Three years JVG coached here, the best he gave you are one 50 wins season, two early first round exits, one lottery year, and the worst game 7 defeat in NBA history. In his fourth year coaching in Houston, even homers are still not sure if Rox can make conference semi or conference final in this season. A team featuring two of the most talented and well-known players is still considered mediocre by the critics outside of Houston. When talking about contenders, people still talk about Spurs, Mavs, Suns, Pistons, Heats, and this season they are even mentioning Jazz, Nuggets, and Lakers... No one even cares about Rox as a team. Why? Because this team is not worth the discussion. They are not particularly bad and they are not particularly good. They are what they are now: mediocre. And you already consider JVG is the best thing that could happen to Rox? And you even f*cking believe that? Wow. Well, I can only say keep believe what you believe. But I believe Rox can do better. They can do far better. When ppl talk about Rox, they should speak in owe just like every time they are talking about Spurs, Mavs and Suns. It is not all on JVG's coaching of course, but don't forget he had a huge influence on Rox's roster and served like an assistant GM in the past few years. This team is assembled in JVG style and basically every player is what he wanted. So he should be accountable for his roster too. Oh, BTW, please don't give me that JVG is the reason why Yao is so successful BS. Can you name any championship coaches would have under-developed Yao given Yao's talent and work ethic? Phil Jackson, Pop, Larry Brown, Pat Raily or Rudy T? Or even these coaches without rings: Jerry Sloan, Rick Adelman? So Yao wouldn't have broken through in his FIFTH year under those coaches? Ridiculous.
Before you say no one is talking roxs as contenders, EVERYONE is talking rox as contenders, even ESPN. You can say any coach is bad because they have a star player and no championship. All those coaches you named had a championship recently, is that really fair to compare to JVG? Even the coaches without rings have had their slumps. Consider this: Yao and TMac were fairly heathly in our 50 win season, we took the mavs to game 7 with a significantly bad roster minus Yao and Tmac. To even make that a series is a accomplishment looking at the rosters. Let's see, Phil Jackson had Kobe and took the Suns to game 7 (the same suns that were defeated by the Mavs, similar but not quite exactly the one we played in game 7). Since Phil is so great as you claimed, why wouldn't he be able to beat the Suns, a non defensive team and you know the game slows down in the playoffs.) Then going to: Yao's foot injury, TMac's back. If your bench is mediocre and your star players are out combined half the season, your team isn't going anywhere. This is the main reason we arn't in the same breath as the elite teams. We haven't done anything recently and TMac has been out a while, now Yao so what makes this year different from the last? Hopefully it will but the coach is doing a great job so far. Don't confuse superstars with regular players. Yao does all the work during the off season that makes him a superstar. He spends minimal time with JVG in the off season. Yes, Yao probably would have broken out this year with another coach too but that's the same for anyone else. They are superstars because they work themselves not the coaches. So what's your point? As far as JVG having influenced the roster, no doubt. But you only get what you can get. If there was a better choice, of course we would have the better player. It's not just pick and choose. We got Tmac for franchise and mobley, enough said. As for JVG being the best thing to happen to the rockets? Who knows? What if we had Phil Jackson or Larry Brown etc... Who knows? What as a fan can you do? What if TMac's back was fine and Yao was indestructible, would you be complaining about JVG then?
^^^^^^ That's funny. I tuned in to TNT the other night for the Nuggets game and they were talking the Suns, the Mavs, the Spurs, the Nuggets but nary a work about the Rockets. In fact at one point, they were talking defense and I think it was Barkley rated San Antonio #1 and Dallas #2 defensively and was saying that for Denver to be a serious contender they had to raise their defensive standing up from #29 in the league. Still no mention of the Rox. Crazy.
This is even funnier because you were waiting for Barkley to say something good about the Rockets. Better yet, anyone from TNT cast to say anything good about the Rockets, even ESPN has Yao as an MVP candidate.
LOL, omg, I was thinking exactly the same. he said "well, the best defense in the league right now is..." and I am like "omg! Barkley will finally give us credit" just to have him finish his sentence "S.A, then Dallas.." I am like OK because they have better records, now he will mention us, but instead, he was like "then, Utah comes in the 3rd place". so I was like "Barkley is still what he is, like many others, a Rockets hater" and I went to sleep... even though this is a little off-topic, what drives me crazy is Kenny Smith going "when a star goes to a new team, the new team has to adjust to the star, not the opposite". he said it once, I am like 'he didn't mean what he said", but I've heard him say it over and over again when talking about AI. and I am thinking what the hell is wrong with this anal-yst? the guy is a total r****d. so when AI goes to the Nuggets, Nuggets have to adjust to his style? what is he talking about? he even said "when Barkley went from Philly to the suns, he suns adjusted to him". TNT anal-yst going crazy!
Barkley is a r****d. He wouldn't give credit to Houston's defense early in the season, and his reasoning was that we play slow. Well that's true, but even taking that into account we still have a great defense. But then, last night, he says Denver is a terrible defensive team because they give up a lot of points. What he neglects to point out is that the Nuggets are by far the fastest-paced team in the league. In actuality, Denver's defensive efficiency is 10th best. They are very good at forcing turnovers, and they don't foul much.
This thread should be locked by now. And ya'll should've realized by now that Charles Barkley comments ain't worth the effort to dissect. He's an idiot. Period.
1. Two white rookies: There are two of them, both are white, both are rookies, so what's wrong with calling them two white rookies? 2. Racism: There's racism and there's racism. I think people's perception are colored by race when it comes to NBA players, but that's a different kind of "racism" than, say, going to Neo Nazi rallies on a regular basis. I do think white players get overhyped fairly regularly when it comes to basketball if only because people just don't expect white players to be any good. So, they act all surprised whenver a decent white guy comes onto the scene-- Szczerbiak, Van Horn, Jason "White Chocolate" Williams, Morrison, etc have all been subject to this. Things like this happens, and it does have to do with perceptions of race, it may be "racism", but it's a totally different business than committing hate crimes. If you still don't get the difference, watch the following educational video on racism: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pw_tCP-tCtk"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pw_tCP-tCtk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> 3. Is JVG the best coach in the NBA? When did I say that? And is it relevant to anything here? Whether he's the best in the league or not (and my opinion is "not") doesn't change the validity of the critiques against him. There are legitimate criticisms against even the best coach in the NBA, whether you think it's Popovich or Jackson or Larry Brown (a couple years ago). I have no problem with people critiquing any player or coach, but I do feel like pointing it out (sometimes in maturbatory threads, yes) when the "reason" people give to b****ing about a coach or a player is baseless in my opinion.
A couple of things...We tend to label things as 'racist' when the correct term many times is 'prejudice'. I have no problem with anyone referencing anyone else by their race as long as it's also done when the racial roles are reversed. If we're intellectually consistent with our labeling and what people are called then at least we won't be hypocritical. As for the hype, it works both ways. Sometimes good white players are hyped possibly for the reasons you mentioned. The contra to that is our societal perception of who's "athletic" and who's not makes it exponentially tougher to break the stereotypical stigma's that permeate. I've read people on this board knee-jerkingly say they wouldn't want David Lee because he's un-athletic and couldn't give us a rebounding presence. Huh? It seems we subconsciously pigeonhole people unnecessarily -- even those that may be the same race we are. Maybe it's a self-loathing or a self-deprecating thing, I'm not sure. Many players get overhyped, regardless of race. Szcerbiak no more than Michael Olowakandi, Van Horn no more than than Pervis Ellison. It just stands out more when the players happen to be white because they are the minority in the league.
Start a thread about it. This thread is not worthy of us discussing this. We will talk about this in a better thread someday. patience...my brother!
btw Rockets2K, I still need to know what game you want to go to. If I were you, I'd say the AI/Melo game...but then again....maybe later when Yao is kicking everyone's ass again.
