Alston, "My sugar daddy is gone. I will probably need to come off the bench. No more jacking up 3s. I cant shoot 15-20 feet. I cant make floaters. If I drive, I can avoid all contacts and throw up the ball to the backboard. I hope Yao will catch it and throw down a dunk. So, its an assist instead of a turnover. Jeff is the only coach who trust me so far. Will there be another one? I'll miss Jeff forever."
Rafer, when you point fingers at your fellow players remember one thing: 3 fingers are pointed right back at you.
he's not pointing fingers at other people. that's the whole point. he's saying he's part of the problem.
I agree, i just think he should just come out and say I got Gundy gone. That would be like cake for me.
Certainly, if the Rockets went far, Les couldn't fire Van Gundy without looking like an idiot. But, given the personal distaste, the desire for a different style of ball, and especially Van Gundy's own reticence at returning, I don't see that it could have worked out. The only real difference the first round exit seems to me to make is that Les can point at it and say, "See, Gundy-ball doesn't work."
Ok now all we need to get is Yao's take on all this and T-Macs feelings about it and how it's going to impact their future. Especially Yao since he is somewhat indirectly responsible with his comments in the Chinese press.
I'd blame the coach if his players were not shooting well for 7 games in a row. I will blame God if they are not shooting well in 77 games.
Ballaboy: " I hate to see Jon Barry not saying much good towards Adelman. I hate to see Pop and D'Antoni praising JVG too." Lovemtracy: "I do not like the comments and praises about JVG. He is not that good at all! Four years is not a short period and didn't he should shoulder the responsibility for losing game 7 twice in three seasons (and with HCA this season)?" McGradySNKT: "It doesn't take long to figure out that he isn't the man to take this team to the next level and by Rafer shooting out things like he let me run the team although I shot like garbage tells you alot about his confidence in the wrong players." Rafer Alston: "Not only being a solid point guard out there on the floor, but also in helping me understand what it takes to be everyday player in the league, to be accountable for all of my actions," he said. "Jeff gave me a chance to run the team, and even though I didn't always shoot the ball particularly well, he always complimented me on the way I handled the offense, ran the team." It's sad to see the level of hate that some of you have for JVG. He's not a bad coach. Some praise is justified, and even after he is gone, some of you can't stand a single good thing be said about the man. JVG is better than a great deal of current NBA coaches, and he did well with the teams we had. Lovemtracy, Mr. McGrady has had his share of disappointments in first round series' as well, with and without JVG, do you hate him as well? McGradySNKT, Rafer's comments, to me, actually echo of a coach doing his job. JVG had to get his players to believe in themselves and play to the best of their abilities. I'm sure JVG knows that Rafer isn't the optimal point guard, but he's the best we have at the moment. JVG isn't going to tell Rafer that he sucks, but rather get the most that he can out of him. Just because he may publicly defend one of his players, he knows good and well what the weaknesses are. In the end, you can't have a team play well without the right mindset, and JVG did his job, IMO. I'm not trying to pick a fight, and although I liked JVG ok as a coach, I'm not upset about his departure. I hope our next coach can turn it up a notch and that we get better players. I'd really like to see the JVG hate and bashing stop, he gone.
If he didn't assume the role of head coach in an already good Dallas team, do you think he'd have much success? He might, possibly. It's hard to say either way. Some would argue that first round flameouts are an instant pink slip.
I'm definitely going to miss JVG. Listening to him last night was tough. The only thing I didn't like about him were his bizarre man crushes (Ryan Bowen, Alston, David Wesley, Juwan Howard, Clarence Weatherspoon, etc....) and his reluctancy to play younger players.
you might wanna consider blaming the players for not executing. novel idea, i know. if they were never getting open looks that would be one thing. but that wasn't the case. the houston rockets has more than enough opportunities to put away the utah jazz. they didn't have the horses to do it.
So what? We know Alston is a role player and no one expected him to step up. I would say Yao should be held more accountable for Gundy's leave since he defnitely played like crap during the playoff. This team is going nowhere.
