The way I read it was "Is Steve enough of a point guard..." being the "old way" of one player at one position. I saw Van Gundy's response as being more of the "new era", we all play, we all play any position, we all do whatever we have to, we are one family with one result - you can't break it down to individual components. A: That's why I don't like to break it down that way: "What does he have to do?" We are going to be above all that to be a team. We are going to play team offense and team defense and gang rebound as a group, and we're going to win and lose as a group. I seriously don't think about it like, "Is he good enough?" We don't have any problem basketball-wise -- and I'll say it again, again and again -- that we can't overcome if we have the right attitude and chemistry. Nothing. Man. I love that answer. I don't see it as side-stepping. I see it as a truly new attitude.
As to the lack of power in power forward (BTW- a concern I also share) I think JVG just won't criticize anybody. He praised the owner, gm and previous coach (no reason to bite the hand that feeds you) but I get the feeling he sees the Rocks as hism family. He would not criticize any of players, no matter what their deficiancies, any more than a proud mother would diss her own children, no matter what their deficiances. I have heard his players are loyal to him, I am starting to see why. Anybody know the history of JVG, the NY press and what was and was not discussed in public?
Pat, So does he or doesn't he think that ISO's, over dribbling and a lack of a real power forward were problems last year? The man sounds like a politician with his answer. Why not a simple hell yes there was too much dribbling out the clock before getting into the damn offense or no that was not the problem at all. Instead he went into some sound bite about team play and never even touched on the power forward issue. And how can he say he doesn't think about if a player is good enough or not? He is just being a politician in this interview. He say's that there is nothing this team can't overcome basketball wise if they have the right attitude and the right chemistry but says Rudy T did a great job and refuses to acknowledge even one deficiency in anyone’s game when the obvious problems from last year were mentioned by Feigan. Jeff Van Gundy side steps better than most Matadors!
BTW, I am not saying that Van Gundy was right or wrong with the way that he answered the questions just that he really did not answer the questions. I thought Feigan asked some damn good questions and they were definitely questions that I would have loved to hear the real answer to but as it turned out we did not get real answers. If JVG turns the Rockets into an upper echelon team then I could give a rats ass about this interview but I do think the question could have been answered honestly and constructively using tact (something I usually lack) with out being insulting to the players in general.
What struck me the most was that his comments about Rudy being a great coach and the players being staunchly supported by Les and Carol was in response to "what has surprised him the most." Or something to that effect - what did he find different from what he expected or what was different from the general perception of the team. So the things that were the most different from what he expected was that the guys were not undercoached and that Rockets mgmt wants to stick with this team. That was a surprising answer to that question - but possibly they were taken out of context or something. That was a great interview - LOVE his attitude - and I can't wait for the season to get started. Can't wait to hear Geno's voice again.
Now we have to win. Reality is staring us in the face. We have to win October 30 against Denver, then win against Memphis, then go on the road and beat Chicago and win in a back-to-back at Jersey, then come home and find a way to beat Orlando and get Miami. Boom. Boom. Boom. Be ready. We can't say we need time to jell. That's how my summer is. I think this paragraph is directed at all the players. It's the closest thing to giving an ultimatum to the players, that I got out of the interview. The trading deadline is February 19th & I'll be surprised if someone's not traded at that time. I bet that Cato plays like a superstar between now & then. I hope for his sake that he comes into camp in game shape, & doesn't plan on letting the preseason get him in shape. That wouldn't be a smart way to make a first impression with JVG. I did like JVG's answers to the questions. He can't come out & blast any players in the media yet. Not, if he wants to earn their respect first. However, I don't think there's any doubt that he put the responsibility on the players backs.
Whatever impression he's made has been made since he's been running the floor in JVG's "pre-" training camp/3-on-3 drills. JVG has already told him he can't wear earrings while playing...
Hey come on. If you were in his shoes, what would you say as a new coach in a new town. The fact that he danced around the questions meant he pretty much agreed with them.
I just wish everyone could hear just one Bill Parcells press conference. The man never dances around the facts. He has not alienated many of his players but he has been very up front and honest about what they need to work on since day one. Now I'm not saying that JVG should do it Bill Parcells way but that is the way I like it. If you are going to take the time to do an interview then at least give some honest answers. Steve is a great talent that is one of the top 2 or 3 point guards in the game but if we can help him get into the offense a lot quicker while there is still a good amount of time on the shot clock while improving his defense he can take his game to another level. Was that so hard? I don't think it insults the player in any way.
When you have a team of nobodies like Parcells has, you can make those comments. When you have stars playing a far more individual sport, it's a bit tougher. If you hurt Steve's feelings, you have more to worry about than if you hurt freakin' Quincy Carter's feelings. If you piss Francis or Yao off, you've lost 30-40% of your team.
crash - I generally agree but ... Was Parcells that open when in NY or did he open up in Dallas? I tend to regard the Texas media as less "prying". Perhaps Van Gundy hasn't adjusted to the gentility of the South? Assuming JVG feels that way, do you think some form of your quote would/will get uttered in practice? I tend to think it would. So then the issue IMO becomes...What does JVG gain by being this openly frank vs what does he lose? IMO, this early in his tenure he has more to lose than gain with your degree of frankness to the press.
Crash- First off, I generally agree with your coments. Secondly, yes it was a politican answer. However, that being said, the answer to any questions about the "old regime" don't matter. Going over the old ground does not make a difference, if we will not be on that path again. For example, I see the power forward as a relevant question because it is a concern going forward. Rather or not Calvin Murphy was a good enough defender (just to pull a weird question out of my...) is immaterial at this point. Now I think that particular example is clearly irevelant because it is so old. What is too old, and what of the past is still relevant? I think VG has drawn a line in the sand, and anything before the line is "old" and irevelant. Maybe we dribbled to much, maybe we didn't. But we are not going to be running that offense in the future so what does it matter? I used to be in property management for. I had a pretty good AC man. He told me that when he came on board, they showed him a stack of a couple hundred service requests that had been called in over the last several months. He threw them all away. I was shocked and asked him why. "With that type of backlog, I will always be behind, I will never get caught up and we will always have a bad reputation. From this day forward, everything that gets called in will be repaired in a reasonable time frame. From this day on, we do things right, and we start building a good reputation". I think JVG just swept all the old work orders into the trash.
I know Feigen is probably reading this. I think he saw our complaint a few days ago about having to go to New York newspapers to get interviews or information on Van Gundy so he responded to us. I just wanna say to him, thanks for the great interview.
I really like his attitude about player positions. As long as we have 5 players out there (and one is 7'5"!) it doesn't matter who's playing what position. If the ball finds it's way into the hoop, that's all that matters. Steve and Cat are gonna be our backcourt whether you like it or not. One of them will run it up the floor, and the other one won't. But those two WILL be our starting backcourt, and there's really no point in assigning specific positions to them.
But what bothers me is that Steve Francis is still b****ing about his "earned" No.1 option on the team. He is not getting it at all.
This interview may be the most exciting thing I've read about the Rockets this whole off-season. I was cautiously optomistic when he joined the team at the beginning of the summer, but I was admittantly upset that we didn't get Larry Brown. However, every single thing he has done and said since taking the reigns has been absolutely on target with my deepest desires for what needs to happen with this team. This was a fantastic interview, and I can only hope that it translates to results on the court. Let's give the man his boo's!
I agree. But I think my sig was from the heart, and that had been a huge criticism of Rudy. This is basically Van Gundy telling us who he thinks was responsible for dribble-diarrhea.
