uhh, you don't think the coaches had anything to do with the personnel they want? JVG bringing in every ex-Knick and Rick bringing in ex-Kings? there's no 'what if' in it
Rick Offense, JVG defense, but I feel infinitely more comfortable with Rick's defense than JVG's offense, so it goes to Rick, by a fair bit.
Rick had some bad luck and once he got just plain cheated (that 2002 kings team is probably the most cheated team in nba history, 27 fouls my left nut).
True...but well, both guys have been apart of series that had obvious officiating problems. Dallas....oh god WHYYYY!!!!???? Por Que!!!!???? <a href="http://media.photobucket.com/image/crying gif/tous-les-temps/GIFS and macros/dawsoncrying.gif?o=71" target="_blank"><img src="http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t325/tous-les-temps/GIFS%20and%20macros/dawsoncrying.gif" border="0"></a>
And one of the biggest misconceptions about championship teams. If you look at championship teams in the past, they generally have both great offense AND defense. The only reason people tend to overrate defense is because the recent trend(or rule changes) favor iso basketball and therefore superstar domination. And when you have superstar(s) on your teams, you get rewarded greatly for slower pacing. JVG's tenure with us shows this to its full extent. When Yao and T-Mac play well, the Rockets win... A LOT. This even extends into the playoffs. But when one or both falters, we literally could not even manufacture wins. Playing purely defensive basketball requires incredible amount of elite offensive talent. Otherwise, you get the season we had when T-Mac and Yao were out combined 60+ games and sucked horribly. As has been pointed out by easy on the first page, JVG's style does not allow for good offense. It severely restrict easy baskets and 2nd chance points. JVG's style will only be good offensively if he has players who can create on their own in the half court. Unfortunately for him, he had 1 1/2 such players(T-Mac and Yao to a lesser extent).
Fair enough, I understand what you are saying. But to be fair to me, what you quoted was a very small part of everything I said....not to say you where trying to call me out on something specific. True, balance is probably the most important, but I wouldn't overrate defense at all. I don't know, I like them both about equally.
The problem with this is that Adellman's style has failed to produce an elite offensive unit as well - or even one that was significantly better than JVG's on a relative efficiency basis, and nobody has been able to explain why.
I think we've discussed this in the past. So I don't really care to rehash it. The post you quoted had nothing to do with Adelman's system. It simply says the restrictions of JVG's method. You and I simply disagree on one factor, which is how much a coach impacts his roster. I tend to believe that the makeup of a roster depends partially on the coach of the team. You obviously don't believe that, so you give no credit to Adelman for great offensive teams in Sacramento and Portland. Fair enough, we just agree to disagree. I just tend to rant whenever I see the whole "defense wins championships" stuff. I do generally agree with the rest of your post. Which is why I didn't quote it. I guess yeah, it did seem kind of like I'm just disagreeing with you there.
It doesn't matter. Morey likes Adelman's system better and wanted a more up-tempo game with lots of scoring. That gets more butts in the seats - not the slow, grinding, paint-drying (nod to Reeko) approach JVG had. Plus I think that if Thibodeaux stayed with the Rockets, the defensive identity they had under JVG would still be there. Look at the effect he had on the Celtics.
I'm not talking about Sacramento or Portland - I'm talking about his offensive teams here, which are average at best, a fact that nobody really seems to get.
Is there any reason to suggest any other coach could've done better with our cast? That is, another coach that can make us a better offensive team without sacrificing more on defense, and therefore win totals? Maybe I'm overestimating Adelman's abilities, but I generally think he's a balanced coach. That is, he understand the trade-off between offense and defense, and try to find the best balance. So if our offense sucks in your opinion, then I feel it's due to Adelman not wanting to sacrifice more defense for the sake of scoring more points. And not because he's a mediocre offensive coach. You may feel free to disagree, but that's my personal view of it. Unfortunately, it's much harder to evaluate a coach objectively through stats than players. So I can't say I can back up my opinion with solid proof.
Not sure who's better because I don't think JVG had this much talent when he was here, but it's an easy call on who's the better interview. It was definitely entertaining to listen to JVG every week. That said, I'm happy with Adelman as our coach now.
During the his first two years in Houston, Adelman never had a stable starting lineup due to the injury problems with Yao and McGrady, and with lesser players such as Battier, Landry, and Alston. Last year he finally got a rotation down. But that was without both Yao and TMac. Before the trade, we really only had three above average offensive players in Brooks, Scola, and Landry in the rotation, and two of them played the same position. So if you count the sum total of offensive talent of JVG's teams and Adelman's teams, JVG might come out with better players simply because both Yao and TMac were healthier during the JVG years. (My assumption, which I believe needs not be defended, is that superstar talents are far more valuable than good role players.) This year's roster should give Adelman the best offensive talents he has had so far with the Rockets, at least on paper with everyone healthy. Let's see what he can do with this group.
No, there's no reason, but all I'm saying is that, despite the reputation, at least around here, as an offensive mastermind - Adleman has never really produced an offense that performed that well in his time here (unless you think it's an accomplishment to run a medium-efficiency offense at a higher pace, which is arguable). As far as trade-offs go, we advanced maybe 2 spots in offense this year and dropped 10+ on defense. That's obviously not all his fault due to Yao, I just don't know if that's a good argument to use. If you think Carl Landry, one of the most productive and efficient offensive players in Rockets history, was an albatross when the Rockets had the ball - then I don't really know what to say other than something that rhymes with "Pace Qualm" - and don't give me Battier as a lesser player foisted upon Adelman, he played the crap out of him, prior to his body starting to break down in the last 1.5 seasons or so, just like he played the crap out of Rafer when he was here.
I've seen comments where Morey wanted to bring JVG BACK. But it was Les Alexander who wanted to get rid of Van Grumpy and bring in more exciting "Phoenix Suns" style offense. Morey doesnt strike me as a guy who'd value aesthetics over actual production. It'd have been interesting to see Morey draft for JVG other than the 1 year with Battier. It'da probably been similar, though Aaron Brooks was a Rick Adelman pick.
