JVG will be back? Damn! As I said before, I am reluctant to give him another chance. The problem is that the excellence of Yao and T-Mac will mask JVG's coaching deficiencies. We will almost certainly do pretty well next year, and because of that we could be fooled into keeping JVG on. We could easily waste the prime of Yao's and T-Mac's careers before finally realizing that we had the wrong coach all along. But by then, it will be too late. Everybody knows about T-Mac's back problems. And forcing Yao to chase guards around the defensive perimeter is going to ruin his feet and drastically shorten his career. So we have no time to waste. There's very little risk to dumping JVG, because the team is almost guaranteed to do pretty well no matter who the coach is, thanks to T-Mac and Yao. A coach who doesn't run his players into the ground will drastically increase our chances for a championship.
I didn't know that Van Gundy's contract has only one guaranteed year on it; I thought last summer's extension would have definitely been guaranteed. If that's the case, then there's little risk in bringing him back next year and giving him a season to atone for this disaster. While I can't say I'm a fan of ugly-ball, I'm definitely a fan of winning ball, and if Van Gundy can win, no one should have a problem with him. Firing a historically sucessful coach certainly has mixed results; going back only two years, we see Detroit firing Rick Carlisle and winning a championship, and we see Minnesota firing Flip Saunders and being even worse than they were a season ago. One very interesting stat that I haven't seen mentioned is that in the 7 full season that Jeff Van Gundy has coached, his teams have only beaten their expected win total (based on points scored vs points allowed, Expected Win Totals (click on each season to see it)) twice; although admittedly only 3 seasons fall outside the rmse. My final analysis? I'm not up in arms about giving him one more year; firing him now will only cost Les some extra money, and even if you hate his coaching style, you have to admit he has instilled an extremely professional attitude in the players; notice how they have all pledged their unwavering support for him, even when it would be easy to blame the terrible season on him (heck, Rafer's been a model citizen) With the possibility of three rookies coming in next year (2 draftees + Spanoulis), we would certainly want a coach that develops such an attitude in young players (though one might argue that he doesn't develop rookies, you have to think we'll be drafting NBA ready players, who have the skills to compete, but need the mental maturation to survive).
What conclusions do you draw from that regarding Van Gundy's coaching? He doesn't coach well in closely contested games? Also worth noting is San Antonio has had a worse record than Expected Wins would indicate in 6 of the 7 past seasons, but Popavich is regarded as one of the best coaches in the game (rightly so, I think). The Spurs are exceeding Expected Wins this year, however.
Just put the stat out there; I suppose it's chum for the lurking sharks here in the forum... Nice stat about Pops; It's well known that the Spurs have been extremely slow starters that go on huge win streaks late, while their style produces very large margins of victory when they win (100-77 blowouts), and small losses (80-81), so I'd expect that from them; conversely, Phil Jackson seems to have had quite a few outstanding seasons of exceeding the expectations, which might suggest his reputation as a coach that wins is legitimate. I admit I don't really know as much as I'd like to about the stat; I just pointed it out because it seems to fly in the face of traditional logic; Van Gundy's grind it out style should keep bad teams in games, and point differentials low, so I'd expect him to have low expected win totals, and be able to exceed those expectations if he were a good coach. Maybe he is bad at winning the close ones? Or maybe it's that his teams blow big leads to lose squeakers? I don't know, and if someone with a better knowledge of the stat could comment and expose my rookie knowledge, it would be more clear. Look, I've been as frustrated as many fans watching the Van Gundy era; but Iso-ball under Rudy wasn't exactly ABA-worthy offensive brilliance, either. Van Gundy's system seems to rely on one point; making threes at a more efficient rate than your opponent. I do want Van Gundy to get another shot next year, and expected Alexander to retain him. To have fired Jeff now after a season out of his control, (and don't give me the excuse that he caused the injuries; old players get hurt sometimes regardless of the coach or system. Sam Cassell had a giant salad fork sticking out of his back last year, and yet you all want to sign him while wanting a youth movement) would be as stupid as the Timberwolves firing Flip Saunders. I believe that the NBA has their priorites completely mixed up; like Van Gundy has said time and time again, the gap between the best and worst teams in the league on any given night is small. Good coaching could add a few wins here and there from season to season, but the General Manager is far more important to defining the expected level of wins based on the talent level of the team. So why is it there is a yearly coaching carousel of proven winners, and yet one must show extreme incompetence as a GM to be fired? Van Gundy is going to get a few more shots around the league, and I believe that he certainly deserves one more with us next year.
Feigen this season has the biggest JVG mouthpiece I could imagine. When he's "editorialized" in the past I've trusted the words (and him) as it being generic beat-writer-in-the-know shtick. I defy anyone here to pull up a Feigen article from this year that didn't apply gloss to a JVG quote - especially the ones JVG probably wanted to take back. And the tone of this Feigen article is all wrong if you're a JVG fan (remember Feigen has nothing to do with a headline). Les supports JVG, then qualifies it. JVG agrees and seemingly attacks the franchise. Now if JVG has ever said anything about wanting more say in personnel decisions here or elsewhere, we've all certainly missed it.
LOL, those JVG's quotes are hilarious. Translations: Look at those ex-knicks signings, the veteran acquisitions, the move to give up Padget and keep Bowen and the decision to trade Mike James for Rafer Alston, NO, those are not my decisions, I know exactly what we need to win, but CD screw all up. It is CD's fault! LOL
poor swift will become complete disability. Even tonight, He only played 20 minutes, JVG msut hate swift too much
Yup. I loved it. This is also the reason why Stro just won't cut it unless he can pop open jumpers like JHo (when he's popping them, anyway).
Or they find other ways to get Swift involved in the offense other than getting him the ball in a low block ISO. I noticed this aspect of our offense right after the All Star break. It is not effective or efficient. One of the reasons I was so very pro-Stro was envisioning Stro's defender leaving the weakside to double Yao and Yao throwing the alley-oop to Stro. I don't recall this ever happening all season. I'm not a huge proponent of moving Yao to the high post but that definitely opens up a Yao and Stro 2 man game. I'm still don't think that overall the Rockets are fast enough to run UCLA high post cuts, but moving Yao away from the low block does open up some other things offensively. Lastly, for reasons I don't totally understand, this years' team is younger than last years' and is worse in transition offense. It's likley to never happen but with Yao's new post-toe surgery rebounding ability I'd love to see the Rockets 1, 2 and 4 force tempo while McGrady is part of the secondary break. OK...just some ways to use Stro other than trade material. Back on topic. Another year of Van Gundy doesn't bother me at all. I'm probably the only one with this opinion but I feel the season has been very humbling for VG. Being humbled forces one to think outside of the box or minimally re-evaluate your methodology. I keyed in on his use of "firepower", and the recognition of the need for a tall, slashing SG. In an Insiders interview with Patty Smith, he stated (paraphrasing) that the Rockets need things in an offense that are beyond Yao-centric and Tracy-centric. You can become less dependent on the Big 2 by putting cut (to the basket) options into the offense for the other players. Also, by running mis-direction plays which appear to be setups for Yao or McGrady but are in reality setups for the other Rockets.
To Le$$: Saying the right things in the media and doing the right things in reality is different. The Rockets' managemnt sucks last 10 years with CD and he still will be a senior consultant? Come on, bring in some new bloods. Daryl Morey is your best answer? I doubt it! Find a Jerry West or Joe Dumars. Not a guy who proved Brian Scalabrine worths a 5-year 15 millions contract. "Win now" sucks! Wasting 2 years of Yao and T-Mac and rebuilding through drafts sucks! Trying to acquire some good players? How? Who wants to trade for some scrubs? Do you have any cap space to spare? The Rockets will be a championship contender? When? To JVG: Not saying you aren't good but you're just not good enough! Your offense sucks! I always need to scroll down to the bottom to check your team's offense ranking sucks! With Yao and T-Mac and the Rockets aren't one of the top 10 offense teams? Tell me how? Your love for scrubs sucks! Your eyes for talents sucks! Your game plan sucks! A 6-year old boy knows what all you will do sucks! Mike Fratello, Brian Hill, and Hubie Brown are your brothers - same level coaches. Rick Carlisle is your elder brother becoz he is smarter and better looking. Maybe Rick is a future championship coach. Mike Dunleavy, Rick Adelman, and Jerry Sloan are your uncles - better coaches and they came so close to a championship. Larry Brown is your father - championship coach but needs to put down a notch becoz he’s a whinner. Pat Riley, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich are your godfathers - the ultimate championship coaches. Flip Saunders is a lucky coach. He got Kevin Garnett and now he gets the Pistons. He’s not a championship caliber coach in my eyes. But he may luck out this season becoz the Spurs are not healthy. Otherwise, I am sure Gregg Popovich and the Spurs will beat the Pistons becoz of coaching. To the Rockets’ fans: We are stuck. Rooting for the Rockets and Yao and T-Mac is our love! With Yao and T-Mac and 13 scrubs, the Rockets will be a contender is far away from the truth and the truth hurts. To JVG lovers: Your love for a guy looks like Smeagol is odd! Defense wins championship but not a coach who plays defense and defense only could win a championship. It’s like saying a Toyota Celica can run with a Ferrari becoz they are sport cars with 4-wheels. Good luck to your JVG love!
Don't delude yourself by placing all the blame on JVG. He wasn't here during those 4 straight years in the lottery - it was your buddies Uncle Les, Dawson and Rudy T. And yes, the numbers DON'T lie, this team has spent 5 of their last 7 years in the NBA Lottery. Given the current makeup of this "team" I doubt there is a coach alive ANYWHERE who can win with this team. It's the same situation in NY with Larry Brown. Is Brown a bad coach because the Knicks are garbage or should the blame go to the GM and the organization because that "team" was a mess before he became the coach? This year has been a perfect storm of sorts for the Rockets franchise. Dawson's bad drafts & free agent moves, the terrible scouting/player evaluation & key injuries have all combined to produce this "nuclear winter" of a season. For a long time Alexander has let things slide until he finds his team at the crossroads and the proverbial clock is ticking. It was 2 years ago that nearly everyone around here felt that this franchise was finally on its way to contender status. At that time, I openly questioned if the right people were in place at the top of this organization to make that happen. After two year of up and down basketball, all I can say with certainty is that question remains unanswered.
If JVG had no influence on personnel, how do you explain the long parade of old Knicks here? We all saw how much CD hated to trade Mike James away, but he did it anyway. If not because of JVG, why? I'm not solely blaming JVG. I'm sure CD has made some goofs (Stro). And I blame Les Alexander's cheapness for buying out Weatherspoon and Baker, thus depriving the team of a huge opportunity (Artest). But JVG deserves much of the blame. What we have been seeing this year is a team built to his inflexible requirements. And I'm sure a lot of free agents have been avoiding the team because of JVG's reputation for drastically shortening his players' careers.
Mr. Van Gundy was also not here for the championships, the 57-win season, or the run in the latter two rounds of the Western Conference finals. The current head coach's smug "don't blame me" attitude and disingenuous arguments expressed the last few days do nothing but drive fans away.
Sad, sad news. Does the entirety of the Toyota Center need to be wearing "Fire JVG" T-Shirts for management to take a hint?
"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." Why are you guys talking about Van Gundy staying or going? JVG says you don't need to be concerned with it. LOL. The ego on this guy is incredible.
