Yao could've complained about "we don't have good offense", "we can't beat the elite teams", "we don't have bench scoring", "our shooting sucks" or about one million other things, but he didn't, he walks around with a p***y under JVG and takes it from behind night in night out from the refs. Now Yao is acting up and speaking up after that fools gold is gone. I bet he feels good to be a man, than living in a midget's shadow. A low post robot has nothing to do with balls. It just means physical and skill advantage in the low post.
Nah, the problem of JVG is he values hard work over talent. Once he said that the talent gap between teams is not much, it's efforts that separate the elites from the bad. Pure BS. The reason JVG never had a talented team is that he puts effort, obedience and steadiness over talent. He's one short sighted person. He doesn't know talent, and doesn't respect talent enough. He thought two superstars with a bunch of hard working scrubs are enough to win. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
He is not the GM, it's not his job to acquire players. He chose the Rockets because he liked the talent of Yao. He loved the TMac trade because he liked Tmac's talent. Give an example of him actually turning down talent. Your attacks have very little to do with reality. Yes, he values hard work. But no, it's not true that he "doesn't know talent" or he "doesn't respect talent." You have simply taken a kernel of truth (he values hard work) and exaggerated it to an absurd degree (he hates talent).
All you've got is blank accusations. Look who's pulling stuff out of his ass here. Didn't Yao often take it from the refs without complaints under JVG? Hasn't Yao started to throw towels to the refs and work the refs under Adleman? Listen, I know you love JVG, but he's gone, and will never come back. Your guys' tones sound like trying to resurrect your dead papa back to life. It ain't gonna happen. JVG = fools gold. I was a fan of the fools gold too, I was a JVG advocate even before the Rockets signed him. I gradually abandoned the dark side, though, after 4 years of ugly and futureless basketball he forced on us.
Blank accusations? Have you looked at your own posts in regard to JVG and TMac? No proof for that crap. It's as bad as that stupid "you will be iso'd" thread. If you dont like JVG, fine. If you think his system was wrong, ok. If you say he got the wrong players, it's arguable. Just stop making up stuff. It's not necessary. Makes this forum look like it is full of idiots. Or are you trying to be a writer for As the World Turns and you want to practice here?
It's very hard to sex pandas. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/coge/2007/00000008/00000003/00009196?crawler=true
You are misunderstanding my point, JVG doesn't hate talent. What's wrong is for him to put effort and steadiness over talent. They are equally important for success in this league. It's just common sense that a team's roster is not just the GM's work, a coach has many ways to influence GM's decision. Many a times a GM has to consider if a role player fits into a coach's particular system. JVG's system values hard work, obedience and steadiness above every thing else, which is exactly why he only gets hard working scrubs. You can cover your eyes and say it's all CD's fault, but it doesn't excuse the fact that all GM's tailor tthe roster to fit with the coach's need. Why do you think that JVG started that high school basketball player Ryan Bowen? It's crystal clear that JVG doesn't respect talent enough by putting efforts way ahead of it.
But do you honestly believe JVG wouldn't trade Ryan Bowen for someone like Rasheed Wallace who is a headcase? I mean come on, you are completely exaggerating this. You are taking JVG's focus on hard work, which is a GOOD thing, and trying to spin it as a bad thing.
I believe Van Gundy's wining % in playoffs is similar to Adelman's-- who, some would say, did not put team in playoff mode all season. I also believe Van Gundy's Knicks had a decent amount of post-season success, even in seasons in which their regular season records were subpar.... so apparently his Knicks teams had another gear to go to. What's different about his Rockets team? Hmmm....
When a player of zero, nada, zilch talent like Ryan Bowen get rotation minutes on a NBA team, only because he can hustle, it clearly shows where the preference of the coach lies. For JVG, effort >>> talent. I don't see any viable argument around it. Do you honestly believe that Ryan Bowen can get rotation minutes on any other team?
Yes, not only do I believe it to be true, I KNOW it to be true. You're not exactly helping your own cause. Bowen has played 8 NBA seasons. He played 2 of those seasons in Houston. Of those 8 seasons, 2 of the 3 seasons he played the least MPG were in Houston. In fact, the year after he left Houston, he played more minutes per game. List of Bowen coaches who have ever played Bowen more MPG per season than JVG Mike D'Antoni Dan Issel Jeff Bzdelik Byron Scott List of Bowen coaches who played Bowen less MPG than JVG Jeff Bzdelik (once - he gave him 7.5 mpg instead of JVG's 9 mpg) Do some research before you post next time Panda.
Bowen acutally averaged more minutes in 4 out of the 5 years he played in Denver before he came to the Rockets. Under JVG he didn't even play 10 minutes per game! And yet you trot him out as an example of JVG not valuing talent. Well, of course, why would you? It's not enough to say JVG didn't work out. You have to come up with some kind of whack theory. He's getting rotation minutes for New Orleans, was averaging 12 minutes (thats 33 percent more than JVG game him) before he got injured. He has gotten rotation minutes every year in the NBA since 1999-2000. And only 2 of those years were with JVG.
Overspending potential? With limited personnel(ok, here we go again Bonzi and Vspan), but still limited personnel without Yao for half of the season, we won 52 games. Overachieve? Maybe. But that's a good thing in my book. Well, it's moot now.
All these JVG threads may mean it is time to bust out the V-Span threads again. I mean they are both Ex-Rockets right? DD
I think what Panda is trying to say is that JVG values effort more than talent and his team usually goes all out in the regular season. He treats regular season like playoffs. So when the real playoffs starts and the opponents match their effort and intensity, they don't have enough tricks and talents to win big games. It is just that simple. And saying JVG has no input on the personnel changes is just pure BS. This team's roster had complete overhaul after JVG became the head coach. The management had roster shuffles almost every year and most of the personnel moves had JVG's fingerprints all over it. That was a JVG's team. He had the players he wanted, he did make them overachieve in the regular season and he also failed miserably in the playoffs. I said more than once that I have no problem let JVG go. But the problem is the coach they brought in seems no better than him. Had he stayed and Rox had today's roster, I believe they would have a much better record than they are having right now because the current team is definitely more talented than last year's. But had him stayed, the roster probably wouldn't have been the same. That is another story.
We definitely would have had Scola and Mike James (who JVG openely campaigned for). Bonzi may not have stayed.... but then again, NOBODY offered him a contract in the off-season, thus he may have had to stay by default. Likewise, they may not have pursued Steve Francis. Regardless... none of the above 4 are doing all that much to help the team right now. Bonzi is as inconsistent as it gets, James is just plain awful, Francis is out of shape, and Scola is a rookie.
