yeah. you are right. a 6'5 unathletic pf with no offensive game is exactly what jvg wanted. a weak 6'10, slow shooter who cant do anything else is exactly what jvg wanted. a rookie euro combo guard is exactly what jvg wanted. did jvg want shooters? yes, but guys that could do more as well did jvg want a backup pg? yes, but a competent and proven one, im sure. your quote does say it all. coach desides who plays and management has to fill the needs of the coach...that didnt happen, or at least a very poor effort by management. thank you, its even more clear than ever.
What else did JVG say? There had to be more than this. No talk about the finals? Nothing about his future? His brother? Billy DOnovan situation? Working for ABC?
and bonzi didnt want to play..."nuff" said. Discrediting a coach by using bonzi isnt really a 'winner', the dude is a proven punk and a proven moron. look, im not looking to blame management or the coach but lets not try to pretend that jvg caused all the problems and with him gone everything will be hunky dorey, or morey as it were. rockets dont have enough good players, and thats what it comes down to. I wish people wouldnt overreact so much and freak out when one team losses to a better one. which is essentially whats happened the last several years.
There is no conflict between what Lindsey said and what Van Gundy said. The personnell people factor in the coach's preference when making a transaction (even if it's not the sole consideration, and even if they are not always right about whether a player will fit the coach's preference). The coach has some say in signing off on each decision, however, the ideas and the scouting has to be done by the personnell department, the coach simply does not have time to do all this.
Van Gundy also said that everyone new that he wanted to come back as coach even though he had turned down extensions twice and showed complete ambivilance in the media about returning until Adelman was interviewed. I bet he would not even acknowledge that he had a chance to upgrade the roster at the trade deadline but turned it down because he liked the team chemistry. Funny how everyone last year said that the Battier trade had JVG's stamp all over it and now for the 1st time he is trying to distance himself from it. He was the damn coach, if he did not like the trade then he should have said something then and not try to crawfish now. Good riddance JVG.
JVG never said he didn't like it. He said Les didn't like it. JVG loves Battier, it's common knowledge. Why are you so worked up?
Do you guys remember CD's explanation after the trade. He basically shook his head and said Gay had to much to learn but you could tell he only half believed it himself. Battier is JVG's baby no matter how they spin it and then we give them Swift too because his value was negative. Playing for JVG seems to turn a lot of guys value from possitive to negative in a very shot time.
Yea. You and Jeff were thousands of miles away in the Bahamas smoking reefer when he saw the picks on ESPN Deportes and he said "Dude. They really boinked me with that pick. Look. That Moron Morey traded for Battier and I really wanted a third scorer. This deal is gonna get me fired." and You said " Don't worry dude, I am the one who knows the truth and I've got your back. Everyone knows the coaches aren't involved in the draft."
Van Gundy was always skilled at distancing (by public perception)himself from GM - trade - draft decisions. Never took any responsibility. Van Gundy's handprints were all over the deal to trade TAylor to NY for MOOchie Vin Baker. I would have like to trade Taylor for something- like PJ Browne I really wish Van Gundy had made his desires known to continue coaching to the Owner Do you really think the GM or Owner makes decisions independent of the coach?
The Moochie trade was all about salary cap saving. Leaving alone the fact that PJ Brown might not be availiable at the time of that trade and leaving alone the fact that PJ Brown was very much the type of player Van Gundy loves, do you really think Van Gundy was concerned about the salary cap? Van Gundy's role in that trade is likely limited to the fact that, given acquisition of Juwan Howard who was playing solid basketball in the middle of that season, he no longer had any use for Mo Taylor.
You will find there are some who actually believe that coaches have no input in who they coach and who management trades for. There aren't many. But they are out there and endangered like the spotted owl. They also believe the moon is made of cheese and all own one of those elevator passes seniors used to sell freshman back when I was in high school and will argue to this day that there was an elevator.
OK- we got rid of Taylor's contract a year early by trading for MOOchie and Baker- I agree. We got nothing for Taylor is my point. MOOchie could not play. Baker could not play. New Orleans offered Browne for Taylor plus a draft pick before Moochie and BAker were acquired
If that's true... given the fact that everyone complains about how JVG doesn't like rookies, do you really think, to the extent there is a disagreement between he and managment, he would be on the side of keeping the pick, saving the money, instead of acquiring a very good defensive vet who fits his style to a T? We are talking about a guy who threw a tantrum over trading Oakley for Camby here. I really think if that was an option, the more realistic guess would be that JVG would prefer having PJ, but managment would rather keep the pick (having traded away their 2003 AND 2004 first rounders) and dump the salary ($7-8 extra million bucks saved doesn't go to JVG's pocket, it goes to Les' pocket).
I originally wanted Larry Brown before the Pistons upped the ante and Les wouldn't/couldn't afford him. I blew that one for a true fact...we'd probably still be struggling to get over the damage Brown would have done in his "2 seasons per team" term limits. VG was the right coach for the team when it had Francis, Mobley and Cato. However, as the team changed VG kept overemphasizing one end of the court to the point where we had Battier, Hayes and Alston as starters. I'm tired of debating how much of this Van Gundy is/was responsible for the personnel. The bottomline to me is very easy to get to. The Van Gundy Rockets (whether his design, Les's design, Morey's design, CD's design, Lindsey's design or some majority vote of all of them) were far too unbalanced toward defense and far too oriented toward standstill spotup one dimensional shooters. If the management that remains has any clue, they need to keep TMac and Yao and clean house with the rest.
Good post. "Clean house" might be a little strong, but not much. If all we do is move the furniture, I'm going to be pissed off.
It's not so much about cleaning house, or moving furniture, it's about adding furniture. The living room has a few nice pieces, but is pretty bare otherwise.
