Rick Adelman had success in building teams (not G.S. though), but not in great post-season success. First of all - Adelman had awesome talent to work with in Portland and Sac-town. Here, he will only have t-mac and Yao. Second - Adelman plays up-tempo game but he doesn't have up-tempo players. For Adelman to be successful, he needs shooters and speed. He has neither with the Rockets. JVG could take a bunch of scrappy guys and accomplish the most out of them. That's not what Rick Adelman will do. He'll take really great passers, shooters, and speedsters and unleash them. Of course, if you don't have that, then you're in trouble. Adelman is in trouble. Now we don't have a JVG to get more out of our guys, and we don't have the guys to make Adelman work. But maybe that's good - maybe losing more will help us get better players in the long-run. All I know is that I have no idea how Yao will fit in with Adelman, and if anyone thinks turning Yao into Sam Perkins is a good idea - lord have mercy.
Agreed. I think people forget that we were the one of the top 2 defensive teams in the NBA all year long, and most of the times, thats what kept us in the game. Don't expect that to happen anymore, now your defense won't help you win games. I don't hate Adelman, and i'm indifferent about Gundy leaving...but all those thinking that by firing Gundy and hiring Adelman we are automatically a better team...get ready for a reality check. With Adelman, we need to make a lot of roster moves to to get players who ply his style.
I'm not comparing Yao to Kareem, I'm just saying that it's not impossible for Yao to still be a major part of the offense even if we actually run a fast break every once in a while. And by 'fast break', I don't mean missing a layup on a 3on1 break or pulling up for a 20 foot jumper with no one under the basket. Yao is no Kareem, I know that. But Yao is also no Hakeem, so why run the same inside-outside game we've run for the last 14 years? Why not try something different?
It sounds some of your think JVG is the ONLY coach who can bring this team a championship. But are we talking about the same guy who had 4 years to try to get out the first round and failed?
Here's what would change everything: Tracy McGrady getting his touch back. Remember when he'd pull up for that spotup three and you'd actually expect it to go in? When he could hit OPEN 15 footers off screens--shots he got a ton of these playoffs, they were guarding him with freaking DEREK FISHER--and they'd swish through? That automatically opens up the offense. It opens up his driving lanes, unclogs Yao's paint, and gets wide open shots for Alston, Head, and Battier. If we had that Tracy this year, the team would have beaten Utah. Wouldn't have gone all the way, but I think we'd all feel a lot better about the team.
think about this: offense - yao was constantly running back and forth from the baseline to the 3pt line to set picks. defense - yao had to play man to man. possibilities under adleman: offense - adleman likes to use a PF who has a jumper to play the high post. yao might spend MORE time on the block letting the PF (webber?) play pick and pop with the guards. defense - playing a zone would let yao rest under the basket. this would also help keep him out of foul trouble because he would not have to guard quick players on the perimeter when EVERY team desides to abuse his lack of speed when playing PnR defense.
Or are we talking about the center that's had 6 years but has failed. Or the former scoring leader who has had 6 tries to get out of the first round but failed. Or the owner / GM that couldn't get a decent FA for the life of them? JVG's biggest blunder was not throwing games to get Brandon Roy. Had that not happened, we'd have Brandon Roy, and no Shane Battier - that might have gotten us to the 2nd round and saved his job.
um i don't want to compare adelman to phil jackson, but it's a CHANGE that must be made. the lakers w/ shaq and kobe under del harris lost and got swept by the jazz/spurs repeatedly in the semis or conf. finals. why? they didn't know how to use those 2 effectively. phil came along and brought his triangle offense and voila => best duo. offensively, i feel adelman will do that w/ tmac and yao. they were great under JVG. now they will be lethal under adelman. his offense emphasizes movement and we NEED/DESPERATELY NEED movement in our offense => teams will pay if they constantly key on our big 2. defensively, we won't have that big of a drop. we have good defensive players. it's not ALL on JVG. when u have battier and tmac outside and yao/deke inside, it's easy to play good defense. did the pistons D drop under flip saunders => ANOTHER OFFENSIVE GENIUS NOT KNOWN FOR D? when u have good defensive players, ur defense will still be there.
say what? portland was talented?? outside of drexler, who did they have? porter? buck williams? yes he had talent in sacto and he had them on the brink of the finals almost every yr if not for the damn lakers. i'll be ecstatic if he had this rocket team in the conf. finals every yr. and we have superstars while they had great stars. again, he rad an uptempo offense with those teams b/c they didn't have a post presence. buck williams ain't a post player. webber is a post player, but not a dominant post player who prefers to operate on the outside. he has yao now. he will tailor his offense to yao more and more, but prollie will make yao do more things offensively in terms of passing. i'm really excited w/ this signing. the JVG style of coaching is NOT working in today's league anymore. the constant nagging wears on players => ALWAYS starts out slow in the first quarters.
Your kidding right? 1st year Ha ha ha... No coach would have gotten past the 1st round with Steve ball hog francis 2nd year - this was a really good year and we took a better team to game 7. We had alot of veterans on the team and we were just lucky to even make it to game 7.. Remember Dallas made it to the finals!!!!!! 3rd year - You are an idiot if you think this year we were going to do anything.... someone please post the numbers for this guy on our injuries!!! 4th year - Our players were ALOT healthier this year ( even though we had some minor setbacks ) we aquired Shane Battier that actually helped ( helped T-mac from defending the opposing STAR player ) we made it to game 7 again but if you look at Utah squad compared to ours can you really say that Utah didnt' deserve it?? Carlos Boozer - He's coming to his own and nobody in the league can stop him except maybe Ben Wallace. The man is a Rebounding + Scoring machine, he's athletic, has basketball smarts. Deron Williams - This kid can play and is easily the top 6 Point Guard in the whole league .. He was shooting lights out and has a ton of confidence in his shot. Matt Harpring - 80% of the members of the board want him on our team.. Why because he's a good defender and can nock down shots from the mid-range (which we hardly ever do) all the way to the 3pt line Andrei Kirelienko - Man this guy was what the top defensive player in the past 4 years, had had the crown in block shot and offensive rebounds many time. Paul Millsap - prototypical Powerforward we are craving, can get the defensive but more importanly offensive rebounds + the touchbacks Derek Fisher - brings a dead eye shooter from the 3pt line and is a veteran with chapionship xp So if you ask me should have Houston Won that Series? I would honestly tell you probably not! Now if you ask me do I want Houston to win that series then I'm going to say HELL FU$@IN YEAH!!!!
exactly. tracy didn't have a TMAC playoff performance. and i think he knows that. his jumper and 3pt shot have failed him tremendously. i have no doubt he's working on those skills constantly this offseason. if he gets his shot back, he'll be back to the best offensive player on par w/ kobe. what makes kobe so lethal is his jumper. since tracy has the hops, he can shoot over anybody and everybody, but he has to make them
I think he has much better post-season success than JVG ever will. Adelman lost to Detroit and Chicago when he went to the Finals, arguably 2 of the better dynastys to play the game. In Sac, he had to face the Lakers (see Detroit/Bulls comments) everytime in the playoffs, and was probably another Horry-3pointer away from winning it all. Only Yao and TMac? Those are 2 of Top 8 players in the league IMO, other than the Suns, I don't think there is another team that can say that. Also the face that we lost to a team with less talent and that a team like GSW best Dallas, it shows me that it isn't all about talent. Another poster pointed this out, but exactly how did he play an up-tempo game with Divac, Webber, and Peja starting? If he needed speed, I don't think you have 2 of those 3 players getting the majority of the minutes. He does have good shooters in Battier, Head, Novac, TMac, and Yao. We already needed a PG and PF so I expect him to bring in guys that can shoot at that position as well. That's what I liked about JVG and its also why I didn't think he was the best fit for this team. We are not a bunch of scrappy guys, we have 2 Superstars and a decent supporting cast. JVG was a great fit for his NYK teams because they were filled with hard-nosed guys that needed to scrap for wins. We shouldn't have to scrap our way to wins. I agree with your assessment of Adelman, that's why I think he'll be a good fit for us. Yao and TMac are very good basketball players that are capable of dominating games, I think they would benefit from not having "set" plays 100% of the time. I love the idea of "unleashing" Yao and TMac.
Crikey! We haven't even hired the guy and y'all are already portending doom. Especially considering some of you are the same people who criticized people for criticizing JVG by arguing that we weren't giving him enough time or a fair shot. Heck why don't y'all start a "FIRE ADELMAN!" thread.
Exactly, I don't get why some people are calling him a "retread". The guy has won everywhere he's been. I love(d) JVG, but what has he ever done besides take that one Knicks team (in a weak Eastern Conference) to the Finals? Like you said, he might have 1 to 4 titles had he not run into 3 of the best teams in NBA history. I'm not saying he's Phil Jackson, but I'd much rather have him than some unproven college coach or assistant NBA coach.
C'mon now. The last minute of game 7 showed you all you needed to know about Yao's quickness for the entire series. Watching Boozer beat him to every rebound because he was quicker was painful. He's just not -- maybe in part it was injury and he will recover, but Yao's game was never about quickness. Dribbling when you're 7-6 is a hazardous activity. There's just so much time for the ball to be in the air. From smoothie I hope you're watching when teams sit in the soft spots of the zone because Yao's not quick enough to jump out and challenge the shot. He may no longer be guarding PnRs, but if you think the zone is going to cure things, you're sadly mistaken. As for Adelman, I think he's a good coach. I don't know that he's better than Van Gundy. I'm waiting to see what happens with this roster. This roster is inherently flawed.
And this my friend is the bottomline, along with the fact that the crack management team put together by our crack owner are also tragically flawed. For all the the hoopla about C.D., his tenure was unremarkable. When it comes to personnel decisions: drafts, contracts, trades.... it was less than unremarkable. Morey strikes me as a "bean counter," and Les strikes me as "goofy." He goes off on near delusional rants and occasionally spins up PR cotton candy, but doesn't seem to know how to move the team forward. I really do not think he knows much about basketball, especially assessing talent. The Rockets have Yao and TMac. Yao has not played his best basketball, TMac may have. Both are injury prone. Yao is painfully slow. TMac is a drama queen. After that, things get really grim. I didn't care for JVG, but I don't think a coach in the world can do any better with the talent level of this team. And how they are going to get talent is a mystery. They painted themselves into a corner trying to get a quick fix on the cheap. They are paying for some very poor decisions. Bascially the Rockets need to get lucky in the draft or have an upper tier player fall into their laps by some twist of fate. Maybe Synder, Novak, and VSpan really are untapped gold mines. Possible, but not likely. Rafer can't shoot. Hayes (I love him) can't shoot. Battier is really a sixth man. TMac seems to have lost his jumper. Deke is surely gone. Head largely disappeared in the post-season, not a good sign. Howard's career is just about over. Give me reason for optimism other than a lottery season and a high draft pick next year. The Rockets need a huge stroke of luck, what I thought Bonzi was last off season.
I've certainly thought about it. But I won't. I'm rooting for the guy. He's against my best basketball judgment, but then again, so was Battier. I hope I'm as wrong on Adelman as I was on Battier.
NIKEStrad is exactly right - this roster is built to overachieve by playing solid half court ball and limiting mistakes. That's why they can win/hold the line when our exceedingly fragile superstars go down for their annual convalescent stints. ADelmanball didn't have much staying power when the stars dropped off in Sacto or Portland. Barring miracles - it's going to be tough here in th short term - when the inevitable injuries set in, which they will .
