i love guys like edc who fondly remember yao as a rookie being fun to watch as he scored 12 a game on 48 percent shooting but now dislike watching yao shoot mid 50s and average 18-19 a game... its ok...say i dont like jvg. say i love rudy and am a family member. say i hate the rockets made the playoffs the last two years. say i hate that his players actually like him even though i dont, but please stop with the yao was better as a rookie.
and edc who did we not get for those players that you think were available...the only reason that we are where we are is overpaying maloney, cato taylor etc instead of using our money more wisely. geez enough already...you have zero basketball credibility
Please, explain what happened to Yao Ming's footwork? The fantastic passing? The talent, as opposed to the Ewing-esque play he currently displays far too frequently.
He heard? He heard? What are we talkin' bout? Heard? Not really know, man. Heard? Equating Yao to Hakeem? nuff said. His numbers, except fg%, are all career highs. What kind of mistakes are you talking about? Bogging down the offense? Missing defensive assignment?
Yes. exactly. Yao was more like a novelty player then. Maybe a little like Swift is now. Make a couple plays a game that make you ooh and ahh, but was more intriguing because of talent and potential than actual production. Now we rely on him to produce, he has to be more serious, but that's ok. If I remember correctly, last year when we were winning, he produced a lot of highlight plays, and showed a fair amount of flair. (remember the behind the back dribble to the breakaway slam? Looked like he was having some fun then) Losing is not fun. Heightened expectations demand a serious approach. Yao has not regressed. There may be a game this season where he plays worse than he did his first season. But thankfully one game does not a season make.
What a load of bullcrap. Yao was a loose daring rookie? The guy would hardly even dunk the ball when he was a rook. How daring is that? Yao has definately not regressed. I don't buy the bit about a playbook the size of a phonebook either. Where are all these myriad of plays. If Stromile could learn a few fundamentals, he would be much more effective and maybe earn more playing time. Terrible article.
Haven't you heard, they do. http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2001/11/18/kkgcolum.htm == You want to wish for a championship but you can't. You are stuck with a perpetually grumpy coach, an inconsistent star (Houston), a finicky star (Sprewell) and three mediocre point guards. Everything is old hat at Madison Square Garden. The coach's dour moods and idealistic pleas directed at his team. The inflexible system. The plodding offense. Seventy-two games left and your season is over. ==
Thanks Eddie for sharing your excellent insights and analysis from having been an insider, both in the NBA and as a Rocket! By the way, we really loved having you on our team and we will never forget that marvelous last second shot that staved off our being eliminated by Utah! I am so in agreement with you and am sick and tired of Van Gundy`s passive-agressive, sour-dour, negative whining...If he is as smart as he thinks he is, he will either make some serious changes or he will lose this team. If the Rockets do not start turning it around really soon, I seriously doubt whether he will last much beyond the All-Star break...For the sake of the players and fans, I hope he does...
Van Gundy has coached in NBA for 9 years if I am not mistaken. His style has not changed from Knicks to Rockets. He probably always has this phone book thick play book for his players. He has shown success in his coaching. He is a perfectionist, and paranoid when he sees things he dislike on the court. That's just his coaching style. You do not question a winning coach by one game. We played same style basketball last year and were relatively successful in the regular season. What's different now and then, we are missing key players, Tmac, Sura, Mike James, and Deadly Wesley(he changed his 1st name to david this year). It's hard to win against anybody in this league without so many key players, on top of it look who did we play against in this 7 losing streak?
He didn't equato Yao to Hakeem. If you looked down a couple paragraphs after he wrote that, he said, "Van Gundy needs to chuck his playbook and just keep it simple. First of all, McGrady and Yao are taking the majority of the shots already... So why do you need that big of a playbook? And why do you need to stand up and call every play, especially when you have arguably the best scorer in the league – when healthy – in McGrady?" His point was to keep it simple and allow McGrady and Yao to play, which is a very valid point. And yes, allow Stromile to make some mistakes. He has amazing athletic ability but he needs some confidence from his coach to gain some experience on the court. And he's also right about JVG always standing up and looking pissed off, the Rockets don't look like they are having fun, which is essential to playing good basketball. Granted, JVG's heart is in the right place; he wants to win. But he needs to relax a little bit. However, the only thing I really disagree with Eddie about is doubting that the Rockets will make the playoffs. That is just plain stupid. The Rockets will get hot, and get the 6th seed (hopefully, I'd rather be in the 3-6 matchup than the 4-5 this year), and we should get to the second round. Maybe starting off 3-11 isn't so bad after all, because this way, we can get on a hot streak and have the momentum going into the 6th seed, which will likely give us our best matchup.
I detest Van Gundy and think he a horrible coach for our finesse stars. Still, this article is mostly emotion and speculation. I do think some of the speculation is fit for debate. Negativity is a poor bargain in life. If we have something to enjoy, our lives are worth living. If all is negative, nothing we achieve has value or meaning. The apologists have never come up with a reason why Van Gundy is a good fit for Yao/Tmac. I'd like to see that. Why do you think he's good for them? Did Britain "need" Hitler to find itself? Maybe you think so. Maybe, though, Britain was just fine without that megalomanical, passive agressive ball of hate. There is no good without evil, but there is no need to love evil, because you want good.
He used Hakeem's "keep it simple" quote to bash JVG's playbook. But the only reason why Hakeem said that was because they could SIMPLY dump it to Hakeem and he could do the rest. Yao, on the other hand, needs a lot of help to get the entry pass and to get the double/triple team off of him. That help comes from some offensive sets, which are in the playbook.
i ask this of pasox and edc...should they have won more in his two years here? should they have beaten la in year one and dallas in year 2? if his players like him, why do we not. because he doesnt over hype his players. he takes the blame and rarely accepts credit....so what is it you detest?
Eddie Johnson is a Suns homer plain and simple. Van Gundy has never been the problem. The Rockets will make the playoffs and will get past the first round. It started against the Hawks and it will continue with a win over the Grizzlies. Go Rockets!!!
This is exactly what I was thinking. I can't believe this is the same Eddie! His comments are spot-on in my opinion!
"He [Yao] is not the loose daring rookie that played under Rudy Tomjanovich." Hard to keep reading after that one. As for making the game fun: "If I have to motivate my guys, I've got the wrong guys." Guess which Rockets coach said that. The problem with blaming Van Gundy isn't that he doesn't deserve some blame. Of course he does. The problem is that most us who are bashing him are doing it to find excuses for our players' pathetic lack of effort and discipline.
