Perhaps so. I was actually home late Sunday night, but this BBS is not at the top of my "things to do" list. As to the "question," Bob Sura and Jon Barry are beholden to JVG for their livelihoods, and thankful for being rescued from last-place teams. Steve Francis has commented on JVG's system (available in other threads), and Tracy McGrady said on Jim Rome that part of his problem through the frst part of the season was "playing in such a rigid offense." Further, on 610 (I think on his show, but it was on an update, so it may have just been another interview), the man said his main concern was "points per posession," and that "scoring was not a priority." Fifty win seasons (or .609 for the strike year): 4/11 = 0.364 2/7 = 0.28 Assuming neither the Lakers nor the Rockets hit fifty wins this season. 4/12 = 0.333 2/8 = 0.25
Yao and JVG do not mix. JVG desires a different type of player on court physically and mentally. Yao and Mo are affected from the same disease. It seems they both cannot do anything right in JVG's schemes. Mo just got put on the IL for Weatherspoon which just shows how low Mo is on the JVG totem pole. I personally think they are best off with Rudy T or a coach like Rick Adelman or Don Nelson where there is a very flexible mind. I am not in favor of firing JVG anymore because I KNOW what kind of players he needs, and given the right kind of players, I think JVG can do a whole lot of winning. Lamar Odom has the potential to be an all-NBA player. Stan Van Gundy will attest to that.
Let me add that Yao is good in a zone defense. The fact that JVG does not utilize a zone defense puts Yao at a disadvantage. Every single zone defense article basically describes why Yao would be perfect for it. Yao would be best off with a team that uses a combination of man and zone.
Could you name one team that plays a zone effectively in the NBA? These teams are just too damn good at ball-movement and shooting. The ONLY team that I've seen that's run an effective zone is Minnesota, and that's only because KG can take on an entire team's offense by himself... he's that good.
Can you just go away for good please. I beg you go back to Lakersground forum and do not come back I still do not understand why a Faker would be so infatuated with clutchfans.net - oh I know why.....never mind
I know its crazy... just drop it man..we all know how you feel and what players you want for the humanity's sake...just chill
Lottery appearances for Van Gundy, ever: 0 Lottery appearances for Rudy in his last 4 seasons: 4 Do you understand why we made a change?
Nope. Trading a championship quality head coach for an average one is just plain stupid. Stupid every day of the week, and twice as stupid on Sunday. However, that ship has sailed.
Not for you apparently. By the way, IIRC you boldly predicted prior to last year that we would not make the playoffs and that Van Gundy's team would be worse than Rudy's the previous year, so the requisite grain of salt is in effect.
Well you can't really trade a coach so I am not sure I understand your statement. So based on your logic why did LA get rid of Phil Jackson?
Getting rid of Rudy was unavoidable. You forget that at the time, Rudy had been trying to get back to the play-offs with Francis/Mobley for a while (past Hakeem chamionships or not). Yes, it's true that Rudy was a scape goat for Francis's *underdevelopment* (some perceived and some real). Also, the inability to "get the ball to Yao" was part of Francis fault and part Yao's. But since this was not happening, Rudy was to blame. Although, it was true that Rudy had an unwillingness to shift the focus of the offense from Francis towards Yao. Rudy wouldn't do that. I'm not saying that it was the right thing to do at the time, but that's what people wanted. Lastly, add the fact that Rudy got cancer just helped him get caned. And even if Rudy didn't get cancer, he'd still get fired because of the above factors. Now even if you think that a coach that lead Hakeem and crew to two championships that he can do that with *any* players...and that JVG is *just average*...all you are basically are doing is hindsight is 20/20. Plus you aren't giving JVG his due for at least trying to get his first championship. Next... Lets talk about Phil Jackson. Why didn't we get him? Well, he was not available! And Brown didn't want to come here! Why? Could it have been because of Francis? Could it have been because that there were more pieces in place in Detiot? Could it have been boht? Quite possible. I'm sure that Brown knows what it's like to coach an iso-oriented scoring point guard (AI). Been there done that! Now, if you think that we should have just have gotten a below average interim coach after firing Rudy...well, it doesn't cut it in the real world. Fans want to win now, and JVG was the best available. So, you use of "stupid" shouldn't be used as a blanket statement without looking at history and all the factors that lead up to the changes that occurred. Again, it would just be convient 20/20 thinking on your part. I also believe that the development of Yao is taking longer than anyone thought would happen. Bring any coach here and you'd find out that Yao would still be having the same problems. If anything is learned, that would be the fact that Yao is not a leader. He's not physically capable enough to carry a team for 35-40 minutes. He's just too big and lumbering. I'm sure that TMac thought that Yao would be better post player than this! JVG thought the same thing. As did a lot of fans here. And because of this, it has created a void at the center position that wasn't predicted to happen. What we thought would happen would be that Yao would be closer to Duncan, than Rik Smits.
I also want say a few things about Rudy and Hakeem. Rudy took over the job in Hakeem's 8th and 9th year. It was a time of personal change in Hakeem's life. He was maturing and found renewed conviction to his religion. Rudy took over at just the right time. A time that Hakeem was still physically capable to carry a team (not too old) but was mature enough to lead. Rudy knew Hakeem's game, his strengths and weaknesses. So, it would be understandable that Rudy was the best coach for Hakeem. Not many other coached would have. He knew him well. Again, it was a perfect situation. Go back in time and try and coach Hakeem to a ring and you might find it more difficult. That job was giving to another former championship coach named Bill Fitch (Boston Celtics). Fitch, being an experienced coach did the best he could giving the talent he had (of Akeem and Sampson). Too bad that he met-up with his old team, a team that just happened to have better talent and more experience. That's just the way it goes. Sometimes you can do everything right at the time but the oppenent was just better than you. Does that make you a bad coach? No. Getting to the finals is hard enough! Something that both Brown and JVG have done. Brown got another chance. And I belive that JVG will get that chance again too. Our team today is new. We have two relatively young players (25/23). They don't have much experience in the play-offs. Not like Hakeem did in his 8th and 9th year. Knowing what we know about TMac and Yao (especially Yao). I think we need to wake up and realize that we are on this for the long haul. It's going to take some time. And this may or may not include JVG (or even Phil; what will we do if Phil goes to NY?). I don't think anyone should be trying to sabotage this team just because you don't like the coach. Putting all of our eggs in one basket is dangerous. It happened with Beltran, it could happen again. We could be snubbed again. There are no quick fixes.
Incorrect. Like it or not, JVG seems to have done that with Yao Ming, or at least the Yao Ming/T-Mac duopoly. Not that they aren't capable, but assuming a championship doesn't happen in the next year or two, every single member of this squad other than those two will be gone.
