Van Gundy right to be concerned By JOHN LOPEZ Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle During the season, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy pulls on that look of total disgust like he does his socks. It's just part of waking up every day. Shower, brush, shave (this one is optional, especially during the April and May playoff run). And gripe. Nitpick. Find some kind of statistical embers to throw around the locker room that might keep the fire burning within. Find something that will prevent contentment from settling in. So when Van Gundy sits in front of the cameras after a loss like Saturday night's to the Lakers and starts quoting gloomy statistics as if he's reading a teleprompter, it might be easy to shrug. That's just Jeff Van Grumpy doing what he has to do. With no Tracy McGrady on the floor and no time, really, for this Rockets squad to have bonded into any kind of real team, all will be well. Maybe. Cohesion is lacking But the more you see this Rockets team fall into the same bad habits time and again — the same habits they had a year ago with a different cast of characters, and go heavy on the characters — you understand. Van Gundy isn't just crying Wolves. Or Lakers, as the case might be. Truth is, it isn't out of line to call the upcoming stretch of six road games in the next seven outings, beginning tonight in New Jersey, pivotal. This team desperately needs to get in some quality practice time and come together, understanding not just what Van Gundy is preaching, but each other. Lost in the Saturday night lights being focused on former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich's return to Houston was a Rockets performance that was disturbing if only because it looked like too many from a year ago. Fans today understandably should be asking themselves: Weren't all the turnovers, the bad rebounding and long stretches of stagnant offense supposed to have been shipped to Orlando with Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley? It's early, sure. And these Rockets have earned a bit of slack, considering T-Mac's groin injury leaving him out of the past two games and the newness of so many faces in the locker room. Yao must rebound But that unsatisfied look on Van Gundy's face is genuine. He's worried, as well he should be. T-Mac and newness have nothing to do with 7-6 center Yao Ming lagging in the rebounding department. Yao might be a hero to all, a quality person and on his way to becoming an unstoppable low-post scorer. But I'd like his game a lot better if he posted lower more often, like he did against the Lakers, and rebounded like a 7-6 center should. The past two games, Yao has hauled in a total of 12 rebounds. That's unacceptable for a 6-6 center, much less one who is 7-6. T-Mac and newness might have a bit to do with not protecting the basketball and committing silly fouls, but this team's problems in both categories are bad. The Rockets rank among the league losers in turnovers. And only the lowly Bulls have a worse ratio between fouls they commit and fouls they receive. Here's the point: Training camp had better not be over just because the season has begun. This team must find itself and find answers before the early-season slips become a season-long trend. Perhaps a road trip is best for a start of the much-expected turnaround, too. On the road, there are no distractions or influences pulling players in different directions. Practices are easier to schedule. Everyone gets on one team bus. Players have no choice but to spend more time around each other. And Van Gundy has a captive audience — more so, even, than usual. Like every NBA coach, he has spoken about the importance of training camp because there's just not a lot of time to teach during the season. But that anguished look on his face says Van Gundy is going to make time. He has to. This team has worlds of potential, but has hardly even touched it seven games into its future. "The game, you have to learn it at shootarounds, between games and more brief practices because of the schedule," Van Gundy said. "If we don't learn we're just going to keep doing the same thing. I mean, we're fortunate to be (3-4). "We're just making a lot of mistakes. If we can't correct the rebounding and we don't correct the turnovers, you know ... that's bad." The Rockets are scoring just 88.57 points per game, while ranking 26th in rebounding. That's got to change. If it doesn't, the results will not change no matter T-Mac's arrival or Yao's emergence. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2901292
I really think that if we can just somehow overcome our habits of starting off slow/uninterested/uninspired that we will be ok. I mentioned in another thread that when JVG has called out the starters about starting out so apathetic, that he may be silently pointing the finger at JJ. JJ seems to be the most guilty of the boneheaded TOs, bad shots and poor defense in the 1st half of games. It seems to me that his 2nd half are much better than his 1st halfs. I will be interesting to see if JVG would put a starting lineup out there of Boki, Mo, Yao, TMac and Ward out there and maybe bring JJ in for some veteran leadership to help stabalize the 2nd unit. Overall, I think the article makes some great points and perhaps this team just wasn't built to win a title in the short run, but rather, built with tradeable assets that will be used to mold the team into a legit contender after another year or two.
I dont think there is ANY doubt about this. I think some of the things that would cure the problems listed in the article would be 1) the team plays together for a while and develops more chemistry. 2) The return of Sura will help at PG but probably the team will have to target a PG in FA next year. Antonio Daniels, Jeff McInnis etc. That would add more athleticism at PG spot and would continue to help in the turnover area. 3) Add more athleticism at the forward spots. As for Rebounding as a whole, I think this team isnt very athletic and that hurts. It has veterans so the basketball I.Q. is much higher which allows the players to play more crafty but there isnt much 'explosion'. We dont have enough "energy guys" to get hustle rebounds and pick up the team's energy on the court. Getting "athletic" is going to be a priority in the offseason as well. It wouldn't hurt to have a tall rangey PF that was athletic (i.e. Eddie Griffin, Stromile Swift, Tyson Chandler etc) and it would be helpful to have another Small Forward that was athletic (i.e. Josh Howard). Jim Jackson is a great role player but really would be better as a 6th man coming off the bench. I think if we fix those problems this team will be much better off. Like you said, this team is in flux. It will probably take 2 more offseasons and drafts to get the proper players around Yao and Tmac to make a SERIOUS run at the title.
I'm not a big fan of Lopez, but some of this just smacks of not paying attention. The Rockets only had 13 turnovers against LA versus 21 assists - better than good on any night in the NBA. The offense wasn't stagnant so much as guys just weren't able to hit shots. Given the personnel, I can't imagine we expected this team to be a great jumpshooting team even though they are shooting better than 40 percent from the 3-point line which is good enough for 3rd in the NBA. Their rebounding has been bad this season, but they were a good rebounding team last year, particularly on the offensive glass. Look at the numbers: 13th overall 2nd opponents overall 28th offensive 5th opponents offensive 2nd defensive 3rd opponents defensive With the exception of offensive rebounding, last year's team was a good team on the glass. It really isn't surprising that they aren't a great offensive rebounding team. The Hakeem-era Rockets weren't either mainly because both centers tend to fade on their shots on the offensive end and go for blocks on the defensive end leaving them out of position. Personally, I don't mind the critique of the team. He is right that scoring will need to improve, but he casually glossed over the fact that the losses they suffered came against the Timberwolves and Lakers and, oh by the way, we were minus our best scorer and the one guy on the team who can create shots for everyone else on the floor. He's also right that we need to rebound better - particulary in crunch time - if we want to improve, but saying we are as bad as last year's team is untrue since last year's team was in the top 10 in most categories. If we could end up like last year's team, we'd be in good shape. Like I said, I don't mind critique, but I do mind inaccuracy. At least get the stats right.
It is indeed unfortunate that the ROckets had to do all that crap during their training camp/pre-season.... they were gonna need lots of time to get VGs style in their heads, and get used to each other...and that was severely curtailed with the flying time involved with going back and forth to China and dealing with all the festivities during their stay. If this team had been together for a year, and then doing that...it probably wouldnt have affected them as much...but bringing in 3/4s of a new roster, and then not having time to get everyone working together is most definitely slowing down the transition imo. I still think that by the AS break , this team will be playing together as well as they are able.....but anyone that thought we would be contending for the title this year is kidding themselves. This team is not done with the changes and I think it is safe to say that major moves are forthcoming in the offseason to bring in the final pieces.
Lopez, like these Rox, is a work in progress. He's improving, but he started from such a low position - a columnist well before his time.
Wow. Codell used the word "trade" in a post without a rolleyes. I eagerly await your first trade proposal. What are we going to do with our not-so-complementary players? I think it's interesting to compare and look at a team like Utah that's also got some new players - a brand new point and power forward, for goodness sake. That's a pretty big deal, in that system. They seem to be rolling like clockwork. I'm also interested in what a team like Seattle is doing - They've got a defense minded coach but they just scored 118 points and they're 5 and 1 with an unbalanced roster.
Actually we are playing to the level of our talent. We have Yao and 7 bench players out there. I don't expect much more until TMac returns. Yes we could have won these last 2 home games with some more determined rebounding, some shots falling and a better shot taken. But we need both Yao and TMac on the floor to be a playoff team. That's reality. JVG may feel there's room for improvement, sure on any one night we could play better. But over a season we are not a playoff team without both Yao and TMac in the lineup. So we suffer through this injury, if Tmac sits tonight, maybe we win, maybe we lose. It hurts to see us miss this time to gel as a team. And if this injury drags out, well I would hate for us to miss the playoffs. A minimum for this team is a playoff berth. Anything less will be a bitter disappointment.
Well, he's been a columnist now since 1999. Shouldn't he have made significant improvements in 5 years? I'll never forget his column in 1999 when the arena referendum failed: "Might as Well Kiss Rockets Goodbye" He asserted that there was no way they get another shot at an arena deal and that clearly they were leaving town just like the Oilers. Ooops.
Van Gundy Sucks!!! And he is the real problem. As long as I have been a Rockets fan, I have not seen Rockets players hate their coach as much as the players from last year, and the current roster. Think its not happenning? We'll Van Grumpy himseld said that players are not happy with his demands. And you know what his reply to everyone was? He siad that "he doesn't care"! First of all, that type of stuff should not be leaking out to the media. I magine how bad things are getting behind closed doors. I am so unhappy with Van Gundy that I wish the Rockets would keep losing just so Van Gundy gets fired. I never rooted against the Rockets in my life till saturday night at the Compaq Center. Part of it was because I am a Huge Kobe Fan, but most of it is because I want Van Gundy to fail, so he can take himself and the rest of the Houston Knicks back to New York!
Ya know ..the Rockets could sign Karl Malone, trade for Greg Ostertag, bring Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird and John Stockton out of retirement and hire George Karl to coach them and I would STILL root like hell for them to win every single game.
agreed.....but you knew that. do me a favor bud.....that guy has already earned a place on my you know what list for posts just like that.....please?
Well I think both the columnist and Jeff points are valid. We will always be a terrible offensive rebuonding team because Yao is taking the shots, but just the same, we all know Yao is not quick to the rebound. He needs it to come right at him. It will probably be the fatal flaw of his whole career. But everyone has one. I can live with it since it's a physical limitation.
Part of it was because I am a Huge Kobe Fan, This part says it all. You're not a true rockets fans. Kobe Guilty Bryant sucks.
I totally respect that, and I use to think that way too. As a big Rockets fan, I would get very attached to the Rockets players. It was almost like they were family because they would be in my living room just about every other night. I was very attached to Steve and Cuttino, as I was attached to Olajuwon and Drexler. Yeah, Steve and Cuttino will never be as successful as Olajuwon and Drexler, but they were still a big part of the Rockets "Family". I hated to see them leave because a New York Knick came and ran them off. I also respect that many will say that their play and lack of success caused them to be traded, but I guess if the Rockets don't get past the first round this year, then Yao or T-Mac need to be traded. Of course that does not make any sense at all. Anyway, I can not root for Van Grumpy! He does not have the class that Houstonians have, and I do not want him representing our city. I hate him more than I like everything else about the current Rockets. That's why I finally broke down and rooted against the Rockets.
I think JVG is in trouble if the team doesn't make the playoffs which is a distinct possibility with 3 other West teams being potential playoff teams that weren't playoff teams last year: Suns, Jazz, and Sonics. JVG is just bullsh!tting when he said injuries shouldn't be a concern. Everyone knows losing a top 5 NBA player when the team is lacking depth is a major concern. Twolves would have been embarrassed to lose to the Rockets. Even though the Lakers are in a transition phase, they still have Kobe who is still the top perimeter player in the league. Odom is not crappy. He's pretty good too. The Lakers are more "talented" than the Rockets ex TMac. With TMac, the Rockets can compete with anyone in the league except maybe the top dogs like the Spurs and Pistons. Without TMac, the Rockets will be an average team at best. Yao's good, but he can't pick up the slack for creating shots for everyone on the team when Tmac isn't there. JVG had to resort to roleplayers slashing and creating. If JVG is concerned, the guy better go wish TMac get healthy fast. That's exactly what is making the Rockets lose.
RocketsAstros, I think its sad that your hate for one man, outweighs your loyalty as a fan to an entire team. I don't see how you can call yourself a fan anymore when you root for 12 players to fail because of your grudge against one guy, who isn't even on the court.
What is ironic about Lopez's article is that it's tone is more gloomy that JVG's - if that is possible. The sky is not falling.
