I don't know if that's fair. You might be right. But in New York, he basically wanted to run the team through the center---problem is, Ewing was past his prime. Then he had a donut team with no center, to which management kept adding undersized power forwards. The only offense that the team might have run would have been something that didn't expose its weaknesses too much. That's the same thing that JVG basically said in today's paper, are we a fast-break team? iso team? pick-and-roll team? no, we're trying to play to what strengths we might have. Whatever those might be, given the youth and/or basketball-stupidity of the players.
But, "tozai" is still correct in saying that "What offense has he ever shown?". He just didn't show any offensive coaching ability during his tenure with the Knicks, it might be the players fault, but we don't know that until he can prove us wrong with the current Rockets roster. We'll come back to check this thread in Feburary, then at the end of the season. --daoshi
That quote is not encouraging at all. You do play to your strengths, but a team needs a style of play to generate consistency. At least according to Kenny Smith...lol JVG is not known for his offense. He's known for defense and intensity. Either he needs an assistant like Eddie Jordan to Byron Scott or Carril to Adelman, or we're going to keep seeing this low output. And about Hakeem taking 10 years...so what? The center position was not as weak as it is now. What about players who didn't take that long? Or players who were very good, but never won? Don't compare Yao to Hakeem. It shouldn't take that long now for Yao to be a dominant force. The second best center doesn't mean much. Being dominant and unstoppable does. With his size and skills he should be. I'm starting to think he lacks the mental/heart/intangible to be that kind of leader and force however. People need to think about that before deciding to build around him.
Exactly! Maybe Yao could take us to the Finals in his 6 or 7th year, and actually win it then. As opposed to 2nd year, get knocked out, or tenth and win it. Each player is different.
With all the athletic ability of Akeem and Sampson, it was not enough. So, there's no "should have." They were outsmarted and "out-talented." The better TEAM won. The Rockets only had a 51-31 record vs the 63-19 Celts. The Rox were a young aspring team...they hadn't proved anything. What I was hoping was the following year we'd come back stronger (87-88). Use the finals as a platform for learning. But it just got worse from then on...until 92-93...after we rebuilt the team. It was key that Sampson be a part of the team. When he left, we went into a slump. Kinda like Griffin, this year, when he left the team. A wasted high draft pick. That can destroy a teams growth.
I have always felt that the Rockets made a critical mistake after drafting Hakeem in not attempting to trade Sampson to Portland for their pick and then using that pick to get Jordan (Portland wanted a big man and Sampson was light years better than Sam Bowie. Hell yes, they would have made the trade). Just think about a team with Hakeem AND Michael Jordan. At the time, they were completely enamoured with the "Twin Towers" concept that never really panned out. That's what I feel was a prime reason it took so long for them to win it all with Hakeem. Rockets management simply did a horrible job of surrounding him with good championship caliber players. They weren't smart at all in their player evaluations - they were cheap and short-sighted...much like today except they are no longer cheap - they are still terrible in their player evaluations.
JVG knows X's and O's, it's not rocket science. Everbody makes it sound like it's some great mystery to know how to run an offense. We played offense like crap last year and years before that. The hard part is getting the players to perform. I would have to say JVG is going about it the right way, start on the defensive side of the ball first the work on the offense second.
