Charley Rosen: Grounded Rockets

Yeah I know Charley rosen hates JVG.

BUT he is pretty much dead on about everything!!!!

I am glad he noticed that while Yao was getting triple teamed, NO ONE was cutting to the basket! We have one of the best passing centers in the game, and JVG cannot take a friggin time out to tell other players to cut to the basket? Maybe that's not one of his 1000 offensive plays. What a joke!

Well geez...everyone including Rosen notices that Juwan is not good for anything but a few face up jumpers. I am waiting for JVG to finally grasp that revelation.

We are down by a a bazillion points....hmm...so what's JVG's potential fix for the problem? Why play Ryan Bowen of course!!!!! Wow! Genius!

JVG's defensive scheme is the old Riley defensive scheme. It was also the Rockets defensive scheme under Rudy during Hakeem days. Force team to shoot low percentage long distance shots. Why is it that EVERYONE EXCEPT JVG can see that the new rule changes make that defensive scheme extremely ineffective nowadays, especially against quick and good outside shooting teams?? We dont even have the players like Robert Horry and Elie who can recover and try to put a hand in face of the shooters. Good shooters who go up against us KNOW that JVG's game plan will leave them open all day so they dont even feel pressure. And to top it off JVG is too stubborn or stupid or both to make any adjustments.

Like I said, I agree with the article. Rosen is a hater but I dont blame him for hating JVG and his inept system. Yao and Tmac deserve a better coach. It would be much easier to stomach the loses if Yao/Tmac and the rest were learning and developing chemistry in motion offenses. But under JVG, their talents are under-utilized. Especially Yao. I hope JVG gets axed. That will be the only good thing to come out of this losing season.

 

Even Yao himself noticed that, see the chron. article.

 

This ******g assshole waited his whole life writing this for tonight.

Now you got it and you can go to hell.

 

I stopped reading right when he said "Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are now officially healthy".

Tracy is anything BUT healthy.

 

I've been saying this for a while. If JVG really admires Riley, he might remember Magic and Kareem used to do this, with Kareem drifting to the high post and Magic posting down low on a smaller guard. From this point of penetration, Magic could deal or take his man in a mismatch.

Tmac has the size and skill to take advantage of this, also, and Yao has the skills to deal and shoot from the high post, where he will also have a little extra time and space to work.

It's not radical - just something to mix in, that uses our main guys skills. Alternate with low-post sets, Tmac iso, pick and rolls, and triangle sets. Use what works, be flexible and attack the defender at his weakness.

 

Do yourself a favor and continue reading. You will be surprised to know how true most of it is. Poignant, yes. Neverthless, true.

 

Quite a few good points, even if from a hater.

We need to at least try a zone, to see if Yao could be a defense force in it.

 

I wonder how long Rosen was waiting to write this article.

 

hold on, this article is actually....mostly right.

 

He might have been waiting ever since JVG was born, its worth the read though. He did a pretty good job. Wasnt too bashful on Yao or TMac, but directed their failure to JVG. TMac plays with half the hustle he had in Orlando.

 

This article is great and all , but didn't we beat a better Suns team a couple of times JUST LAST SEASON, when Amare was healthy even!!!

It's easy to use hindsight to write an article flaming the Rockets poor performance, but much harder when you try and use HISTORY to write a truely informative piece of journalism.

Why the differnence in outcome in a year's time? What DIDN'T the Suns do on offense/defense the first time around? Did LOSING Q, Joe Johnson, and Amare Stoudamire make them better equiped to handle the Rockets this season? Are injuries the only thing lurking behind closed-doors that separates them from last season? Chemistry? Does T-Mac want to take a step back from Basketball altogether for a while to clean out his closets? What effect does that have on the front office? The Coach? The rest of the team?

It's easy to verbally defficate, "trade T-Mac, fire Gundy!!!" Much harder to be insightful, using history and statistics, to offer solutions instead of pointing fingers...

 

Boy, you never pass up a chance to bash Juwan.

Juwan WAS THE LEAST of our problems last night. And what would you have JVG do about Juwan? He's virtually untradable with his age/contract. That being said, there is a GOOD chance we'd DOWNGRADE rather than upgrade if we just made a willy-nilly deal. Example: Stromile Swift.

JVG defense worked against the Clippers.

That is why we brought in Bogans and Swift.

The Rockets deserve this tongue lashing...for sure. While he hits on some points, it isn't as bad as he paints it. Sometimes one team just doesn't match up.

The early '90s Rockets could never handle the Sonics. It wasn't until the Soncis started to decline (and we got lucky and didn't have to play them for once in the 1st round) that we finally did well in the playoffs.

So JVG is under contract right? So say this is YOUR money, who would you bring in ...that is available... that would be an obvious upgrade? Sure, we can get some mediocre coach and maybe you think that is an upgrade?

Now I'm no coach but I I don't recall hearing what defines a "motion" offense. It seems to me like the guys aren't standing their "motionless." But IIRC, JVG run constant picks and back picks to free up the 2, 3 and 4 spots which is 10x more "motion" than Rudy ever did.

So I assume you mean we don't have enough motion. But if Yao's biggest weakness is his mobility and stamina, you are suggesting to keep Yao in constant motion? How does that play to his streghts?

The Laker loss sucked and this loss sucked too. But this season is just a disaster and MOST of it isn't JVG's fault. Lets see if they can build some chemistry and make a run (it's still not too late). If not, maybe you'll get lucky and JVG will quit on us like he did with the Knicks.

 

Not my fault he hardly ever gives me a chance not to bash him based on his play.

As many others have noted on this board, Hayes has been looking really good when he has gotten the minutes. But JVG insists on Juwon His laziness and Ryan Bowen getting minutes over Hayes. And yes, you are right, he is virtually untreadable, due to his age/contract and how much of a scrub he is.

If you are going to give me 1 game to back up JVG's defense, I will give you 20+ games to show you how miserably JVG's defensive plan has failed. JVG's defense on more occassions than not has failed when it faces teams with good outside shooting. Once again, this point has also been noticed and brought up by several posters here. In fact, Doug Collins himself brought this up on TNT yesterday. I remember him quiet clearly saying JVG's defense defends the paint but not the perimeter.

As you have in past, you once again show how little you know about past ex-Rocket players. Bogans and Swift are nowhere the defenders Elie and Horry were when they played for Rockets. Not even close. Horry could shut down multiple 3 pointer shooters on the perimeter with his long arms and athleticism. He also would shut down the passing lanes. No one on the current Rockets team with the excetion of Tmac has that ability. Horry was primarily responsible for shutting down DScott and Derek Anderson against the Magic in the 95 Finals. Comparing Bogans to Elie?? A complete insult to Elie!

Isnt as bad as he paints it? Well if you mean we could be in the last spot in the NBA, then yeah I guess it isnt all that bad. But pardon me and quiet a few Rocket fans here. We have much higher expectations from this team.

Motion offense as in offense that Sac runs, Jazz run, Princeton cut..anything where Yao does not have to move as much but he can direct offense from high post. Some cuts please, some movement!!! Possibilities are endless but with JVG, there are hardly any possibilities.

MOST of it is JVG's fault. Not all but most. The rest is Juwan's fault obviously.

I will elaborate later. Have to run to an exam right now.

 

Our Rockets move and then do nothing with it. Tracy is wandering back and forth across the top of the key and never daring to cut into the lane. ah it all has been repeated 100 times before on this site......tired, so tired......

 

Funny, I never heard from you when he was posting 19/9 in January.

That's your big solution. A 6'"6 rookie PF will be the answer to all our problems.

Yes, please give me 20+ games. (note: That Yao and TMac played, pls, otherwise it is an irrelevant argument.)

Most of the time that works. It worked agains the Suns twice last year.

True. That was actually tongue in cheek. (Sorry I should have put a )I was simply saying we brought in Bogans and Swift to be guys similar to Elie and Horry. Now actually performing like those two guys is an entirely different story.

Our record is a result of injuries ...not because this is a completely ineffective team (when healthy) as he would suggest.

Yea, aren't they shinning beacons of success.

So you want our 7'6" guy stationary in the high post? Interesting.

When our offense clicks, the guys CONSTANTLY set picks to get each open. Do you EVER watch the games. Against the Suns, they were all lifeless but that game didn't reflect what happened the previous 9 games.

Yes, we know. Let Swift start and insert Don Cheney as our head coach and that will solve all our problems. Oh sorry, you think our 6'6" guy should be starting, huh?

 

Yes I have. I even pointed out that Juwan has always had a history of posting decent numbers when he is one of the primary options on offense. And I ALSO mentioned that when that happens the teams lose. See exhibit Denver and Washington. Juwan is a career loser when he is relied upon. I also mentioned that once Yao comes back watch Juwan disappering again. Why? Because he does not know how to be an effective role player! He is a scrub who needs to be a primary option on offense to be effective. Something a team with Yao and Tmac do not need. If you need further evidence, just check back on Juwan stats when he is playing with yao/Tmac and when he is playing without. Rather revealing.

Big solution? When did I say that? There is no big solution to the mess this team is in. But giving Hayes more minutes is definately a little fix. Let's put it this way. How worse off can he be compared to Juwan/Bowen/Swift?? He actually goes after the rebounds!!

You might not want to use the yao/Tmac injury excuse in this scenario for couple of reasons.

1) The debate is about JVG's defensive plan to stop the OUTSIDE shooting. Yao is not going to help you there anyway. Yao is used for interior defense. That is what the whole argument is about. Why hasnt JVG realized that he needs to cover those perimeter players and not keep giving those what he thinks "low % shots"? And Tmac is not going to a a magician's trick. This is about TEAM defensive philosophy.

2) If you are going to hold on to the injury bug crutch, your argument breaks down much quicker. You are using Clipper's game as an example yet you completely fail to mention that Ross and Corey were both out for LA, and if we really want to technical we could say, they could have had Radman in too. That's a whole lot of outside shooting and defense they missed.

3) Some of the games I am netioning below are with Yao AND Tmac playing together. But like I said, when we are talking about JVG's TEAM DEFENSIVE philosophy regarding outside shooting, Yao becomes mute anyways.


Right off the top of my head, some of the games displaying JVG's lack of adjustments when it comes to covering outside shooters...

-Yesterday's debacle,
-Making Celtics look like Larry Bird's old team, Raef lafrentz does his best impersonation of bird. You would thinks after 2 millionth shot by him, JVG would maybe think about putting someone on him.
-Apparently JVG did not get the memo from last year's playoffs that Jason Terry can actually shoot from outside. He was the main reason Dallas took the series. JVG was too stubborn to stick a man permanently to him. And once again, Jason Terry kills the Rockets from the perimeter. If I rememeber correctly he shot better than 50% from 3 point line and elsewhere against us ealier this season. Once again the stubborness of JVG's defense.
-Yesterday's game against the Sun's wasnt the first time this season they shot a torrid % from 3 point line. One would think that JVG would realize that Suns actually CAN make from outside. They have no interest in going inside. My god, Baldy! Get a gameplan already!
-Even a ****ty team like Toronto knows we dont cover the 3 point land. I believe they too shot a good % from outside against us and I distintively remember Bonner of all people catching fire from 3 point land. If we are instilling confidence in Bonners and Lafreantzs of the league, then you have to admit something is flawed in the defensive plan.
-So they play Toronto again. You would think that JVG would pop his old tape back in? Wrong!!!! He decides to let them have all they want from the 3 point area. *laugh*
-One of the weaknesses that's keeping Denver from becoming a really good team is their lack of outside shooting. Yet when they play the Rockets they turn red hot. They too shot near 50% from 3 point land against us. Arghhhh
-Miami is not a great 3 point shotting team either if I recal correctly. But Gary Payton of all people catches fire agaisnt us. Not too much of a surprise though considering Payton has probably seen plenty of JVG defense agaisnt him and knows he can have a cup of tea and take his time. Surely JVG is not gonna pay too much attention to those 'low % shots'
- The memphis game also comes to mind where Rockets couldnt stop anyone from making a shot from outside. They got routed.

-And there have been other agmes where during key stretches when they have needed a stop, the primeter players have burned them from outside, like the NO game.

I think that's quiet an adequate sample size, dont you? Do you still want to hold on to that Clippers performance and ignore the other debacles. Let me ask you this.... Other than the Clippers, what other quality opponents have the Rockets beaten this year?

I admit injury has been the biggest story this year for the Rox but you are telling me they could not win EVEN ONE game without Tmac? Even with Yao in the game? Last I checked , Amare has been out the entire season. They are still kicking @ss. Why? Because they have a coach who comes with a game plan that WORKS. He is not afraid to experiment. He is not afraid to try new things. JVG does not even want to look at Plan B. hH doesnt even have a Plan B!!! There are other teams who have had injuries. But they dont suck as much as Rockets do.

Most of the time? If it did, Rockets would not be in a hole they are in right now.

Since you have brought up the Suns game from last year, let me bring somethings up too.

1)First of all, we did not beat the Suns last year in their arena because we shut their people down. Even in that game, scrub Walter Mcarty of all the people went lights off against up from 3 point land. He could not miss and JVG kept refusing to put a man on him. What won the game for us was Yao's offensive rebounding, and him controlling the paint, and Tmac catching fire. The other game we won by 1 or 2 point on a missed dunk by Steven hunter at the buzzer. Second win was hardly a convincing win. If i want to play your injury playcard, I can say that Rockets won the other one in blowout because Shawn Marion was out for that game, but I wont go there,

2) Those 2 games validate my point more than they do your's. My argument is that JVG's defense shuts down the paint and disregards the perimeter. The 2 games we won against the Suns were mainly because Yao negated Amare. Sun wanted to go inside to Amare and they played right into JVG's defensive plan. It seems to me Mike D has realized JVG's plan. Now he atatcks us from outside and the results have been pretty darn revealing. If you want further proof, just listen to half time interview with Raja Bell. i can bet my money thats straight from Phoenix's coaching staff.

3) And if you are going to bring up last year, oh please do bring up the Dallas series and how JVG decided to cover Jason Terry for the series, and then the whole Dallas team in game 7.

I actually like Bogans. I like Hayes too. But they are limited role players. I dont have very high expectations of them other than that they play hard and do everything they possibly can to help the team win. What I do expect is JVG and the gang to draw up some good game plans to help the team succeed. I can live with the loses if I see even little improvements in team defense and offense. But it seems like JVG is stuck somewhere. He wont change his gameplan. Same old mundane offense. Same old ineffective old style defense.

Our record is a result of injuries and to make matters worse the inability of JVG to coach in today's NBA. We have too much talent to be where we are now in spite of injuries.

You missed the point. Of course they arent sucessful now. When they had the elite players to go along with those offenses, they were great.

When Sac had Bibby, Webber, Peja, Divac, BobbyJ running that offense, they were the main rivals of LA. Had it not been for Laker's sixth man Dick Bavetta, they would have won a ring.

Utah has been running the same offense for centuries. When they had Malone,Stockton, Hornaceck, they actually went to Finals couple of times.

Now here's the kicker. Yao and Tmac combo has the potential to be BETTER than any of these 2 combos. They are terrific passers, are incredibly unselfish, and are smart players. Yet JVG has made them into mechanical robots. They go thru same motions. What happnened to Yao's creative passes from rookie year? JVG has hindered Yao's growth and has r****ded Yao/Tmac pair's effectiveness. I am not afraid to say that Yao would have improved much more the last 2 years had he had a more creative coach to work with.

What's wrong with that? Divac did it. Webber did it. Why cant Yao do it? Yao actually has terrific jumpshot from outside, he is a great passer, sees the court very well, and is smart. Sure as hell seems like he has all the ingredient to play Sabonis style of game.

Of course this will never work under JVG because he does not have a clue how to work that into his offense. He is still stuck in the 90s mold.

When our offese clicks once a month? *laugh* And yes thats what we do, we set 48 picks in a span of 24 second shot clock. I do WATCH the games! There is more than just setting picks in an offense. So here are the 3 tenets of JVG's offense.

1) Pick and Roll
2) Post Tmac
3) Post Yao

Hello?!?! Where is the motion?? I am not talking about motion in the literal sense. Of course every offense has to have motion since the players ARE moving. I am talking about off the ball movement. Rockets are one of the worst at sending cutters to the basket. They spot shooters off of the 3 plays I just mentioned above. Absolutely no creativity and very predicatble.

Doug Collins has mentioned couple of times that JVG's offense is the Riley's offense of misdirection. The only ones being misdirected are the Rocket players, since the league has figured out exactly what we are gonna run.

Trying to put words in my mouth? But now that you have mentioned thse ideas, surely they cant be that bad? I mean, how much worse can they be than what JVG has been trying so far. Hey Don Chaney sucked but JVG hasnt been tearing up things either.

I thought I would throw in an interesting stat for our 6'6 guy (Hayes).

He has about the SAME amount of REBOUNDS per game to Juwon Howard in HALF the minutes played per game. Surely if he gets a little more playing time , you would think that he could easily outrebound Juwon, dont you?!

Here's another thing to think about. Hayes might actually improve given playing time and experience. He is young. Juwon is running on his last legs and I will bet my savings account he is not going to get any better.

 

Being all around offensive player that they are, I thought Yao and T-Mac would've one of the best two men game in the league history, like that of Stockton and Malone. Yet under JVG they seem to work in separate ways most of time. Yao goes to the low post, and T-Mac becomes the spot up shooter and the occasional recipient of low post pass out. T-Mac creates from the outside, and Yao becomes the blue collar worker and occasional recipient of T-Mac's pass. I'm scratching my head as to the lack of structured interaction between both. They are as wide apart as two hair on JVG's head.

 

Charley Rosen: Rockets Can Kiss '06 Playoffs Good-Bye

I hope this guy Charley Rosen will eat crow when the Rockets make it to the playoff by winning > 70% of the remaining matches.