[Chron]Alexander wants Van Gundy back

(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3795500.html)

Alexander wants Van Gundy back
Rockets owner does expect coach to make changes

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, while saying that no one from the owner to the coaches could claim to have done a "great job" in a season stuck at 33 wins, said Friday he "absolutely" wants Jeff Van Gundy back as coach.

Though he said Van Gundy's work this season could not be judged because of a stream of injuries, he indicated no loss of confidence in his coach.

"I think Jeff's a great coach," Alexander said, "and I think he can take us to a championship."

A day earlier, however, when Alexander and Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson took questions from season-ticket holders in a 45-minute conference call, Alexander steered clear of such praise.

While speaking optimistically about the future and the reasons fans could look forward to next season, he never mentioned his coach.

He said the return of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, with the right additions, could make the Rockets championship contenders, but he did not refer to Van Gundy, whom he gave a contract extension after last season.

"I think what I said was, 'You can't judge Jeff by this season because of all his injuries,' " Alexander said on Friday. "I said he will be judged like I would (judge) C.D. (Dawson) and Bill Worrell (the team's television announcer and host of the call), at the end of the season.

"You want me to say to the fans (that) Jeff did a great job this season when we won less than .500? I didn't do a good job. He didn't do a good job. We didn't do a good job. Nobody did a good job. That's impossible. Last year we won 51. I thought that was a great job. Nobody did a good job this year. That's my theory."

Although Alexander said his planned post-season evaluations are routine, he said there are things he will expect Van Gundy to do differently. He did not characterize those changes as conditions to remain as coach and would not say what those expectations would be.

"I'm going to tell him, not you," Alexander said. "What I'm going to take to him, I'm going to take to him."

Alexander is likely to tell Van Gundy that he expects him to no longer be as publicly critical of a team currently 26th in the NBA in home attendance and possibly to be more flexible with marketing efforts. He said he would never tell a coach how to coach a team.

Alexander did say he will not expect Van Gundy to turn jovial after losses.

"He's not going to be Pat Croce (the upbeat former Philadelphia 76ers team president)," Alexander said. "Neither am I."

Only concern: Grizzlies
Van Gundy has two years remaining on his contract, and only next season is guaranteed.

He has repeatedly said he is focused too much on preparing for each game to concern himself with his future. But he has said he does want to return.

"My tenure is not based on just what I want," Van Gundy said. "I haven't thought about it until I'm asked about it, because I'm just thinking about tomorrow. I'm committed to absolutely fulfilling my job responsibilities better and my contract. I want to coach the team better, and I want a better team to coach. It's both.

"I don't even think in those terms. I like where I live. I like the guys I coach. I love the guys I coach with. To be talking about me is really the wrong tack."

Van Gundy does, however, have things he wants to discuss with Alexander.

"This is an organization that five of the last seven years has been in the lottery," said Van Gundy, whose team will miss the playoffs for the first time in the nine seasons he completed as coach. "There's much ... bigger areas of concern than a coach's contract — talent level, bench depth, finding championship-quality-type players — all those things are far more important than any contractual situation.

"If I had a chance to sit down and talk with him, I'd much rather talk about the importance of having three point guards on a team, the importance of having bench depth, the importance of having more firepower, the importance of adding a range-shooting four-man. All those to me are of much greater concern."

A lengthy wish list
Van Gundy said he is not referring to the team's determination to avoid paying a luxury tax.

"I'm not saying anything about spending," Van Gundy said. "I'm talking about one thing: what we need to do to win. Those aren't my decisions, but that's what we need to win.

"It (his status) is not the area the organization needs to concern itself with. What we need to concern ourselves with is how do we go from the worst home record to the best home record in the league? How are we going to be able to withstand injuries? To do that better is with better depth, more firepower to withstand McGrady's (injuries.) All those things are where our focus should be, and I'm sure Les and Carroll feel the same way."

Alexander would not say where he believed the focus should be, but the more each talked, the more they sounded alike.

Injuries not fully to blame
"I think we all share in the responsibility of the disappointment of this year," Van Gundy said. "I certainly don't want to be given a free pass for this year, nor do I deserve one. Nor do the players deserve one. I think once you get into that ... you have to stay realistic. I think the injuries had an impact on the year, most certainly. But it wasn't the only thing that went wrong.

"This year we didn't do the job that we should have done from top to bottom. That includes me."

Staff writer Fran Blinebury contributed to this report.
---------------------
ROCKETS SUMMARY

Yao has surgery

Rockets center Yao Ming underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a clean break of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot.

The surgery, which included the insertion of a screw in order to strengthen the bone, was performed by Dr. Tom Clanton at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.

"From what I've been told, everything went as well as you would expect and would hope," said Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson. "We'll just let Yao get over the surgery and give him the best possible treatment to assist his recovery."

The early prognosis was that Yao's rehabilitation could last four to six months.

"When I spoke with the doctors, I was told that's how long it takes for a bone to regain its full density," Dawson said. "I'll say this. Yao has shown us in the past that he's a quick healer."

Yao's season, which also saw him miss 21 games following surgery to clean out an infection in his left big toe, ended with the injury on Monday in Utah.

Agony of the feet
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is worried about Yao Ming in the long term.

"I think the bigger concern is he's had a lot of problems with his left foot, and (big players) with foot problems are a concern," he said. "He had the ankle surgery on his left foot, the toe surgery on his left foot, now he's broken it. He broke it earlier when he was 19. So to me that's the bigger concern and that's why it's imperative that he stays in great shape and keeps his weight down throughout his career, to lessen the opportunities to place undue stress on his feet.

"I'm not saying any one (injury) has anything to do with the other. But foot problems on big guys are especially — looking at the history of the NBA — are problematic. You don't want to turn around one day and be looking at a Bill Walton."

Greeting for center
When asked to look into a TV camera and offer a recuperating Yao Ming his thoughts, teammate David Wesley couldn't resist getting out the needle.

"You're out again?" Wesley said with a smile. "You're supposed to be our bus driver and now both of our bus drivers (Yao and Tracy McGrady) are underneath where you keep the luggage. Giving us no help. Look at this, there's sweat on me and there's none on you. You're lying in the bed, taking it easy for six months. I had a cracked rib, and I was back in three weeks."

Praise for Kobe
Jeff Van Gundy would not venture into the wide-open MVP debate for this season.

"I think all those awards are in the eye of the beholder," he said. "I don't have any one guy who I would say is the guy."

But the best players in the league right now?

"I would say this year, without question, ( Kobe) Bryant," he said. "I would say not only has he been personally dominant, but he and Lamar Odom have uplifted their team."

FRAN BLINEBURY

--------
Michael