i disagree. it's not going back to that kind of basketball...where defense was an after-thought. i've been hearing, "it's going to more up-tempo style" for years now. hasn't happened. isn't happening.
I think everyone realizes that Jeff Van Gundy is an absolutely brilliant defensive coach, possibly the best in the game. However, it's not like he and his staff taught each individual Rocket how to play better man defense or anything; it's his system that limits possession and limits points and helps stop the other team. Van Gundy introduced the same basic defense that his great Knick teams had, by packing the paint and forcing contested jumpshots as much as possible. Yao and Deke took on the role of Patrick Ewing and Marcus Camby, and Chuck Hayes did the best that he could to play the role of Charles Oakley. Once again, it's not like the Rockets players can just "remember how to play defense" when Adelman comes in. It's the team defense, his own system, that Van Gundy ingrained into their brains that made the Rockets good, not their individual skills--in fact, it can be argued that outside of Battier and Tmac when he's sufficiently motivated, none of our players are anything special defensively. Adelman will undoubtedly have his own system. And there's only so much practice time that a coach can utilize; if you expect offense to improve, don't be surprised when the defense suffers.
If you score, you win if they don't score, you might win why? b/c when they don't score, guess what the Rockets didn't score either. good one.
Defensive efficiencies of some playoff teams (note, not def. FG%): Jazz - 19th Suns - 13th Nets - 14th Warriors - 17th Wizards - 28th Lakers - 24th
ok...find me the team that won an NBA title that wasn't a superior defensive squad. i can point you to champs that weren't strong offensive teams. you can't do it the other way around. not in the past 20 years.
Why would that be telling? The Spurs are a better team than the Rockets. If it tells anything it's that the Jazz came to play in the playoffs or the Spurs choked.
I don't care about what other teams did or will do. Are you not tired of hearing bill worrell say "the rockets are forcing bad shots holding the opponent scorless for the last 2 minutes, but the Rockets just can't capitilize, Matt, if they can just string a few baskets together they would be up by 5 or more"
i don't care what it looks like if we win. it was ugly as hell in 1994 Finals..but it was so beautiful! oh, and i care because it's a 20 year league trend. and i think our offensive woes have far more to do with our players than our coach.
Years the Shaq-Kobe Lakers won the championship and their defensive FG% rankings during the season : 1999-2000 : 1st 2000-2001 : 11th (diff between 11th and 5th this year was .008%) 2001-2002 : 1st
http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortable_team_statistics/sortable1.html Looks like JVG's stellar offense come through in the playoffs!!! YOUR TOPIC FAILS
LOOKS LIKE GOLDEN STATE'S AND PHOENIX'S STELLAR OFFENSE COMES THROUGH IN THE PLAYOFFS! OR IT DOESN'T MEAN JACK SQUAT AS TEAMS BUILT LIKE THAT NEVER WIN TITLES!!!
Basketball is all about defense and offense. All teams in the conference finals, well maybe except Cavs, are good at both ends not just defensive ends! Whereas JVG's basketball is all about defense, defense and defense! JVG offense is all about dumping to Yao or let T-mac create! Is to predicatable! The rockets need a coach who knows both defense and offense not just either one! Also, personnels are required both tasks!
I can understand what you are saying about the trend. However, I disagree with jvg not being the blame. JVG is too thick-headed to develop young players. If you want a balance b/t offense and defense..you need youth and athleticism...ala ginobli and parker. Anytime jvg has developed youth, it has been forced by injury....ie chuck hayes and luther head. Had it not been for last yrs injuries, head would be collecting dust on the bench with vspan and hayes would be a great nbdl player.
here's the deal...if you're waiting for vspan, hayes and head to be offensive forces for you, you're going to be waiting a very long time. young talent is great. we don't have any. this team needed to play this style of play to win the games that it did. it was not going to win by outscoring teams. they simply don't have that kind of talent. barring some dramatic changes in the roster over the offseason, i believe that will be very clear to you when you see them play next season.
oh..and don't forget the Pistons...so actually, only half are really good offensive teams. huh. but hey i just thought of something...they're ALL really good defensive teams! how about that?? hmmmm...
Yeah guess what both teams made it to the 2nd second round and lost to better competition something your boy JVG never did as Rockets head coach.
Yes, I would much rather focus on the offensive scoring talents of Rafer Alston, Shane Battier, Dikembe Mutombo and Juwan Howard.
All I know is that if there is any chance of vspn developing into a parker...it won't happen under jvg. I don't care about chuck hayes, he is just a parasite feeding off of 2 superstars. Head and especially tmac(though they benefit next to tmac and yao) have a chance under a different coach to develop into a talent/trade commodities to help you win or get better players in the future.
