It's confusing, he's helping the Rockets in their consideration of a new coach, but Jeff could come back. He needs to make up his mind, but he probably won't do that until a champ is crowned.
that right there shows even you're not sure it was bonzi's fault. bonzi + jvg = no fit bonzi + another coach = possible fit whats the difference factor?
Wow, I dont think Justice is being objective here. I am not defending Les, but to put all the blame on the owner isnt fair. Yes, we had an inferior roster compared with other elite teams and Gundy did a tremendous job in the regular season. But I think a change is necessay, because I dont see we could do any better roster wise than the previous 3 years, and Tmac is getting older and older.
Justice could at least try to explain how Adelman isn't an upgrade over JVG. This is a terrible article by Justice.
Here is my 2 cents: 1. To JVG, anybody from Knicks "apparently...was ready," while any draft was not ready. 2. JVG couldn't "work out" anybody; and anybody who would "work out" won't come to "work out" under JVG.
Phil Jackson had a different nickname for Adelman. As for old Knicks players... that hasn't happened for years, and it only happened because the Rockets had so many damn holes to fill after the Taylor/Cato era and Les Alexander wasn't going to take on more salary to fill them. Beggers can't be choosers, so the Rockets tried to fill holes with 10 day contracts for Oakley and with emergency options like Barry, Sura, Wesley, Ward, etc... some, of course, worked out better than others.
As for Richard Justice... whether you agree with him or not, he has absolutely no incentive to make this stuff up. He likely won't have to deal with JVG anymore, but Les still owns the team. This article only made his professional life more difficult, so my guess it he really believed what ht said.
Good points. And i do think the article hits on some very important issues, especially the 'flawed roster' part. this team didnt have much to work with but despite that they have at least been able to be competitive. People may call for ambigious "adjustments" but you can only adjust to what you have to work with, which wasnt much as for adelman as a possibility. Its a 'safe' choice, only if a choice has to be made. Meaning, the safest choice is to get jvg back and keep filling in holes on the roster.
if we cant get more on the roster then jvg would certainly be better than adelman. I dont think adelman could have got too much given the limited weapons. If there is one place where you can give jvg the nod is that he could probably get more out of a flawed roster than adelman. Rockets cant change the coach just to change and think things will get better. coaching wont improve this team...better play will. They have to get at least 1 other pretty good player to give them more options and weapons.
Most of us I think are getting too caught up in terms of which coach is "better" and will it make us a "better" team. Don't get me wrong, that is the end game in all this, but, it's really all about a shift in styles upcoming for us IMO. This league is definately evolving... now whether that translates in playing a different way in order to compete or a different way in order to put butts in seats remains to be seen... It doesn't matter that the Pistons and Spurs are both half-court set teams and are going to be in the finals this year. That's perhaps more about team chemistry then style at this point to be honest. If management ultimately wants us to play a more up and down style of basketball ala the Suns, Warriors, Nuggets, Mavs, etc. then that's what the Rockets will do. This all can't happen overnight, but certainly a step in that directly would be the hiring of a motion-offense coach such as Adelman (think late 90's/early 2000 Kings with our big 2 being the kind of passers they are). With all this talk about "the writing is on the wall" lately, this seems to be the most obvious message currently legible...
i agree that the league is evolving but ultimately you are still going to have to be able to execute in a half court set. I agree that the overall game speed is increasing and the league is obviously trying to encourage a more up and down style but in crunch time of a playoff series you have to execute in the half court and you have to play good defense. And the rockets do need to get more uptemp but its naturally more difficult with an unathletic front court.
It's 4 years with no real progress. I think that lack of success is helping the front office to reconsider the coaching, basketball style from a business perspective. Were more Rockets games being cancelled/substituted for others this season? Getting on the air means exposure, that could mean attracting new sponsors and fans, or reaching the established ones. The way the Rockets are playing now they're only interesting for Rockets fans. Casual fans of basketball in general wouldn't watch a Rockets game cause they're "boring".
'boring' is an understatement. anybody who watched one minute of the rockets-jazz series and wasn't a fan of either team would probably never want to watch either team again for the rest of their lives. im fine with us being a boring, grind-it-out knicks-wannabe team if it delivers championships, because winning makes everything fun. but if we're going to be perennial 1st round exits, id at least like to be entertained while watching my team lose. the rockets during jvg's tenure, with the exception of 1/2, or 2/3 of the 04-05 season, have been MINDBLOWINGLY boring, and we haven't gotten any closer to winning a championship. if we're not winning championships, then what's the point of putting up with boring basketball. for that reason alone, a coaching change is warranted.
EXACTLY. If it's a "1 and done" oust we want from the playoffs year in and year out, what was the point in trading for McGrady? We managed to lose in the first round just fine with Francis and Mobley.
