you know what i want? i want someone to suggest a better alternative that we can realistically acquire. don't give me this "we should get Popovich or Phil or whomever" crap. give me a viable option better than JVG. all the people screaming for JVG to get fired. oh really? who are you gonna replace him with right now that is so much better. i guarantee you no matter who you name, the fans of his previously coached teams have the same b****ing mentality that you do.
lol. really. utah fans have been complaining about sloan recently. Lakers about PJ, suns about d'antoni (odd how people dont bash him for his 7 man rotation), etc etc.
hmm, when JVG took over we went to the playoffs with Steve Francis, something Rudy couldn't do. albeit, JVG had Yao with a couple years experience. JVG also was willing to trade Rudy T's boy Francis and friends for McGrady, something i doubt Rudy would, or could do. First year under JVG we go to the playoffs and take Dallas to 7. 2nd year, b/c of major injuries, you have to give him a pass. Look at was he's doing this year. We're in teh toughest division and in the 4 seed. How could you say we haven't improved...especially considering Yao's been out 1/3 of the season? geez.
We do not know what Rudy would have done if he had the opportunity to trade for McGrady- pure speculation. I bet Rudy would do what was right for the team. Rudy won 45 games in '00-01-with a much weaker roster. Hakeem was way past his prime- we had no big man-well CAto and Pig Miller. Francis, Mobely, Walt Williams, Mo Taylor-Rudy should get a gold medal for that achievement with that squad.-45 wins- yes we missed the playoffs -but that was the most wins in league history at that time whild missing the playoffs. In '02-03 - with a rookie Yao-we won 43 games-so give Rudy credit- he did quite a bit with little talent compared to now. Give Rudy credit. I support the Rockets - and consequently this coach. I have accepted Van Gundy- leave Rudy out of it-he will never coach again- dead and gone.
my post wasn't so much a dig at Rudy as much as it was to defend JVG. i'm not saying JVG doesn't have his faults. i want to know who is a better alternative right now. if one is gonna give Rudy credit for missing the playoffs, why is hard for folks to give JVG credit. i'm not even talking about you in particular, just the JVG haters in general.
Sorry - you have valid points here. I could not be prouder of my team and consequently this coach. I do not want to see him leave. I fear he will leave of his own accord like in NY before he is let go by the Rockets. I fully expect JVG to get a 3 year extension from the Rockets..... I am convinced that with even a slight improvement at the point - which I expect more depth via the off season-you will see us improve even more. I support my team and this coach! go Rockets!
I voted "I don't care" because I do not want this issue on the floor now. we have the playoffs and stretch finish to close. We all want the Rockets to win - we should just enjoy what this team has accomplished -a lot of hard work has proven results! I look for good things to come with the triumvirate of Van Gundy, Morey, and the owner. Good aquisitions-balanced players that fit..... For the question of an alternative to JVG. I do not know. I thought during the hiring process we would hire Dunleavy (which I supported). I also liked Silas, but the Van Gundy hiring has proven out to be good for this organization. Right there -I admit it - I was wrong and Van Gundy has done agood job! I only want success for this team. I think Van Gundy will get his extension, and would only leave if he decided to. If i had to choose a coach I would consider the following: Adelman-he has consistently been a contender at Portland and Sacramento Dunleavy-though I doubt he would leave the Clippers P.J. Carlisismo- I realize this is controversial-but the guy has a proven college resume at St. Johns and has apprenticed under Pop for more than 3 years ( I would prefer Van Gundy to PJC really - this would only be if Van gundy left the Rockets) When it's all said and done this team will be better off if Van Gundy does stay.
Yeah- talent that he acquired with poor draft picks, unforseen problems with trades - I.E. Griffin, Taylor, and Cato. He also tried to win again for Hakeem-build around him past his prime. I.E the Barkley and Pippen trades to give Hakeem a chance to win another ring. This did not work and Rudy was left hamstrung-not able to effectively trade or rebuild with so much money tied up in hakeem. I am not dogging Hakeem at all- just defending Rudy. Rudy was in a special circumstance. when Van Gundy got here - we already had Yao Ming. The T-Mac trade fell in his lap. With Rudy - does anyone reccall how effective shanderson was in Utah- he signed here at least partially for better nite life than Utah and to play fro Rudy. Who would have thought Shandon could not play outside of Sloan's system??? I really thought we really had something signing Shanderson and Mo Taylor(who signed for 1 million minimum). A lot of bad luck `for Rudy. Now -the deal to sign and trade Shandon Anderson to New York for Glen Rice-I cannot really defend that one- though I'm sure Rudy thought he was getting a special 2 year shooter that could spread the floor.
Terrible poll (where are the undecideds) and terrible time for it. Got to wait for the playoffs. As long as we show up decently or better for round 2 of the playoffs I won't be chirping too much about him. And I was a huge fan of the initial JVG signing only to be less enthusiastic over time (I think Freak or someone was really in the MD camp, who I didn't like at the time at all, but now think he might have been right). We still have not got out of the 1st round.
Yea, but if he hadn't made those types of decisions, where would our team be? At that point the Rockets had all of their championship line-up retiring. At that point you have to take some chances and hope that the guy with potential turns out to be a pretty solid player. We got lucky getting Francis and then drafting Yao some years later. And when you think about it, thats how most of the elite franchises are built. They either got lucky in the lottery, or they signed/drafted a guy with potential and he lived up to it. I think at some point it IS the coach though, but Rudy made good decisions and I think JVG has also. The only bad thing that we can credit him for is Swift. But look at the positives, Chuck, the McGrady trade, developing Yao, #1 defense, Luther Head... I think the positives outweight the negatives here.
I do not think anyone's crystal ball was workng for Mo Taylor, Griffin, Anderson, or Scottie Pippen's mental state. Granted there were bad decisions made-but there was a risk in the "win now" strategy. Rudy was not alone in this
I agree- the poll was about possible affirmation for JVG. I do support him as our coach and hope he stays with us. Just think with Morey and JVG working on more talent-this will insure a better team coming up
I voted- could care less. Objectively, I think he is a damn good if not genious like defensive coach, although I don't think he is all that creative on the offensive end. He is a great veteran coach, but is stubborn and lacks much trust with the younger guys ie.V-Span, whom I think is much better than he has shown in limited action both offensively and especially defensively. I still don't know if he is the right coach that can bring parades to Houston. The playoffs will tell all.
That's pretty much where I'm at. I don't know how many threads we've had asking this question, in one form or another, but I'll repeat myself. If Tracy and Yao are healthy, we should go to 6 games in the 2nd round if we lose, and I expect to win. (I'm an optimist!) If we don't make a strong showing in the 2nd round, with our stars healthy, then we should look for a different coach. Van Gundy has done a lot to impress me this season. He's handled his timeouts better (something that drove me crazy) and he's cut down on the minutes some of the guys were playing. (like McGrady) I still find myself mystified by his rotations frequently, and I wish he'd played the younger players a bit more, so we could get a better handle on just how much they suck, or don't. He could have a more innovative offense, for sure, but he's loosened that up, something he's improved on. What has he done right? Outstanding defense. Simply outstanding, considering who's in the rotation. As much as I think Rafer should be a great backup, instead of the starter, he's had a huge improvement in his team defense. Howard has also improved a great deal. Deke has seen a rebirth in his game. You have to think Van Gundy has something to do with it. There are other things he does right, but that jumps out at me. The defense.
