In today's paper JVG suggested that perhaps they did NOT underachieve. (Goes along with the great coaching job of Rudy etc etc ... so don't get too full of yourselves etc etc mentality.)
As said in another thread, I am really warming up to Gumby as coach of this team. We needed someone who is not afraid of hurting some egos and feels like that they don't have to walk on eggshells. Reading some of these comments from JVG is a welcome sight in my eyes.
So Glen Rice is upset? Big f'n deal. His overpaid ass would've earned the 2nd highest salary on the team next year. Could you imagine him at one of JVG's practices. He wouldn't last a day. Things are changing now. This is going to be a different Houston team, and the players need to take notice.
I think it's important that the players come into camp knowing that JVG serious. I mean, if the players feel that JVG is a pushover, and don't have the backing of the organization (and fans), then they can just brush him off. He testing them. He's watching their reactions. He's trying to find the problem "children."
I glad JVG is calling out these players publicly!! I'm just waiting for JVG to drop the "she" comment when talking about Francis.
I'm confused on whether they can't show up or if it's voluntary because from reading that ewing quote it sounded like he was dissapointed more didnt show up.. as in they could show up but did not?
egn, you nailed it. as a Rockets/Cowboys fan living in Dallas, I am reminded again and again by Van Gundy of Parcells. only without quite so much success. sometimes, Van Gundy's quotes are word-for-word Parcellsisms. "you are what your record says you are" being one specific example. being from New York, it would come as no surprise for Van Gundy to have been influenced by Parcells. I hope he can command the same kind of respect. Parcells has skins on the wall. Van Gundy kind of does but not as much. anyway, it should all be quite interesting.
Rocket fan, dude trust me, its not voluntary, its mandatory that players with more than 3 years not show up. They showed a sign on the door that JVG posted on his door telling players with 3 or more years exp. to leave the facilities immediately. They're not even allowed in the same building that practice is being held. pretty stupid.
here you go DoD. from Rockets.com: Sept. 30 (Updated: 8:05 p.m.) - The Houston Rockets 2003 training camp got underway today with Moochie Norris, Eddie Griffin and Bostjan Nachbar joining seven players with non-guaranteed contracts for the first official workout under new coach Jeff Van Gundy. Due to a new agreement with the NBA Players Association, players with over four years of NBA experience cannot report to camp until Thursday The Rockets also announced Tuesday that they have agreed to terms with free agent Jim Jackson and traded Glen Rice to the Utah Jazz for John Amaechi. Read more...
From what I heard on 610, Mo hired a personal trainer over the offseason and is in the best shape of his life. I hope they're right (and that Mo can get more than a few inches off the ground this season).
I would doubt if we re-sign Rice if he is cut. We already have 12 guaranteed contracts, and 3 small forwards. I bet Rice ends up going home to play for the Heat.
Interesting coment about Mo T. He could be a big surprise. Mo has a lot of talent. Our front line should definitely be better. Yao, Eddie, Mo T all should be better. JJ is better than Rice. Eric P and Griffin are better backups at the two and three.. If Moochie is better our backcourt should be better, too. Seems like a lot of change.but four starters are returning so I think we will have enough continuity.
I wonder why he wasn't expecting it coming. i mean it was JVG that traded him from the Knicks to the Rockets anyways lol
He's probably more shocked about WHERE he got traded to. Imagine having to make that call. Glen's Agent: Uh, Glen? Are you sitting down?
Didn't JVG and Glen Rice have a rocky relationship in NY?? I'm JVG is happy to not have to deal with Rice then if that is the case!!!
This is a good read about the split practices from http://www.houstonchronicle.com Van Gundy not fan of split camp By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Eric Piatkowski arrived in Houston weeks before the start of training camp and reported early each morning for whatever form of voluntary training or torture coaches demanded. "I wanted to get an early start to get comfortable with a new system and really work on my conditioning," he said. "I wanted to be ready for camp." So each day he made his way to the Westside Tennis Club gym, until Monday when, for all his effort, he was in effect no longer welcome. Had Piatkowski or any of the Rockets' veterans of four or more seasons tried to lift a weight or jog a lap around the Westside court, they would have been greeted with a order posted at every entrance to the team's training facility. Attention Houston Rockets: Any player with four or years of experience cannot be in the Rockets' facilities from the 29th of September to the 2nd of October. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with Carroll Dawson or Dennis Lindsey. Houston Rockets management. The new NBA training schedule is so awkward and potentially divisive that as much as Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy values practice, he actually considered waiting until Friday to begin camp. "I did toy with the idea of not starting the younger guys earlier," Van Gundy said after his first practice as Rockets coach. "You have such limited time with players I decided to go ahead. I think separating your team is a bad idea." Of course it could be worse and in fact will be worse next season when veterans of at least four seasons will begin working out five days after the rest of the team reports. If this season's schedule was frustrating, learning of next season's was enough to make Van Gundy look as if he had been asked to sniff one of Patrick Ewing's sweat socks. "Pretty soon we're not going to practice," he said. "Where does it stop? I don't think it's player driven, even though it's the (NBA) Players Association. I think it's lawyer driven to try to say that they got something. To me, they got nothing if that's what they got because it hurts the players and it hurts the product. If it hurts the product, everyone loses. "I think it's a big mistake perception-wise for the Players Association to take away practice time. I think it makes their players look like they don't want to practice, don't want to work. And I don't think that's the message they really want to send so I think it's actually bad for the players. I know it's bad for the coaches and ultimately, it's bad for the product because you want to put a good product on the floor as early as possible for the fans that are paying good money to come and see you. If you have less practice time, you have less ability to do that." The reduction in training-camp time was part of the agreement with the Players Association in which the NBA extended the playoffs' first round from best-of-five to best-of-seven formats. The more natural compromise might have been to allow veterans to skip preseason games, but that likely would have made it more difficult to sell preseason tickets at regular-season prices. NBPA spokesman Dan Wasserman would not comment on that but said the change was absolutely player driven. "The suggestion that these decisions are not player driven, were not actually voted on by significant number of players is absolutely incorrect," Wasserman said. "Unless coach Van Gundy actually attended union meetings, he really doesn't have a basis for coming to that conclusion. That being said, no one expected any coach in this league to applaud or endorse the notion of veterans getting time off from practice in training camp." In that case, the union was right, having inspired something less than applause. "As a coach now, I don't like it," Ewing, a former Players Association president said. "We should all report together. As a player, I would feel the same way. They should have gotten something else for what they gave up."
