...due to JVG's relentless desire for limited vets that would be good soldiers despite having no offensive talent whatsoever. JVG's great, but he had little to no desire to bring along young guys that needed development.
He wanted the team to play faster and more "phoenix-like". SO they brought in Rick Adelman. Who surmised, correctly, that when your entire team is built around a 7-6 315 pounder with a small gas tank, Phoenix-like doesn't work.
Well said durvasa. Exactly what i think happened. The organization actually never gave a clear account of how the JVG firing went down. In fact, if i remember correctly, they originally said that they made JVG an offer and he needed time to think about it, so they went with Adelman. Anyone else remember this? But it's clear that Les was not a huge JVG fan. Van Gundy was always negative, especially in his press conferences. Our offense was very hard to watch. We didn't make it past the 1st round ...again. Keep in mind that Houston was having problems with fan attendence at this time (and still do). I think Les wanted more offense (aka a "fan-friendly style of play") and a more positive, blow sunshine up your ass, kind of coach. I think one of the things that took the sting out of the JVG firing for me was that it was Adelman that replaced him. We were in very capable hands. But with McHale, it's much more of a leap of faith. I, for one, am pleased that Morey at least considered rehiring JVG, whom i feel did an excellent job for Houston.
Except that this chestnut of conventional wisdom isn't true as we've documented a bunch of times here. Luther Head, Chuck Hayes were both rotation players as rookies (and not due to injury either, this is a fact), Bostjan Nachbar and Steve Novak got starts, and that's just off the top of my head. The guys who didn't play were the straight busts who he was saddled with who really weren't NBA-level players. Signing up Charles Oakley to a 10 day contract may not have been a brilliant move, but it certainly wasn't what prevented Torraye Braggs from becoming an NBA superstar.
From what I recall, JVG had an opportunity to extend his contract during the season but decided not to. After another first round exit, Alexander wanted to improve the offense by replacing him with Adelman. Morey actually wanted to keep JVG but Alexander's opinion is the only one that matters at the end of the day.
