The point is... Why limit Yao's access to only those who Gundy sees fit? Was Dawson going to kill Yao's game? I dont see the point. Yao is not some 5 year old that needs to be looked after constantly. He can take advice from anyone and pick what works for him. Obviously this had to do with control and Gundy believing his method is the only right method.
Cooper was director of scouting when Lindsey said that. He was under CD and Lindsey's control. His primary job is scouting during the year. It really sounds to me like JVG used him any chance he got. I'm sure the Director of Scouting is out of town a lot during the yr and I'm sure he does get involved with the coach and players as well. I mean, what's the big deal that Justice is making? Cooper is using something he learned from Jim Boylen..from the Rudy days. It really seems to me that a head coach should have enough asst coaches to do this sort of thing. I guess this is just simply the way the Rockets are run under Les. The coaching and scouting side of basketball operations must work together and share resources. Rudy and JVG both had to do this. We are not Dallas. The coach can't hire everyone and every little thing he wants.
I don't know who gets the credit but Yao is having career years in blocking and assists and is having by far his best year rebounding. Yao has never rebounded this well and this consistently. Also his minutes are up significantly while his stamina never seemed to suffer. A very big first in his career. I am not saying these things would not have happened this year under JVG but it did happen with RA.
So, what was Patrick Ewing's job for the Rockets? btw: he is not helping to coach Dwight Howard. Turner said that. I'm sure it's very easy to google.
Contrary to popular belief, Kings were very good OVERALL basketball team. They were not simply gunners as many would have you believe. Same can be said of Portland Trailblazers under Adelman. PS. Sorry about the quote...I thought I was editing that earlier post.
The amazing thing about the Kings' defense was that Adelman and his assistants did it with Peja, C Webb, Mike Bibby, & Vlade - not outstanding defenders in our mind.
So, contrary to what Justice is saying in the article of this thread, Elston is saying they are not looking for outside help from Rockets employees of previous mgmt wrt the defense? Isn't Elston contradicting Justice? What? Come on Justice: Doesn't CD or Cooper have anything good to add wrt the defense? I guess with the defense...Adelman doesn't need any help. But with the offense, he's open to all suggestions. <font size=1>do you guys really buy that crap Justice is spewing?</font>
Yeh, I don't know why either. But I think it's because those teams didn't rely on him so much like we do. The Rockets figured that this guy is going to be our starting pg for a while, so they wanted to make him improve his play if they can't get anyone better.
There is a valid reason why early in Yao's career, JVG kept the people tutoring him restricted. Yao is too coachable and too many voices would have affected him. Maybe he should have picked CD to be the lone voice, but Thibodeau didn't do a bad job. I don't understand why people have to take jabs at JVG. Let the hatred go. Whether you want to admit or not, he has had a role in our success today. The attention to detail, the pride in defense, and the professionalism were all ingrained under JVG. The core players needed to go through the years of JVG. I firmly believe we wouldn't be this good this soon without it. I now believe Adelman move was also very necessary for our team. I think he has done wonders for Yao's leadership and forced him to come out of his shell. Look what happened, Yao became the character of the team. To the point of also McGrady coming early on game day now. Battier, McGrady, Alston, Mutombo, and Yao have taken the rookies under the wing and this has born a chemisty not seen in a very long time. They want to do well for each other! Adelman is the right coach now, as JVG was the right coach then.
Richard Justice, Writer of Wrongs. There he goes again. The entire blurb is nothing more than a thinly veiled shot at Jeff Van Gundy, and what's worse, none of his insinuations have any factual substance to them.
Please - you don't think Adelman does his own thing as much as anybody else - that he's scouring basketball BBS's You really think that Jeff built a complete transcontinental cocoon around Yao to seal him off from outside influences for 4 years? What about last year's fabled training session with Olajuwon then? And can we blame Carroll Dawson for the fact that Yao's most productive period was pre-injury 2006-07 and that he has not consistently been the same player since? I'm not missing any point - cause there's nothing to miss.
That is fact that goes largely unnoticed. Yao hit another level during that period. Since the injury he has never quite returned to that form. People forget that. The injuries are taking their toll, and the latest one will be no exception.
