Chron: Rockets new catch phrase: "No Excuses"

Rockets' catch phrase for new season: No excuses

Van Gundy says players must be ready for changes

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

The words crept into conversations with consistency the Rockets rarely showed on the court.

"No excuses."

Rockets players hit upon the sentiment regularly, knowing that the reasons for their failures or frustrations the past four seasons have followed them like tag-along little brothers.

Though they might have been valid at times, the excuses have proved unsatisfying and irrelevant. And as the Rockets move to this week's start of training camp -- players with three or fewer years of experience report today, and the rest of the team checks in Thursday -- they consistently come back to the same general theme.

"No excuses."

"We're beyond that," guard Moochie Norris said. "That should have happened my first two years. Last season, we should have made it (to the playoffs). We had the team. We should have done it. It was bad enough not going the year before when guys were injured and everything. But to come back and go like that, to be right there at the door, was kind of tough. So we have no excuses."

Guard Cuttino Mobley spoke of the team's good health when he came upon the words "no excuses." Center Kelvin Cato pointed to the coaching change when he said the Rockets had grown weary of making excuses for falling short.

"Patience," Steve Francis said, "is over."

That would explain the Rockets' determination to ignore the ready-made excuse of a coaching change, if that determination lasts.

There is no doubt that in his meetings with players, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has sought to instill that bottom-line mentality on his team, and he will hit upon that again this week. But it is clear he believes the Rockets were what they have shown on the court.

"This league is very cut and dried," Van Gundy said. "You either win or you lose. You're either a playoff team or a lottery team, or you're a championship team or an also-ran. That's it. You are what your record says you are, whether you are a coach, a player or a general manager. It doesn't matter what your stats are. It's not if you've got talent. You are going to be judged by how much you win.

"The excuse has been health two years ago, but no one mentions last year (the Rockets were) extremely healthy, third-best health in the league when it comes to the starting five, 15 total games missed by starters."

With that, Van Gundy almost spit out the excuses that were sung in harmony, as if after three months he had been around long enough to find the explanations distasteful.

"Youth.

"Yao (Ming's) fatigue from playing all year.

"West is tough.

"We only missed by one game."

Next in line could be the coaching change from Rudy Tomjanovich to Van Gundy. But experience would indicate that excuses, whether valid or not, are not graded as victories.

"People make excuses," Cato said. "Now the excuse could be we've got a new coaching staff. We're not worried about that. We're just coming out to play JVG basketball. Whatever he wants you to do, you better do it, or you're not going to play on this basketball team.

"This team is primed and ready for the playoffs. We've known that for three years but fell short in certain ways. Rudy got sick last year. But we don't want to make excuses anymore. Things are going to change, hopefully for the better."

With a new coach, change is certain. But Van Gundy said every team must deal with change, and most changes teams face will be less predictable.

The Rockets were in position for the eighth playoff spot last season when they had to adjust to a coaching change in the final month. Larry Smith filled in while Tomjanovich took a medical leave of absence. They collapsed quickly.

"They were 35-30 when Rudy left the team," Van Gundy said. "They were 8-9 with Larry, but really 5-9. The last three, they were playing out the string. You can't underestimate Rudy, but they kept change within the staff. They didn't handle that as well as they probably would have liked. So when you come to a bigger change, they have to understand the NBA is a profession of change. Those players, coaches and teams that adapt, adjust and embrace change quickest have the most success.

"If you can't handle change, you are doomed to underachieve. If we don't succeed, that's not a fair reason. If someone asks how long it's going to take you, it's in our hands. If we resist change, it will take us longer. If we comply and embrace change, we'll succeed sooner. In the end, it all comes down to you win or you lose. There aren't any excuses for losing."

That's a message the Rockets have gotten. But whether things will be different remains to be seen.

"We're going to go out there with no excuses and play hard," Mobley said. "That's all we can do. You can only use some of those excuses for so long. They were valid, a lot of them. We had a situation last year with Coach, the year before with Steve and Glen (Rice) and Mo (Taylor). This year, hopefully, that plague will leave us. We'll miss (Tomjanovich). I miss him a lot. But we have to concentrate on the task at hand. We have to win."

 

I had to point these excuses again brought up by Van Gundy:

All classics.

 

Real training camp doesn't start until Friday when the veterans get in and they open camp in Galveston. Calm down. There will be plenty of time for more articles.