8 Questions, 8 Answers - Aldridge on Francis and JVG

Steve seems well aware of the popular criticism about him and Yao in the last paragraph.


By David Aldridge
Special to ESPN.com

It's tipoff time.

You have questions.

We have answers.

1. Can Steve and Jeff find common ground?


Steve Francis and Jeff Van Gundy are on the same page in Houston ... for now.
On Houston's first day of training camp, Jim Jackson pulled Steve Francis to the side.

"He said, 'Yo, you've got to come in here and believe what coach is trying to teach us. If you try to fight it, it's never gonna work,' " Francis recalled. And thus crystallized the task for the post-Rudy Tomjanovich Rockets: trying to forge a bridge between Francis and Jeff Van Gundy. Van Gundy's penchant for disciplined, inside-out basketball -- meaning, get the damn ball to Yao Ming, would you? -- would seem to be anathema to Francis, who got the green light from Rudy for four years -- and naturally remained fiercely loyal to T up to and after Tomjanovich's resignation.

"This man (Tomjanovich) gave me the ball the first day of practice," Francis said. "And when I was going through my Meniere's (the disease that produced vertigo and migraine headaches in Francis during the 2001-02 season), he still stood by me."

Francis allows that the adjustment to Van Gundy's style was tough early in camp. Van Gundy made no secret of the fact that he thought the Rockets weren't in shape. They're now required to do seven miles on a bike three or four times a week after practice. "Go through a couple of 50 Cent and Jay Z CDs on that," Francis jokes. Practice is no longer run at a leisurely pace. And Van Gundy is demanding that Francis -- second in the league in turnovers last season -- take better care of the rock. He's played him some at two guard during the preseason.

"I haven't tried to overburden him," Van Gundy said. "My two things to him were one, he can get the same shots off of less dribbles, and two, the great players play both ends, offense and defense, and practice well. Every great player I know has done that. And if he wants to be a championship-caliber player, which I think he is driven to be, that's what he'll be. And he has been that so far. He's made really dramatic steps forward defensively."

For now, Francis says he's happy to do whatever Van Gundy asks, including being more verbal with his teammates.

"A lot of people want to say 'He's going to take the ball out of Steve's hands,' " Francis says. "Yao can't bring the ball up the basketball court. So at least I've got that job, to bring the ball up. I think things have been working out great for us."

I'm withholding judgment on this one, for now.

 

Here's the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview2003/columns/story?columnist=aldridge_david&id=1647205

 

Here's another article. It actually seems like the San Antonio paper is putting the quotes in their right context. Check out Stevie saying he's looking for Yao to have a breakout season in the new offense!

http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=200&xlc=1073950

Rockets adjust to Van Gundy

By Glenn Rogers
San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 10/26/2003 12:00 AM

HOUSTON — Coach Jeff Van Gundy always has been able to turn a neat phrase. Once, in a moment of inspiration, he referred to fellow coach Phil Jackson as "Big Chief Triangle."

Now, as the new coach of the Houston Rockets, Van Gundy will need all the verbal inspiration he can find as he tries to motivate a team known for inconsistent offense and raggedy defense, a team that has been absent from the playoffs for four straight seasons.

Thus far, he has lamented that he is battling "pockets of resistance," suggesting that perhaps he is an avid reader of the news in Iraq or that he simply takes a warlike approach to the turbulence of the NBA.

Van Gundy comes from a tradition of playoff-bound teams marked by disciplined, scrappy and tough play at both ends. He has anchored his offense and defense with big guys in the middle.

In New York, he had center Patrick Ewing. In Houston, he has Yao Ming on the floor and Ewing on the bench, now an assistant coach charged with schooling Yao.

Van Gundy also has Tom Thibodeau, a longtime assistant coach under Pat Riley and Van Gundy, on his staff.

The coach hopes he can bring a rugged and victorious look to Houston, but the early goings suggest Van Gundy might be dipping into his reservoir of winning phrases before he samples the winning column.

"I've been fortunate to be around winning teams and I know what one looks like and what a losing team looks like," he said after a preseason bashing by the New Orleans Hornets. "We're not playing hard. We don't have the effort."

Van Gundy worried that his group might be falling into the comfortable embrace of losing and that it would be turning out the usual "we need time to jell" throwaways.

"I don't want to hear those excuses," he said.

Still, jelling is paramount. Though the Rockets bring back basically the same group that toiled under Rudy Tomjanovich, Van Gundy is inserting new offensive and defensive schemes that will, if successful, revolve more around Yao than Steve Francis.

He admits that the team lagged behind in development because of some new faces and the brand new coach.

"But you get out of the game what you put in, you get what you deserve," he said of the need for sustained, concentrated play. "We should all be on the clock here, ready to win, to show progress. Jelling talk is from people who are not ready to win."

Francis said the players and coach are involved in a learning process.

"He's very detailed," Francis said of Van Gundy. "He wants us to stay with our defense and our game plan for the full 48 minutes."

Van Gundy is detailed and focused enough to have banished Yao's translator from team huddles during timeouts. He said sign language can be used if essential and it's apparent he wants no distractions.

Actually, judging from Yao's conversations with players in the locker room, verbal instructions should suffice.

Observers tend to smile a bit when talking about Francis feeding Yao and spreading the ball around more. But the point guard said he's in tune with the inside-out offensive concept.

"Teams have been winning championships the last few years with the inside-out game," he said. "We're looking for Yao to have a breakout season with the new offense. Right now, it's a question of knowing where we're all supposed to be and my making sure they are there. Then I will be more comfortable."

Van Gundy is quick to assure Francis that the new offense doesn't necessarily mean that the ball must go to Yao first on every possession.

"Inside-out is probably one of the least understood terms as far as fans and maybe players are concerned," Van Gundy said. "I think the fear is, when you say inside-out that you'll just go to the post every time. (Actually) you can get it inside five ways. You can get transition layups and second shots. You can drive it, you can cut and you can post. We hope to play inside-out using all of those (means)."

The immediate goal will be a tightly designed offense that gets the ball into a decent shot location before the shot clock is ticking down the final seconds and Francis or Cuttino Mobley are throwing up prayers.