MrRolo, Not to your face perhaps. There are many others on here who claims JVG makes players worse, and that he is NOT CAPABLE of adapting to his players. There are impatient and frustrated fans like this thread's starter and perhaps yourself. There are also many that just dislikes JVG and think he is not capable of winning. That he is just a horrible coach. If our season does turn around, it would be a slap in their faces.
So if they lost the first 32 games, and won the last 50.....you'd still want him gone? I know that was a smartass question. I'm just trying to make a point, not to make you look bad. If we win 70% of the games for the next 60 games, and you still think JVG is a bad coach...I don't know man, maybe you should just follow another team, cuz JVG will stay as our coach.
for you 51 wins and he's still fired but the people making that decision will be fine with 51, 50, etc.
I would be very satisfied if we won 47+ games this year. I wanted 50+ before the season began but that looks a little unrealistic right now.
47 victories. 37-23 the rest of the way. .617 basketball, which would mean playing at the Mavericks level.
Thats the number of win I think we need to get the 7th or 8th playoff seed. 45 wins might get us in but iam sure 47 will get us in. 37-23 is not completely out of question especially if we finsih this month 8-1 or 7-2.
Also Laker's, Pistons', and Spur's level. You know what else these teams have in common? Defense and lots of rings.
The west is tough.....if were .500 and we make the playoffs.....i'll be happy.....making the playoffs no matter what are record is...............it would be a dissappointing season if weren't playing more than 82 games!
A championship caliber head coach? I wish the Rockets had one. Incidentally, I was going strictly on record. Play .524 like the Pistons, or .571 like the Lakers the rest of the way, and the Rockets would likely be out of the playoffs.
You logic to fire JVG could have applied to Larry Brown last year. I am sure it applies to Pop and Phil too before they won their first championship. I don't quite understand what you are saying. That larry brown and Rudy should be fired? I gave the comparison to the other teams in their championship years. Who all had winning percentages you disaprove of, and thus, according to your logic, needed to fire their coach.
(1) I am saying that the Rockets need to equal the pace of the Mavericks (to date) in order to even get to the playoffs. If they "only" play at the pace of the Pistons or Lakers, a playoff spot is not at all guaranteed. (2) I neither "approve" nor "disapprove" of winning percentages. I believe that Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are capable of winning 52 games in a season. Anything less than that is underachieving, and evidence that JVG is not the right guy to coach a team anchored by a high-powered SCORER. (3) For the record, the Pistons won 54 regular season games last season. The Spurs went 37-13 (.740, equivalent to 61 wins in a non-strike season) in 2000. The Rockets went 58-24 their first championship season.
1) Ok, that is a fact. 2) First off, you first sentence is a direct contradiction to the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps you didn't mean it like that. Don't you think how you close the season is very important? Like I asked earlier, say teh rockets loses first 32, and goes on a 50 game winning streak. You logic still calls for a coaching change, since we didn't win 52 games. Or say we go 15-15, but goes 36-16 ever since, your logic will call for a coaching change since we didn't win 52 games. Don't you think a 50-0 or a 36-16 team are a good team? 3) I consider 62% teams and 66% teams on the same level. This part of our discussion would not contribute much to the outcome, since our definition of "same level" is very different. I am not saying JVG is the right coach for the team. I am not defending him forever. I am just claiming we can't possibly know for sure if he is or is not the right coach after 20 games. JVG bashing started after like 12 games, that is ok since we are playing horrible ball. Keep bashing him as long as we play bad bball. It is irrational to call for a coaching change and mean it this early though.
a) What I meant is that I don't universally and a priori say "A coach who doesn't win 52 games in his second full season should be fired." I have no problem with looking at the assembled talent, and setting some threshold of "a good coach needs to get X wins from this group, this season." b) Momentum and finishing kicks can matter. However, such moral victories are for losers. If a team genuinely feels they are playoff caliber, or championship caliber, something is terribly wrong if they allow themselves to fall for an extended period at any point in the season. As to 0-32, I would hope that hypothetical head coach got the axe no later than loss number 23 or 24. c) That's the thing. I'm not calling for Van Gundy's head yet. 52 wins is still mathematically possible. Once they've lost game 31 though, I will consider it...
edc, I see your points much clearer now. I personally don't feel closing the season with say a 20 win streak is only a "moral victory" though. If any team makes the playoffs and had won the last 20 games, I bet the team they face in the first round will have wished they tanked some games to avoid playing this obvious good club. Anyhow, I also had a number of victories set for this team at the beginning of the season. I expected 15-15(had I know I was going to be this accurate/close, I would have predicted 27-3), and 49 wins for the season. I would be dissappointed if we win less than that.
No, not so much that. More like half (the players) think that JVG's system is a big joke, and half that think it is only a little joke & things will turn around.
