How does the system expose his weakness? How does it not take advantage of Yao's skill? Please elaborate. Are you talking about covering the pick and roll? There has already been discussion on this. In my opinion, proper rotation and stopping guard penetration is a Good Thing in general. If Yao doesn't show on pick and rolls, guards just get into the lane, can create open shots for outside shooters collapsing, or can get to the bucket, or can find big men inside. Yao would get into even more foul trouble, as crazy as that sounds, and besides, Yao has become much better at avoiding the ticky-tack foul when showing on the pick and roll b/c he's moving his feet better than early in the year. As for Yao's skill. They post his up on the low block and high block. He gets a lot of touches and only because we have freakin Tracy MacGrady combined with Yao's relative low minutes does Yao not average 20+points per game. Also, Yao set good screens because of his size for shooters and the pick and roll. So again, please elaborate with a well thought out response with analysis if you want to have a serious discussion to back up your claims. Otherwise you end up sounding like a kid who doesn't know jack about basketball, and the discussion will end.
I agree, but what Van Gundy said was on the mark. The right message, as you said. I've been bothered by him taking players to task in the media in the past. With the playoffs coming up, he must feel the need to go through the media again. He wants the players to focus for 48 minutes on what makes them successful, win or lose. If the Rockets can commit to that, they should be very successful in the playoffs. Like others have said, they are built more for the playoffs than the regular season. It's past time to maintain that focus. I just wish he could get it done in the locker room and in practice. What is different here is that he didn't call out any individual players, although one could read between the lines. That's an improvement.
I think the difference is that when he did it last year, we were all worried how Francis, Mobley, Taylor, etc. would react. Would they pout, would they play hard? No one knew for certain. I have no worries about Sura, McGrady, Yao or anyone else on this team using this as anything but motivation.
JVG has never been shy about putting all his cards on the table. He gives the most brutally honest interviews of any coach in the NBA. He reminds me a little of Dierker in that way, which is not necessarily a good thing. I don't think he ever has any hesitation to call it like he sees it, even when that concerns or his own players.
I don't think JVG is taking anyone to task with his comments. This is simply what he preaches in practice. I don't buy the fact that he "uses" the media as some kind of weapon against his players; my guess is most NBA players don't bother to read the coverage of their team. JVG was simply asked a question about what his team's focus should be heading into the playoffs and he gave an honest, straightforward answer instead of tired coachspeak. Personally, I enjoy reading a coach say things like "What's going to separate ourselves is our ability to stick with what we do. We have not shown an ability to do that," a lot more than platitudes like "We just have to take it one game at a time." One of these statements actually gives you insight into what the coaching staff will be working on in the next couple weeks, the other statement offers nothing but a cliche. JVG basically has no REASON to manipulate the media against his players. They've clearly firmly lined up behind his system and believe in him as a coach. At this point in the season, he's preaching to the choir. If they can't be convinced to achieve this goal during practice, then some newspaper article sure isn't going to get the job done. I think Van Gundy gets credit for being far more devious than he actually is.
Sloan just took a HUGE leap up in my book. It was awesome to see him yelling at Snyder iduring the game after the incident. And now to read about how he is making him sit through a game? Awesome. You just don't see coachs using their autority like this anymore. I just watched the highligh reel by 2K, and man. It looked like it was very close to turning into a bad incident. Sura was right there in Snyder's face at the bench. That's why I love Sura. After he was fouled HARD (should have been a flagerant) in the face, and got right up and was pissed off. And when Snyder talked trash infront of our bench, it was SURA and JVG that were up and yelling at him. Sura was so mad that during the T FT for UTah, he was like 8ft onto the court b****ing to the refs when he should have been on the bench. I love the fire in the guys heart. That kind of fire is exactly what this team needs.
jerry sloan is the man behind the flops, the dirty plays, and one hundred percent of everything that we as rockets fans hate about the utah jazz. all this love is kinda disgusting. he created stockton and malone's dirty play. i think what he did was the right thing to do and as a coach i have great respect for his leadership and motivational abilities but i still don't like him.
I think I actually said something similar before.... I dont like the guy...but I respect his actions in this case. He wants a hardworking, albeit somewhat dirty, style of play out of his teams..and he doesnt seem to put up with needless showboating. As for the motivational issues debated here...Its been mentioned before that the players are encouraged to not keep up with the media coverage....eventho Im sure alot of them do...but I would wager that the extent of their watching is gonna be Sportscenter style shows rather than reading the articles online or in print...very rarely does the written media print anything they havent already heard. and...Yao...it was also mentioned in a previous article that he was having issues with getting down on himself when problems occur on the floor...and that was affecting his play... What VG is tryin to do is get Yao to recognize that sh*t happens and he shouldnt allow it to affect the way he plays the game....be instinctive in your play...just do what comes natural. and lastly... People who complain about Yao setting picks/screens and flashing out on PnRs are just totally clueless on how the game is played. Every player on the team must do his part on defense...flashing out on PnRs is so vital to stopping them that it would be absolute folly to tell him not to do it. Assisting his teammates in guarding the PnR is not what is killing his game....him allowing lesser players and the refs to take him out of his game is whats killing his game....and the only one that can fix that is Yao himself.
100% agree with JVG. As talented as we are, sometimes we do make up things looking for easy&quick buckets. The SA game, we could have stuck with our game plan in the last 3 minute when we were down by 10 pts at that point. We would've been able to get close at least and and make a final push. Instead we dribbled, and selected bad shots way out. At times, our offense is just too random. Now our players should have freedom do their things, but dicipline seperates great team from good team. I am glad Gundy is taking this team to the next level. Side note, Sloan should play Snyder against Dever as an apology. He should tell Snyder that if he doesnt score 30 pts and make Utah win, he will be benched forever except for the games against Minny, and Memphis.
As much as I complained about Sura's recklessness, I love his roughness. He is the one dude on this team that would stick his neck out for this kind of situation first. Not saying other teammates wouldnt.
i disagree. if he does not say this and they lose while following the system to the very end, they could feel that jvg put them in a losing position for which only they (the players) would be judged by the fans and media. he's trying to cover the public angle for them so they dont have to think about that- it will all be on his shoulders.
