I never said he wasnt. Saying kind words for the bald dude is not automatically a prelude to denigrating Adelman in a reasonable discussion. I mearly pointed out that the foundation of our defense is taken from the principles that VG preached. nothing more, nothing less.
Perhaps the players ("supporting cast") are better than everyone thinks. They've had success now in bleak circumstances under two different coaches. Maybe some credit should go to the front office for bringing these guys in. How did the "Van Gundy principles" fare once he left the Knicks? Were they still great defensively?
LOL! Actually what are those Van Gundy principles? Write it down, educate us. Then I can get a magnifier to examine them. Dont just throw out a vague term.
I've always really liked Nash. Nice compliments. Good article. Bell isn't as articulate, but still a good sentiment.
Sure the front office should receive some of the credits. JVG didn't make lazy players like Swift play much defense. CD shipped them out. Scola and Landry didn't learn a lick of D from JVG. Battier, Yao and T-Mac were good defensive players before JVG. Hayes was signed because he's a good defender. Mutombo was defensive player of the year. Given time, any good defensive coach can get good defense out of this group of players. JVG's defensive preaching shortened the time Adelman needed to implement defense. It's merely a convinience, not a necessity. The Rockets run the Adelman defense, not JVG defense.
That Rockets team in '81 that made it to the finals was insane. If they could make it, there is no reason why this team can't.
