I agree but how do you get that toughness back? I think it starts with Yao then Shane then Scola then Brooks. Not really a Martin fan because he shows no emotion. Lowry has lost that bulldog in him but its only been 3 games with him. Budinger (soft), Martin (soft), Hill (soft), Jeffries (soft), Lee (potential to be tough). The players Morey has brought in are as soft as Charmin toilet paper.
34 GAMES??? You can't say we had 'ridiculously bad' talent but still want Gundy - the talent was what he wanted, hard nosed scrappers who excelled in 1 dimension. How many games did we win last season without our superstars? Which coach develops the talent available in a better fashion? Which has the better career winning record? Which one has the better record with the Rockets? You can have Gundyball all you want - but it sucks and even though we've lost some crappy games this year, Adelman is, and always will be, the better coach.
Which coach is currently running a 1-6 team stacked with available talent that won't get played at the right moments in a game?
I would want JVG back if he would just smile once in a while. YOU KNOW HE WOULD HAVE A HEART ATTACT IF THEY GIVE 118 POINTS A GAME Like THEY DO NOW. Its fun watching a 122-118 game, but not if you lose. If players didnt play defense they wouldnt play. Budinger, Brooks. Martin, they wouldnt throw up crappy shots 5 seconds into the 24 second clock. Morey would have to get him a big mean center, and a mean guard, which they dont have. We ould have games like 75-68. But we would be in the playoffs. THIS TEAM, THIS YEAR, WONT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS.
Best thing I like about Gundy. God I hate having good players that don't know what they're going to do on the court.
Yes and we can have JVG trade for more intangibles on draft day and ignore the Rudy Gay's of the world. Say, what is the difference in Gay's and Battier's stats and their EFF rating this year??? Where is Thabo Sefalosha now? JVG would make a great Tom Thibodeaux to Rick's head coaching. Never happen though, too much egos.
I'm not sure why everyone is so surprised we have no identity. We had our best season in a decade, then turned around and got rid of the two toughest, most hard-nosed players on that team -- Artest and Landry. We now have a team full of soft players surrounding a soft, injury-proned part-time center. If you want to point a finger at someone, point it at Morey, this is his roster.
Personally I love JVG and his style of basketball, especially on the defensive end. but RA has done a great job here. he developed AB into a border-line allstar last season. Like someone else has said, what we need is an identity. We don't have the scoring power of the Suns to try and outscore opponents, and now we have lost our defensive passion as well. Last season was fun, but I felt that because of last season and the success we had from running and scoring, the team has lost its desire to play solid defence. If I was RA, i would do exactly what JVG did. BENCH who ever that does not play defence.
Arguing the departure of Landry is fairly stupid. Arguing the leaving of Artest is completely idiotic. I submit the following: 1. Artest wanted to win a ring and frankly just wanted to BE IN LA and be a bigshot dude. That was his decision. 2. The only way we would have possibly retained would have been to pay him significantly more than he is earning in LA, which would have been a bad idea, given his age and the fact that we clearly wanted to get younger during what was a rebuilding year. 3. I liked Artest. But we know, and everyone knows that when he thinks he's the #1 offensive option, (and he would have been at the beginning of the 09-10 season), that is a VERY VERY VERY BAD thing. He gave LA fans fit with his iso offense, and he would have been a thousand times worse doing that here as the head dude. It doesn't matter at all how tough you are if you can't put the ball in the freaking basket. Not to mention if his Sacramento and Indiana tenure post-brawl are any indication, Artest gets crazy in a bad way if he is stuck on a bad team. We didn't need that at all. I think the other thing is that we're clouded by the current perception of Artest, which has become more positive thanks to his performance in Game 7 and that awesome press conference. That would never have happened here. Artest never would have redeemed himself in the national media if he had stayed here and chucked up shots, and it was better for him and for us to leave and earn a ring in LA. I liked and still like him, but I have no regrets that he left. At all.
BRING BACK THE BANNING RULE FOR ANYONE WHO POSTS AN ALL CAP TITLE WITH THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I can't really control that, but knote32 is completely out of control, and is worthless in my opinion. Your only survival around here is feeding DaDakota fish. come on, dude (I can't say 'bro just yet), chill OUT on the all caps and exclamations. It's just going to give you a stupid rep like DaDakota got when he was your age, screaming at us after EVERY LOSS THAT I COULD HAVE COACHED BETTER AND WON!!!!!
Why are we bringing up Rudy Gay? Now I have to do this... Yao / Miller / Hayes Scola / Hill Gay / Ariza Martin / Budinger / Lee Brooks / Smith Let Lowry walk, and trade Artest instead of Ariza. So much for money-ball.
As I've mentioned I work at a driver license office. One day I was sitting in a cubicle next to a co-worker who was processing this teenage young lady for a driver license. I was busy doing something, when I looked over and saw that the girl's last name was Van Gundy. I started looking to the left and right of this camera structure in front of my desk to see who the Dad was. He caught on and made a game of it, I would look left and he would look right. Then I got a look at him and sure enough it was Jeff. I told him that I really liked his basketball commentary on television. No one else in the office knew who he was.
Thats a tough choice....painful offense or painful defense???? Lets fuse them together and see what happens
