*double yawn* every thread consists of pro-JVG vs. anti-JVG stuff. Hope Morey or something sitrs some news up soon to quell the JVG noise
1. I don't really have a problem with the Adelman for Van Gundy move at all. Can't say one is better than the other, but you can't work with ownership and the head coach not being on the same page. I don't care whose fault it is, but there seems to be too much distrust between coach and owner. I hope Adelman will have a better working relationship with the owner than his predecessor. 2. As a PR move, this was bungled by the Rockets. They should have known what kind of person Van Gundy is. Should have known better than to offer him hush money from the way he reacted to the "be cheerful" order from Alexander last offseason. The guy is too rich, has too many future money making opportunities in and out of coaching, and has too big of an ego for that to work. They should have just said Les Alexander wanted a different philosophy and a different coach, thanked Jeff for his work and moved on. Nothing wrong with that, Jeff doesn't have a guaranteed year left on his contract.
Why do people keep talking about the lack of adjustments and JVG getting outcoached in the playoffs? He got outcoached to having a 5 point lead in game 7 with a few minutes to go. What adjustment should he have made to keep the refs from giving Utah the ball when Kirilenko threw it out of bounds? What brilliant coaching manouver by Sloan enabled Boozer to outhustle Yao to 3 offensive boards late in the game? Sometimes things just don't go your way, but JVG certainly put his team in a position to win that series, despite some very serious matchup issues and subpar performances by pretty much everyone on the team.
no i do. it's just JVG couldn't win or change strategies if he didn't have the players to do it with. who is responsible for the assembly of players? the GM. so hold JVG responsible for not winning... that's fair. but when everyone starts dog-piling saying he also is responsible for assembling the team, etc... he's not. that's the GM and OPS guys jobs. they went out and made each of those moves (whether it was JVGs suggestion or not). so i just don't think you can blame JVG for anything other than not winning (which is HUGE). but the argument changes a little bit at this point. if we're letting him go for not winning, then what WINNER are we replacing him with? will this guy win any more ball games than JVG or win in the playoffs? not so sure with our roster. but i will say i hope all these JVG haters are right and that we have all this talent at the end of our bench that JVG just wouldn't let play. but i doubt it.
i mean no offense, but to paraphrase JVG, who you happen to be defending, this is loser talk. ALmost won, ust a few more points, if only......Winners find a way to win. JVG didnt.
I hate it when people say he improved the rockets so much. We were a lock for the playoffs the year Rudy got Cancer. We feel out by losing a crap load of games under Larry Smith. JVG was only good enough for 2 more wins than the previous even though Yao was drastically improved over his rookie season. Tmac has had more to do with our success than JVG. He is the one that took over when Yao went down this year.
Guess what, Rudy was a fine coach, too. The only thing I blame him for, is his part, if there is any, in bringing in the likes of Taylor and Cato. For the most part, Rudy got the most out of his teams, as did JVG. Alexander really needed to realize that the woes of the Rockets had little to do with coaching, and much to do with player personnell.. They paid the price during the Rudy era for mistake signings, they still are paying the price of the aftereffect of those mistakes.
The irony of JVGs firing is if the Rox had collapsed after Yao and TMac going out he would probably still have his job. The crazy thing about the NBA is how many coaches get fired after making the playoffs and doing a good job. I would have preferred his firing to have been handled differently but it was time for a change. This team as constructed is just not good enough and a new GM and coach is a good place to start in giving this team a needed facelift. From what we have heard, CD and JVG did not have a close working relationship which means to me JVG did not have much input on personnel decisions, with a new coach and GM I would hope that would change. Morey is a rookie and I hope that whoever the new coach is he has an eye for talent and can help Morey in the decision making process in remaking this team.
Of course it is loser talk, they lost. Having said that, some things are in your control and some are not. JVG can't make the refs give us the ball when Finley is standing out of bounds holding it, or when Kirilenko throws it into the seats. He cannot make the team get half of the defensive rebound opportunities in the fourth quarter, and he cannot make the players hit their WIDE OPEN SHOTS (of which they had plenty). If they want to fire Jeff for having a "boring" style, or being negative in the media, that is their choice, but they shouldn't fire him for something he had no say in, like the team choking away game 7.
And how could anyone watch Dallas and GS and not see the Warriors were clearly the better team? Sometimes, the best teams don't always win. Even in a 7 game series.
Um' look at Cuban and the Mavs. Maybe he is a dickface, but the Mavs are consistently good, thats more than I can say about the Rocks. Personally, no one can be a bigger dick than Cuban, and no one can take an orginization, buy them at $280 million and make them worth $463 million. That is major skills, he did it in only 7 years. Love him or hate him, he gets the job done.
I privately VERY worried about the attitude that Les Alexander is taking. WE will NEVER play Phoneix ball. Our 7-6 Centre is designed to own it in the low block. Putting him in the high block isn't something I really enjoy thinking about. I really think that, we made a mistake. We needed for JVG to improve his offence maybe hire a different assistant or something like that. But honestly if you think about it, the dude has only had T-mac and Yao together for two years, TWO SEPERATE years. Last year doesn't count at all. I don't get why people are so immature about the offence. Its not clicking, they've only been in the system for a year most of the players. Chuck and Battier weren't even regulars........Yao and T-mac they haven't even been playing consistently enough together to get to know each other. Hell most basketball teams take a FULL season to get it together. Our team has been chopped and changed in the core so much.
