WOW You must be really pissed to finally decide to write at Clutch Fans after lurking for five years. Hang in there friend... we'll get better as the season progresses
This is a late response, but yes IMO they are. These guys played on different teams but their roles are pretty much the same. If they didn't figure they would fit in until mid-season they have come in this summer to practice with the guys more. These guys are pro's and are making millions to play a game that I played in my driveway when I was 10. They should be able to adapt and play well in the two months since camp started. How much slack do we have cut them?
Look out...it's "IGNORE THE FACTS, GUNDY IZ DA BOM!!: Part infinity" Compared to the league, the Rockets scoring was twentieth. Spin that however you want, but they were in the bottom half of scoring.
you got to start wondering about the coaching when his team consistently blows leads and just collapses during the later stages of the game. It happend in several of our losses during the regular season last year, and ultimately ended our season when we did it in Games 3 AND 4 with the chance of putting Dallas in a strangehold. and i am sick of hearing him say in post game interviews, "its my fault", we already know!!
After the Wesley and Barry trades they were averaging around 99pts a game. But who cares. Winning games is what matters. Basketball people will tell you the stat to look at when measuring how good a team is is Point differential. It's no coincidence, the teams with the greatest point differential last year were the best teams in the league. The six best teams last year had the six best point differential stats in the league. (in order) 1) Spurs +7.8 2) Suns +7.1 3) Heat +6.6 4) Mavs +5.7 5) Rockets +4.1 6) Pistons +3.8 Compared to the league, spin that anyway you want it, they were one of the best teams in the league last year.
IMO they were not so much hand-picked as cobbled together in an emergency as a band-aid. To wit MJames is gone, DWesley most likely will not survive the trade deadline, and BSura may never play again he was so banged up when we got him. We have a whole new starting back-court and a new PF. That is hardly the same group of guys. Last year he had free ride because he got a buch of players dumped on him. If he gets to pick his own players this year and all he can do is 'give the ball to TMac' or 'dump it to Yao' then that is not very creative offensive coaching. When TMac is not there, what do you do? Well JVG does not know what to do. We weren't and we aren't. When our perimeter is hitting 3's we can beat anyone, but we are not a terribly good 3-pt shooting team. We are and JVG doesn't have a clue what to do. I guess you saw his ever-changing rotations in the 4th qtr of our losses. He should have a better offensive plan than that. And, IMO he put too much emphasis on defensive ability when evaluating players.
IMO they were not so much hand-picked as cobbled together in an emergency as a band-aid. To wit MJames is gone, DWesley most likely will not survive the trade deadline, and BSura may never play again he was so banged up when we got him. James for Alston - trade is still too early to judge. but i'm not going to argue with you and say that looks like a good move because right now it doesn't. with that said, I think long-term, it will be. On Wesely: David was great for us last year. When he was coming off screens and knocking down shots, our offense was rolling, and we were unstoppable. thats a fact. and if it wasn't on VanGundy when he was playing good offensively then, than it's not on VanGundy that he's playing poorly now. if it is on vangundy, then you have to give him credit for david's play last year. but it's neither. he's coming off the same screens, getting the same looks, missing the same shots. he's just not making 'em. it's the player. David is a great role player. We have two superstars. You can't have great overwhelming talent at every position. He was good to really good at times last year and this year he is struggling. but basketball is like life you have bad months you have good months. he will improve. On Sura: For what he signed here for, and when you try to measure what he gave the rockets last year, he was one of the best bargains in the league. he gave us a great year. now about him being hurt beforhand, they certainly didn't think he had a possible career ending type injury. the rockets have the best team medical staff in the league, i was personally cared for by one of their staff for an injury recently, and they physically exam all potential free agent signees, they are not going to sign a player for millions who they think is done. but we don't for a fact know he's done. if he's done we'll get a medical exception. and there's luther head who is looking to be a hellluva a player down the road for us. We have a whole new starting back-court and a new PF. That is hardly the same group of guys Thats what I'm saying. We basically have the same group of guys who made us one of the best teams in the league last year plus the new additions. Then you can say, 'well we should be doing better, the coach is no good' But I'm over here saying, 'we're 3-1 with our superstart player. and it's a b**** to win in this league withour your number one option' Last year he had free ride because he got a buch of players dumped on him. If he gets to pick his own players this year and all he can do is 'give the ball to TMac' or 'dump it to Yao' then that is not very creative offensive coaching. When TMac is not there, what do you do? Well JVG does not know what to do No. If he didn't turn it around last season, he had a free ride out of town. But he did. And he's still here. And the offense is much more creative than you say. I find it hard to believe that you think the offense is as simple as that. It's not even close to that. Theres constant movement, backcuts, backpicking, picks and rolls, the movement away from the ball is constant and ongoing. you are not watching whats going on away from the ball, you are watching the guy with the ball and the shot and thats it. if you do that you get a very limited perspective and not the whole picture. I know it's difficult, the natural thing to do is focus on the shot, but to watch what goes on before the player gets an open shot, it gives you an apperciation for just how creative the offense really is. I say it's an offense that if run right gets players high percentage shots, an offense that is creative, an offense that compared to Rudy's iso ball is like picasso to a woolworths painting. It's an intelliegent, potentially very effecient offense, that if executed properly can be one of the best in the league. We weren't and we aren't. When our perimeter is hitting 3's we can beat anyone, but we are not a terribly good 3-pt shooting team. We were and we have the potential to be again. I'd say scoring 99pts a game after the trades was pretty damn good. talking about perimeter 3's, anybody hitting their perimeter 3's can beat anyone. i don't know whats going on here but i know you're not saying this was simply a three point shooting team last year who was good when on and bad when off. was that a joke? cause thats not funny. We are and JVG doesn't have a clue what to do. I guess you saw his ever-changing rotations in the 4th qtr of our losses. He should have a better offensive plan than that. And, IMO he put too much emphasis on defensive ability when evaluating players. No. Just like I didn't see his ever-changing 4th quarter rotations in our wins. But in our losses we didn't have our #1 option. It's the first week into the season, what's he suppose to do, say 'hey Ryan Bowen, get your 1.2 pt per scoring ass in the game, it's the foruth quarter, be Mcgrady" It's hard to get set on a rotation in the 4th when your go-to guy is in a suit. that's just me though. I know you want to discount that but as much as you want to you can't. It's a fact. You can't say, well that shouldn't matter, because it does.
What are you talking about?? He JUST SHOWED the 'on-court' stats which proved the Rockets were the 5th best team last year... Unfortunately we played the 4th best team in the first round of the playoffs... If you had a vague memory of that playoff series, then you may recall that the two teams involved combined to have the most ever wins for a 4vs5 matchup - in fact, they wouldn't even have been playing if not for a mildly r****ded playoffs system!! Believe what you want, but personally I'm convinced that a healthy Juwon Howard last year = a deep playoff run. Frankly putting a Weatherspoon or Baker on the court is as useless as me being out there - but what options did we have?
I don't want to answer piece-by-piece again. If you think JVG is great offensive coach and the Rox are a greeat offensive team then we will have to respectfully agree to disagree.
Thats cool but now you seem trying to point out a contradiction. If you are, let me explain, the 'when we're a high scoring' comment was directed to edc who was talking about last years team. so we were a high scoring team - around 99 points a game is what they averaged after the wesley trade - and we have the potential to be again. though we should bring this topic back up again around this time next month when Rockets are consistently scoring around 98 points a game.
This isn't NCAA football. No matter what position you start at, you win the championship, you are the best team in the NBA. No matter what position you start at, or how strong your opponent is, the absolute best a first-round loser can be is ninth best.
Assuming scoring could be kept at that pace for an entire season, 99 points per game would rank eleventh in the league last season. Better than average, perhaps, but not an "elite, high powered offense."
I no longer think the coach has more of an impact on a team than the players do. (Unless you are Phil Jackson and you use zen or whatever to inspire Kobe to play to his full potential). Larry Brown is now with the knicks and they don't look so good. The Pistons are undefeated. That is my argument.
I am beginning to wonder if Van Gundy is one of the reasons the offense stagnates in the 4th qtr. I am a big fan of Gundy...but so many players who come here don't perform as well as they did in their previous envirnoments. JVG is a great defensive coach, but our offense is what's look weak.
I liked JVG. But finally I have to realize the fact that he is not a champion coach. He don't have any answer for offense. He couldn't make role players work effectively. He couldn't teach guards to pass the ball to Yao most of time. Now even TMAC doesn't know how to play right PNR with Yao. He is desperate, I guess. And this team is becoming TMAC's personal team, which is dangerous. We will be another Orlando Magic. No matter what, it's coach's fault when players couldn't do it in right way after 2 year's coaching. I am tired of JVG. He is a good man but not the right answer for champion.
Good point. ROX need balanced offense.Otherwise, why do we need Yao here? It would be very dangerous if the team is becoming Tmac's team.
