So you critique me for not having consistency when you're willing to give Rick Adelman a pass for not having won anything on this level but burn JVG for damn near doing the same thing? Being one of the best defensive teams should count for something in those 52 games won. After watching the playoffs I really don't know how we did it. Some of that has to be credited to Jeff keeping this team from shooting itself in the mouth and preparing for an early vacation after Yao went down. Instead this team continued to OVERACHIEVE on both ends of the floor. Juwan Howard had an above average year when he stepped into the starting lineup. Is Juwan Howard a starter on a contending team? No. But I'll give him credit for stepping up offensively even though his output in the playoffs was embarrassing. It was only reminiscent of a choker. Luther Head had a fabulous 42% from the arc this year but again he was a no-show against the Jazz. So lets blame Jeff for this deficiency. Maybe he should have gotten those guys a shooting coach after they completely forgot how to do anything but hurt us. Hayes was the only thing worth watching and I know for damn sure he won't be starting while Adelman is the coach. It's arguable if Rick would have even played him. Simply put, these 'roeplayers' CHOKED. Yao could have played better and Tracy could have attacked more. However you don't trade your star players you surround them with players who act like they know how to play on this level when it matters. I don't think you could have asked more from the big two but don't tell me that our roleplayers went into the postseason with that same fire and efficiency they had in the season. As for the others, Alston isn't a starter on a serious team and Shane Battier came off the bench in Memphis. Battier is awesome but keep perspective of your assets on this squad.. There is nothing outside of Tracy, Yao and Battier’s intangibles.
read my post. i am consistent. i acknowledge adelman hasn't won jack, and accordingly im not giving him any undue respect. i dont know why your'e giving it to jvg. you cant just say the players choked. they played the same game they've played all year. the shooting was off but we arent a great shooting team to begin with. we just had one of those stretches where we couldnt put the ball in the basket. and we couldnt defend boozer. just like in the regular season. so no, we didnt choke. we are what we are. the better team won. we didnt choke it away. but youre right about the players. just because im not happy with the coach, doesnt mean im automatically satisfied with the players. changes in coaching and roster need to be made before this team makes any progress.
I'm giving due to Jeff because he kept this team motivated with a pulse through a very low point in this season. He wouldn't allow these players to give it up so easily and we got HCA for it. EDIT: I am still in awe that we were one of the best three defensive teams in the league without the best center in the league for damn near half the season. BTW - Seven games are a big stretch to go cold. I'm going to watch Adelman as I am a Rocket fan first. I enjoyed watching the Kings so we'll see. But some of this anti-Gundy stuff has been vitriolic and has become redundant. I hope for nothing but success for Rick but I feel Jeff took the fall for lax management.
i agree. and if les actually thinks that rox are fine as they are, he will be in for a real big surprise. Morey has a ton of work, and I hope that he finds something real good in this years draft as well as something in the offseason. we can only hope
Again not to throw salt on anyone's wounds but JVG went 5-4 in April. And in must win games against Portland and Utah they lost. There only wins were against Sacramento, Portland Seatle, a depleted New Orleans team and an uninspired Phoenix team. If not for the total collapse of Utah the Rockets would have not had HCA. Also Deke came in for Yao and played some of his defensive basketball in years and clearly was one of the best defensive centers in the league during that stretch. Also Juwan stepped up and played his basketball as a Rocket. I don't know why he fizzled out to end the season you could give credit to JVG for motivating those guys. But in the playoffs when it really counted they were no shows.
So, you're willing to give JVG credit for motivating these players... the 40 something year old center that likely shouldn't be in the league, and the overpaid PF who clearly wouldn't have gotten minutes on any other playoff contender... and yet this team doesn't have a talent problem? (or maybe you agree it does... I have no clue which side of the fence the anti-JVG people are on.) The bottom line... the more you look at how this team compiled its 52 win record (dominating the east), and the more you look at the roster, I can't help but get the overwhelming feeling that we overachieved (or at least weren't as good as our record said we were). The playoff outcome looks less suprising everyday.
Les talking about Clyde Drexler going on for 20 minutes about how great Rick is... Imagine Clyde talking about anyting for 20 straight minutes with his limted vocab...
Overall impression from the press conference... Adelman is very comfortable.. being the veteran that he is. Morey sounds nervous. Alexander was defensive... way more than he needs to be.
Good assessment. As for Les, is he taking this board seriously? Sounded like he was specifically addressing some concerns expressed here about due diligence on the coach search.
and yet we're THAT close to winning it all. u see how the spurs have handled the jazz?? they didn't D up as good as we did, but they scored. so JVG going is good for us. over emphasis on defense is not a good thing
In JVG's book, there is no such thing as "offense". What normal people call "offense" is called "transition defense" in JVG world.
I agree...I really like JVG but it was really difficult watching the team struggle on the offensive end especially when we have two superstars who can really dominate on the offensive end of the floor. I think JVG's style made our stars struggle more than they had to.
oh no, he OVER-emphasized it. how can u underemphasize offense when u never blame/mention it in the first place. the reason for EVERY loss is on our defense (which includes defensive reboudning).
If you expend so much energy on defense it could hurt your offense.....got to get some balance....and pick your spots. DD
when on PTI and JVG called himself a "defensive-minded" coach, i dont regret this decision. why cant u be a basketball coach?
As a one time solid JVG supporter [albeit early], I too came to the conclusion that it was/is time for him to exit. JVG's personal issues with man management as well as strategy flexibility did him in in the end. It is like Moses and Joshua. JVG is Moses while Adelman is our Joshua [hopefully]. Thank you JVG nonetheless.
JVG should have consulted with Dikembe about dealing with managment... he knew both Moses and Joshua since they were very small children.
