who says hes a great coach...show me one quote. he got his ass kicked at baylor as a head coach...then sold shoes for converse. hes been off the bench since after the first championship right? or did he leave later? either way, he is no great coach. and is he going to be dedicated like thibodeau and go to china all summer with yao? is he going on road trips now? why does anyone think cd would have done better with yao than thibodeau? lets face it change for change sake is not always good. i think they will miss thibodeau more than they realize...and yao may not realize it either. i heard yao has told people around the toyota center that he misses thibodeau and cd doesnt push him as much as thibodeau and doesnt watch any film with him. lets wait for the results to annoit cd something special
Shaq has not dominated since the rule changes. Yao is the better offensive player and has been for at least 2 years. Shaq can't hit a FT to save his life, they have to go away from now at the end of games because it is so easy for teams to just wrap him up and make him shoot 2 freebies. Shaq cannot step out and shoot the 15 footer when they triple team him down low. He never could. (That's what separates Hakeem from Shaq.) Yao always could, he just hasn't been given that opportunity. That's all fixing to change with the combination of Adelman and CD working to move Yao out high and working on his low post game. The poster that put Yao in the Kareem mode is correct. Of all the great centers, Yao most resembles Kareeem with his size and speed but super high IQ. I sincerenly Yao is going to make his mark in this league with his combination low post/high face up game. He is going to dominate next year, even better than last year before the injury.
CD is not going to be an assistant coach. But I don't see anything wrong with CD works out with Yao in the summer. This does not take anything away from what thibodeau has done for Yao. BTW, from the article, the talk about Shanghai somehow leads me to think maybe CD will go to China with Yao.
... he would probably be the most coveted free agent in the market BEFORE Rashard Lewis and we would have to fork out 15 million a year for him
Didn't you read the quotes that D.o.D put up from Rudy's book? There are all kinds of great coaches, why are you so down on CD, if he can get Yao to be even better, why not let him work with him? Tom did a good job with Yao, no doubt, but having more coaching can only help. JVG should have let CD work with Yao, that is ridiculous that he didn't. DD
It's always nice to get a different perspective. Working with Dream and CD surely has given Yao that but the Rockets should have kept Thibodeau on. He seemed like the guy who lived to make Yao better and he certainly is no slouch when it comes to knowledge.
I have no doubt CD is a very good coach. He would not have been kept around as long as he did if he was not any good. The NBA is a highly competitive business, even for the assistant coaches. I also hope Yao improves. However, to turn every workout, every new thing Yao is supposely doing into an indictment of the previous coaches is ridiculous.
How are they turning it into an indictment of the other coaches? JVG's system had different requirements than Adelman's system. I think they are just trying to get the word out there that the direction is different under the new coach. I for one, am happy that management and coaching staff are finally on the same page. DD
I agree yao_fan, I can't believe the team would agree to JVG not allowing Dawson and Dream to help Yao. That should have been an early warning sign that he was to infexible and wasn't going to work out as our head coach. I know coaches have their territory, but what ever happen to doing what is best for the team and that's one of the main reason's JvG is gone today. He had way to many territories to protect and they came first before the wellfare of the the team. Enough about JVG he's in the past now. Dawson's teaching Yao the skyhook has to be a huge step in the right direction. Also using his body to back off defenders and gain room to operate. I love the work Tom Thibodeau did with Yao, but you have to ask yourself what the hell was Ewing doing on the Rockets bench all that time besides collecting a pay check?: was he our Point Guard assistant coach or something?
cd below 500 at baylor...huge part of being in the lottery for so long. no one talks about himself more than cd. and jvg allowing thibodeau to work with yao solely worked out pretty well dont you think
Have to disagree there, Yao is a finess player because his approach to scoring tends to go away from contact for example the fade aways he shoots. What the defense does has nothing to do with making a player finess player. Dream got hacked all the time to was he a power player?
You can't truly be dominant until the pieces around you are the right fit. You need people around him that can create of the dribble, make their own shot from the outside and the inside...to keep defenses honest. This helps Yao, the role-players and the whole team become dominant. The Rockets will hopefully be closer to this goal with the following added to the mix RA,MJ, BW, new 4 ?, developing novak, vspan etc. Couple all that with Yao learning some new moves, not being one(post only) dimensional, passing, scoring face up from the ft line/near 3pters and mixing it up down low....oh and going one whole season without any major or heck, w/out any major or minor injuries..like in 02-03 and 03-04. That is key...if we can do that (along with tmac.......heck the whole dammned team staying healthy...like the spurs did this year)...look out. rant over
Ewing was just a JVG helping out a NY knick situtation. Not sure if Ewing helped the team in return. I think you are right about JVGs inflexibility and when you consider his unwillingness to develop and trust rookies/young talent and his over reliance on Vets........I am glad he is gone.
I agree. TT did great work with Yao Ming, he deserves credit for all of his basketball improvement. Where does Antony Falsone stand in all of this? Is he still working with Yao or did he leave with the Van Gundy people?
again, why are being so optimistic? hakeem aint gonna suddenly make yao a forceful player. same w/ dawson. it's all on yao. these guys are basically "motivational" tools for yao. and after what the organization saw what happened w/ him in the jazz series, they desperately wanted yao to seek more help on his "power" game. even if ur a "fundamental" player like duncan, u have to "power" up your game at times. hopefully yao can do that. but it's all on him. i mean, the things hakeem and dawson are teaching ain't some "new major" inventions on the game of basketball. it's what most analysts talk about when they see yao play. it's what we talk about every time we see yao struggle. but hopefully by having arguably the best 2-way player of all time in dream, yao can make that leap.
I believe Falsone ended his Rockets tenure a few years ago, and then Yao hired him as his personal strength/fitness coach. He has been on Yao's payroll, not the Rockets payroll. So, I don't think JVG leaving has anything to do with Falsone's job. He still works with Yao under their own arrangement.
The more trade-craft that YAO learns from different coaches and great players (DREAM). The more proficient and the longer he will be able to play, hopefully with less injuries. I just hope that S. Roberts 7' 3oolbs + dosent damage him!
Let's see.... Rudy T and Hakeem Olajuwon say CD is a great coach/teacher and "denniscd" says he isn't. It's gonna be tough trying pick who may be right...
