special except win games that we are suppose to win. Maybe next year he gets considerations but not this year.
If we win tonight we are only 3 games out of first place in the west..We ARE in the running for home court.
COY award for Adelman is in the hands of Rockets. WHAT IF Rockets gets the best record in the west? We haven't been put into many big tests yet in 2008. In Jan we lost to NO and Utah, but we won SA and GS. So I am couting the Rockets out for winning the the conference. We shall find out, starting tonight!
If I'm not mistaken, we didn't have Tmac for the Hornets game and we still almost won... We also didn't have Yao for the Utah game and we were in that one until late.
I don't know about coach of the year, but anybody assuming that this team would be championship contenders in year one of a new coaching regime when they haven't even gotten out of the first round in over a decade is setting pretty lofty expectations. Considering the players having to adjust to a new system and sitting a couple of games under .500 and struggling to now 14 games over and fighting for the division, I think he deserves to be in the conversation. Then again, I'd imagine every single team in the WC deserves mention. Right now, my money would be on NO though.
I was actually remembering this last night, when the ROX were in NOVAC's hometown last year and he bought tickets for his friends and family and we were pretty much winning by a large margin, and frickin JVG would not put NOVAC in the game not even for one minute to have the young rookie celebrate his success to play for an NBA team with his close ones. Crap like that will make any younger player sour with his coach and organization.
Novak is from Milwaukee. We won the game 97-93 (Rockets Bucks Box score) and it was decided in the final minutes. I guess its fun to make stories up to bash JVG. Also, this year when we played Milwaukee, novak did not even get to dress because Mike James was on the active list twice. I guess that was JVG's fault too.
I was worried earlier in the season, but I guess that's to be expected with a new coach trying to adjust to his players. I think he's found a very good balance right now with his rotation, and things are obviously going very smoothly. Adelman is proven to be a very good coach, and I hope he does get some COY consideration like JVG last year.
he is an awesomne coach and better then JVG. But JVG deserves props because without our defense the way it has been playing this year, we would not be where we're at. After we win the championship this year, I think the Rockets should send JVG a ring. He instilled his hard nose defensive attitude on the team, and Adelman's offensive strategy put us over the top. It's like an nba team with an offensive and defensive coordinator
When I first read the title to this thread I laughed but after looking at our record and seeing how close we are to getting homecourt I think Rick has a very remote shot. The fact remains that this team is loaded with talent so winning 55+ games should be expected and is not something to brag about IMO. I think what JVG did last season is far more impressive than anything Adelman has done so far.
Mike Fratello said yesterday that Adelman gave a lot of credit to our performance this season to work JVG put into previous seasons. I think that's under-appreciated. Looking at our personnel, we should not be as good a defensive team as we are.
Yao even said in a radio interview someone posted over the all-star break that he credited JVG for the team being ranked so high on defense this year.
Byron Scott will likely get it. The Rockets would have to end up with 55+ wins to have any shot at COY.
