It makes sense, I recall Morey wanting Covington or Christian Wood ......but I didn’t think they wanted to trade while using Capela. If Harden is good with JVG then I’m good with it. The optics of JVG old school and Harden laid back don’t push me.... spells Morey/Tilman forcing a square peg into a round hole. At least at first glance. Let’s see if JVG is the pick.
I never thought of JVG as an offensive coach. His defense was his calling card. On the flip side, D'antoni was an offensive coach, but despite talking about it for a couple years, I don't really recall seeing the extra wrinkles we were promised. The offense is what the offense is. Harden dominating the ball is a top-5 offense, but cold-shooting and defensive lapses have generally doomed the Rockets. With D'antoni, the Rockets tried to make his top assistant coach a defensive coordinator. I think they are just looking to flip that now. The offensive wasn't changing or getting better with D'antoni, so the defense is the area for most improvement. With JVG, the team gets a defensive mindset first and foremost, but without really sacrificing the offense. (because the blueprint is already established and the basic structure is unlikely to change) I think they are talking to Lue for appearances, but he will likely command more money than we are willing to pay. This may be one of those situations where the Rockets are being used for leverage so that he gets his big money from the Clippers. (and the Rockets are probably ok with that) I think they are casting a wide net with the coaching interviews because they want to poach as many top assistants as possible in filling out a staff around JVG. It's no secret that Morey picks the staff and not the head coach. JVG has wanted to get back to coaching, but lives in Houston (and from what I recall, wasn't open to relocating when his kids were in school). Not sure the status of his kids and school now because that was years back, but I think the Rockets job is probably the one that will pull him back to the sidelines. His work with a USA Basketball team devoid of real pro-talent supports his ability to get a lot out of unheralded role players (which is all the Rockets can afford every off-season in attempts to find enough decent 3&D guys to fill the rotation). I'm hoping the Rockets end up with JVG as head coach with some combination of Atkinson, Silas, and Vanderpool flanking him. I hope Lucas stays with the staff as well, but would prefer one of those others as the top assistants. As for the original question, I think JVG's offense would look mostly like D'Antoni's with some small tweaks put in place by whichever assistant gets picked to play offensive coordinator.
exactly why we need to invest in the bench. we can't rest our stars and stay competitive when the other 9/12 guys are minimum contracts. its going to take spending the tax to win. its also going to take player development to cultivate a deep bench of cheap rookie deals who get better every year as James/rus get older. its just going to take spending. tilman will have to spend to buy first or second round picks starting now. he will have to spend the TMLE to add depth, he will have to probably agree to trade gordon/house and take back more money, not less. we will also need a coach who knows how to develop guys and is willing to play them (either through deep rotations or during load management days for James/rus). this is why I'm interested in someone like Kenny Atkinson. used an analytics offense to get the nets into first in pace. also got a team with less defensive talent than we have into the top 10 on defense. but he's primarily known for player development. add cassell as AHC (last season he was the 2nd assistant so this would be a promotion for him, and a homecoming). sam is known for player development as well. with a staff (more than just Lucas) who knows how to develop players I think we can build a deep bench and keep harden/rus fresh through the season, saving their legs for the playoffs. its also a way to keep the bench cheap and improving for the next 3 years until its time to rebuild. again, not sure JVG will do that. like you said we don't need harden diving for loose balls in practice, or even really through the regular season. save it all for the playoffs. Atkinson is a bit of a bulldog as well, but provides the player development we need plus is open to analytics offense. that's why I think a pairing with sam to mellow him out when it comes to managing superstars is a great pairing. again not saying JVG is a bad coach. his fit isn't as good as lue or Atkinson IMO. after lue and Atkinson its a tossup between him and Silas. can we get a top notch defensive coordinator with Silas? if so I probably lean that way. would JVG let someone like finch run the offense? if so maybe I lean that way lol. either way both would be better than the remaining candidates. I'd take JVG in a heartbeat over Vanterpool, Unseld, Ham, etc...
I don't get or understand the 'doens't make good adjustments' argument. It's been 15 years or so but it's hard to remember details, but in general those rockets team were fairly limited in who they had and what those players could do well. As for development of layers - Yao was a young player, and he developed pretty well. JVG definitely likes his veterans but he gave plenty of young players opportunities to play and contribute (brooks, hayes, head, bogans,JL3, novak). None of those guys are world beater and you certainly can't squeeze blood from a rock, but I think the rockets got all they could from those and they certainly didn't go elsewhere to light the world on fire. Now where is the pipeline for talent? that's a good question and one we are still asking ourselves now, but that's a GM job in my view. Coaches can only coach what they have.
if we hire van gundy it will be the same result why not hire somoene with a defensive presence someone that will challenge their players to play defense I look at the coaches like that I look at ty and gundy but when I see how Ty challenged lebron and challenge he did do a lot of good and he know the pace of the game and he knows how to counter attack a defensive and knows how to change a game that is more of the type of coach i would hire, But when i did look at van gundy in the knick era and the rocket era i notice two things near the end of the run with the rockets it got bad and then with the knicks gundy was the goat hahah but I will say if he is to get the job change the offensive mind set if possible.
RR, I have my doubts about JVG as well. He is incredibly smart, but I know what you are getting at. He did grind the team to a halt by creating an atmosphere that is very difficult to play freely. He is the Tom Thibadeau before Tom Thibadeau, who I believe learned a lot of stuff from him as his assitant coach. Game plan and philosophy may change, but that I don't think will. So if you want to annoy heck out of our superstars and accelerate the rebuilding start time, he is your guy.
And I don't trust a lot of people A lot of people get injured by bison attacks at national parks cause they don't follow the distance rules too
Dont get me wrong ... Yao and Tmac were injured a lot and JVG had the team play through Yao inside out, really effective ... but on the other hand, he at the end was so stressed about the game that he didn't want to coach anymore. I wouldn't say he is perfectionist, but he is almost too smart and too stubborn to a fault. It's hard to work for a guy like that. You almost need a team of Yaos to carry out his vision.
JVG 1.get ball to Tmac 2.get ball to Yao 3.if you can't do 2 do 1 4.if you can't do 1 do 2 you guys want this again??
Mark Jackson, on the death threats against Danny Green for missing that last shot in Game 5: "We're better than that, as a people." Van Gundy's response: "I'm not sure we're better than that." JVG in the booth is a national treasure. Leave him where he is.
Of course you are correct. I guess I always associated Adelman more with the teams that came after that. At any rate, if JVG is trying to coach in 2021 I’m guessing it’s not to be anti-Morey, while being hired by him.
Again we agree. No need to have the young Bruno types if they won’t get any playing time except 25 point garbage time. If that’s the case, the Rockets need vets filling the roster with 2-way players being the only players developing.... getting garbage time.
Smart and witty. Certain people are best for certain things. Quoting a line from Devil wears parada ... he is too smart to coach people
Yep, How can anyone want JVG to leave the booth? We should make a poll for people to choose between: 1. Having JVG coach the Rockets to a championship 2. Having JVG at the commentator booth for life
JVG had some combination of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, Jimmy Jackson, Bob Sura, David Wesley and Shane Battier during his 4 year run with the Rockets and he never managed to get out of the first round and won......... 45, 51, 34 and 52 games....... during that span he never once met the pyt expected win total. The Rockets never got out of the first round and the adjustments in the series were mediocre. Also his roster was riddled with older players that were not productive like Vin Baker, Charles Oakley, Derek Anderson, Rick Brunson, Charlie Ward and Clarence Weatherspoon. Who did he develop exactly? Brooks was drafted under Adelman. Novak played like 5 minutes a game in 35 games. He was terrible with V-Span...
