Good shooter on bad shooting nights, do you keep going to him if you were coach?

I just want the Rockets to be able to win back to backs at least once an awhile. I know that I would want the our two Superstars taking most of the shots but when they are both struggling, I for one would want JVG to pull Spurs and bench the starters and try our bench. I have noticed that it does wonders for the Spurs when they are struggling. Also, I wish the Rockets would get going on whether or not both Sura and Bonzi will be playing or not because if they are not let's get going with making the necessary moves to move on.

 

Hey man, in all fairness, the thread is asking a general question about basketball strategy. This is not the D&D page. No need for all the personal insults.

 

Okay I'll tell you straight up I don't like your boy's coaching style whether it's rotation or motivation or execution. I hate it! You're propably a coach so you know I thing or 2 about x's and o's and I give you that your boy is a very good defensive coach but as I said before his coaching tactics are dehumanizing and neanderthal... and in the end he will have a group of players who will do what they are told out of fear but won't go to war for him.

The Rockets will never win a championship with him so why prolong the agony. This is not even talking about his inability to adjust to other coaches in game plans. Okay that being said it has become obvious that almost all of your post are geared toward glorifying Van Gundy. Now I don't know if you are related but I am guessing as much. Okay could anyone shower so much praise on an average coach.

SO that makes your starting thread after thread trying to justify his incompetence even more annoying. Now if you wish to tell me to go **** myself go right ahead as you always have the internet to protect you. And I won't call you out unless carried as the last time I did that I got banned for a while. Peace out and try to talk some sense in your boy if he'll listen!

 

you've lost it man. you're so biased against van gundy that your posts are just all garbage now. you don't have to like him but it's just so predictable that anything negative that happens with the team, here comes old man rock to say van gundy should of done this.

what excuses are you talking about, we're 12-6. deal with that.

 

I am insulting Jeff Van Gundy as a coach. I am not insulting his friends relatives or family (unless Van Gundier is really his Poppa). In all fairness I think Van Gundy as a coach is open game on this board. And as long as he treats players with a degree of inequality meaning yelling at Yao and Vspan and never at Tmac or Jho than I will have a problem with him. Either yell at everyone when they make mistakes or none.

 

Being a coach means managing personalities. It may seem unfair, particularly if he's yelling at one of your favorite players, but it's a fact that some players need to be coddled, and some players need disciplined. Let's be honest, T-Mac is a little self-centered, and he's not going to take criticism well. That's been his history. Van Gundy obviously understands his player's personalities better than you; you know, he's actually had conversations with them. So you have to accept that he understands better than you what they can and can't take.

 

Ok. I will go with this for a second..

Taking this into consideration, can you please explain what could be some of his reasons for not going at Juwan considering he has been hurting the Rockets for couple of years now? When Juwan just stands there while his man blows past him and Yao picks up a foul..or when he makes some really silly passes and turnovers...

What is he afraid of? That Juwan might actually walk out on the team?

It's quiet obvious he has his favorites and there are double standards involved.

 

I cant argue with this. No double standards please.

 

Our bench is not as good as Spur's bench. Not even close.

 

Frankly, that's somewhat of a mystery to me too. With Juwan, I think maybe his mistakes are often less mental and more just a lack of physical ability. JVG gets on players more for mental mistakes. As for turnovers ... Juwan's turnovers usually aren't that bad, in my opinion. That's the least of his deficiencies, anyways.

 

I agree Z-boy....

I think JVG uses Juwan because he is a KNOWN commodity and he knows what J-ho can and can't do.

The other options on the team, Padget and Novak are unknowns, and prone to more defensive mistakes (a serious No No on a JVG team), so he sticks with a slow footed, bad jump shooting PF as his backup instead of gambling a bit to see if Novak or Padgett can add anything to the mix.

You would think that playing the 2nd night of a back to back, and the defense that the Pups were running, basically doubling Yao and IGNORING the PF....that JVG would have at least tried Scotty, or Stevie !!

Popovich would have...



DD

 

Imagine Novak trying to guard and block out KG. That would be funny to watch.

 

See that is where I have the biggest problem with JVG, he seems to make his decisions based primarily on the defensive side of the ball.

You don't have to have Novak or Padgett guard KG...put Yao on him, or Battier, or Tmac...you have options....

It seems like a small minded approach to a problem that has multiple solutions.

DD

 

Thank you. And now you can understand where my dislike for Juwan's game and handling of his minutes comes from.

I could live with Juwan's lack of physical abilities if he could show a lot of hustle every night and wouldn't give up on plays. But he doesn't. Because JVG kept playing him, despite his low production, he took his starting job for granted. His quote about not worrying about getting time shows that.

Now that he feels his time on the court is threatened, he starts to play hard for the last 2 games at home? How is that being a professional as people claim? If anything, it proves he wasn't giving it his best when he was a starter. And JVG instantly rewards him? Why? Is he not trying to win?

Handling of Juwan situation is not fair to other players on his team. No one on the team might say anything about it but I am sure they take notice.

You are right about turnovers. Thats the least of his deficiencies. But you as well as I know there are countless others.

 

I'm going to save this post somewhere...it'll be a classic moment one day.

Players consistently say that Van Gundy is among the best coaches they have ever seen (except for the Derek Andersen and Bonzi Wells types that don't want to put in the effort but still get the glory). His teams win consistently. He took a Rockets team with a train wreck of a backcourt in his first year to the playoffs and competed with the Lakers. He then took in their first year practically an entire different team to the playoffs, and pushed the Mavs to the brink. Last year was obviously an anomaly, so let's see how far he gets this year before writing him off.

As for coaching individual players, that is the way it should be done. What's he going to tell Juwan Howard? Grow taller and get more athletic? Outrun KG to the ball? Don't miss an open shot? Juwan usually does the best he can with his ability, although his ability is fading and he is hurting the team right now. A power forward with good defense and a decent jumper would do wonders for this team right now. Mcgrady knows when he makes mistakes... Van Gundy expects him to take responsibility for what he does wrong. Yao's soft personality (though he has become more assertive on the court) needs to be pushed a little bit from time to time, and if V-Span is as tough as advertised he should be able to take a little tough love from time to time as part of the learning process.

The bottom line is Van Gundy knows these guys a hell of a lot better than we do, and I think he knows the best way to talk to his players.

 

It depends. If he is a peremiter shooter, probably not. If he is a mid-range jumper shooter or low post players, he should keep getting the ball and shooting to find the groove.

 

why do you keep bringing this up? you think he treats yao ming bad? he's gushed about yao ming probably more than any player he's ever had in his life. he went to bat for him to the tune of $100,000. remember that? so in order for you to like him as a coach he needs give yao gold stars and lollipops and tell the chronicle he's the greatest basketball player in the world every day? he's not five dude.

it's just so odd to me how you warp the situation.

i'd say 100% of the reason why he gets on yao ming(and vspan), is because he can handle it. he's not a p***y and he doesn't need coddling. van gundy doesn't let up because frankly yao still makes mistakes and is still growing as a player. yes he's fantastic and the best center in the league but van gundy's job is to keep teaching him. yao has obviously responded to his coaching very well.

same goes for vspan. van gundy gets on him because his peronality can handle it and i think it's obvious he sees something he really likes in him. in the long run it's going to be beneficial.

i'm gonna leave it at that, cause this thread's been jacked enough.

 

fits here too.

Several people have mentioned the back to back. I've brought it up before that JVG believes in mind over matter - meaning that what you think can overcome fatigue either during a game or because of a back to back. Well here it is on tape on our very own site on the front page - Jeff talking about wanting to do it being more important than possibly being fatigued because of a back to back.

http://clutchfans.net/news/1377/des...undy_not_happy/

Then of course we have Jeff disobeying his directive from Les to be more positive and dumping on a few players. And he makes some good points - Vspan is certainly a work in progress but come on, some of his turnovers are from agressive passes that people seem unable to handle - both sides can learn over time to play with one another. Some of this is natural for a group of guys still learning to play with each other - and the TO's should come down as they did after Xmas in previous years.

Then of course he goes after Hayes for not playing all out - ??? No-one can call him on that since it is so vague. So you dump on your man who is near the top of the league in +/-. WTF?

Then he disses totally his 4Q scrubs who held their own with GS and did not allow the lead to disintegrate, and got some valuable court time experience.

Then he plays his top 4 starters 37 to 41 minutes in a back to back. Hayes who he dissed the night before plays only 21. Jho the bricklayer with the line drive shot plays 25. Vspan plays a big 6. And Padge, Novak and Lucas play zero. Lucas the man with 7 pts in 6 min the night before gets zero minutes.

In a game where we were not hitting the broad side of a barn with our shots.

So JVG states again in the post Warriors video he does not believe in fatigue, he believes in mind over matter - the little train who said "I think I can". And then he goes out and lives it in a game we lose by a thin margin.

Fresh legs baby! Fresh legs.

But JVG is smarter than the rest of us. He never makes any mistakes. (sarcasm)

I will say it again - he is a smart guy with great strengths and some unbelievable weaknesses - myopic blind spots. He drives me nuts with his blind spots.

Is this a civil enough response dealing with the issues one by one?

 

Van Gundier: There's being pissed, and then there is flaming. The cool thing about messageboards is that you can read (and think) about what you are saying before you say it (post it). You need to check that stuff.

 

QFT, just garbage.