but he made the most out of the time he got and he is in a 'easier' situation b/c of his position than a guy like vspan...b/c billy will need to run the offense when he is in
Hmmm, let me see if I can summarize what has been said about this on the board: 1. That was JVG's fault because his offense was predictable, stale, simple, (insert adjective here) and hindered the player's ability to play at a high level. 2. This was also JVG's fault because he trusted Tmac far too much even though Tmac was one of the two "stars" on the team and the offense was designed for him to handle the ball and create but I digress... 3. Oh yeah, JVG's fault again because his emphasis on playing defense smothered the players' ability to be creative and athletic enough to get to those offensive rebounds. 4. Again, JVG's fault because he didn't tell guys who were veteran professional basketball players that they were supposed to foul in that situation. I mean, it's not like they'd ever been in that situation before... 5. JVG is responsible for this as well because again it was his coaching and style of basketball prevented them from playing and exceling. Good coaches make players play better basketball.
Nothing to back it up as pro or con with these players I talked about. No history except a few garbage minutes and starting Novak one game and then yanking him immediately. Legitimacy. Talk to me about legitimacy when these players have have proven they suck or that they are great. It's a big black hole right now.
I'll tell you what you do... you do what all the people who were hating on Rudy did... you demand a new coach when the team doesn't get where you want them to, and then when things don't go perfectly after that... you look for someone to blame for that too. It's harder for most fans to blame the players than it is the coach. This is my last pro/con JVG post. I am sorry to see him go, because I know we got our money's worth from him. The TEAM fell short. It happens. I think Les is more worried about PR than he is about winning. That's not to say that he doesn't want to win, I think he does, but he's catering to the whiners on this one, imo. Les has gone from a "We can market ourselves by winning" owner to a "We better have a fun product on the floor because damn it's hard to win" owner. I don't agree with the change, but I hope that it brings us both. In that sense, my glass is still half full. I hope Adelman can make something happen. I don't think he's a better coach, but we will have another chance, and maybe the TEAM (Coaches + Players) can improve. What I do know is, if things go wrong, expect the haters to repost all their "I hate JVG" threads with ADELMAN substituted. The grass isn't always greener my friends. This was on the TEAM... whether it's Bonzi, Alston, Yao, or TMAC or decisions made by the coaching staff... whoever... they were there. They had their chance... and did not perform up to par, much less expectations. Let's hope that as a team we can change that, but even if they do, I don't think it will have been entirely because of a change in head coach. Personally. Thanks for the hard work and the candid perspective, JVG, and I hope Adelman and Morey find a way to make the best of this situation, but it will be up to the team, not just them. Anyone else a bit displeased at Morey's handling of the situation? I know I am. So far, strike one on the PR side of things. I think he meant well, and I think Les put him on the hot spot, but the way they handled this kinda stunk, regardless of what they wanted to happen.
A truly excellent post. The parallels between this episode and the Rudy T episode are downright eerie. In both instances rather than taking a long sobering look at why the team wasn't winning, management and ownership chose to blame the head coach instead thereby expunging themselves of any responsibility for the bad decisions that occurred on their watch. The same thing will happen to Adelman when he fails to be the magician folks believe him to be - they will turn on him with a vengence. Meanwhile, the Rockets will continue on their long trek to nowhere.
Utah WAS the better team..they were the better team in 5 out of the 7 games that we played, maybe 6.. I loved what JVG brought to the table D-wise, but I think it was clear that there was only so far that he could get us. It is time for some new blood.
