Jeff Van Gundy on Yao Ming: The Coaching Honor of a Lifetime

JVG and Hannah Storm rep Houston Rockets

No media conspiracy there.

 

"I loved the way Tracy McGrady and Yao treated each other as teammates. One thing they showed everyone was that basketball shouldn’t be a selfish endeavor. Yao and Tracy were kindred spirits in this way. They never fought over the silly notion of whose team it was. Instead, they understood what everyone should remember from kindergarten: to share — the credit, the blame and the responsibility."

It's interesting... obviously the JVG-Yao-Tmac era ended up being very dark, bitter days in Rockets history in lots of ways, but I still find myself missing them. Those three guys made you want to root for them.

 

Very touching stuff

 

Good post, but isn't this like a year old? I know I've seen that "bad ear" story before.

 

Stromile Swift

 

Homie, its date marked for today.

 

I like JVG. I heckled him when he came down to T-Mac softball tournament when it was held in League City back when Stan was coaching very well for either Miami or Orlando (12 or so years ago?). I shouted "Jeff, Where's Stan?!" I got a loud laugh from the crowd, but Jeff did not look to happy about my heckle. He did end up signing my hat though. Great guy, seemed down to Earth.

 

I know, that's weird. I have definitely seen that bad ear story before though. I'm gonna say JVG wrote something about it when Yao entered the HOF. That's probably what confused me.

 

Yeah, I wanna say Ive also heard it before. I mean, we are talking about JVG. The guy constantly talks and has so many anecdotes, no surprise that he occassionaly finds himself repeating material.

 

I absolutely love Jeff Van Gundy, he just wins at life. I'd still like him back with the organization in some capacity when the time is right.

Yao absolutely carries hisself as a champion in all that he does. This is one of the reasons he is so likable. I'm beyond happy that we as Rockets fans were able to share in the whole Yao experience.

 

Great article from JVG. Those Yao Rockets teams were a lot of fun, even if they ultimately under achieved. Loved Yao!

 

Yao represented the Rockets the right way on and off the court.
He loved the city of Houston.

 

I think this quote says a lot about those teams:

You could just tell watching those teams there was no ego and everyone just came in and put in work.

Yao, McGrady, Battier, Hayes, Mutombo.

What a classy and very mature group of guys. You could never question their effort on the court. Especially in the playoffs. These guys laid it all out on the line.

I think I'm a little bit spoiled from watching the demeanor of those teams and the Rockets teams of the mid to late 90's. The conmraderie they showed is still awesome to think about.

It's always worth repeating: If it weren't for injuries, it is likely the guys listed above would all have a championship ring.

 

I thought the same thing. I think JVG also wrote something when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and this seems familiar.

Edit:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-yao-moved-me-like-few-players-ive-ever-coached-182313844.html

Here is the other article, has the ear story as well.

 

Man, I love JVG.

 

I think he didn't laugh because that wasn't a clever attempt at being funny. Not sure why anyone laughed.

 

Didn't expect him to laugh, I was being a jackass. I was a teenager looking for peer approval. People laugh at horrible, awful, humiliating things all the time. It's the dark side of mankind.

 

JVG was right... the gap between Dwight and Yao was always smaller than Shaq and Yao...