Notice the (?) that means this is an honest question. Here is my benchmark: Anything but a 53+ win season is a COMPLETE FAILURE at the coaching position. Here is the defense of my position: JVG got us 52 wins in a season where YAO broke his freakin' leg, Bonzi was MIA and JVG's backup PG was Head, an undersized 2 guard. TMAC was "healthy" playing 71 games. Adelman has a better YAO, Bonzi is looking incredible (he can actually dunk now) Scola (!!!!!!!), Mike James AND Francis. Even if there are inuries he has the depth to make up for it. There are no excuses. YAO played 48 games last year. JVG prepared the team VERY well....we beat the teams we were supposed to beat. Thats good coaching. He didn't allow the team to get caught off guard. I honestly never liked JVG, he was a Knick and a typical yankee but that is the watermark for this team.
Benchmark. IMO Adelman should get a free pass until December. I can't believe how Yao not getting 20/10 in pre-season has snowballed into what are essentially fire Adelman posts.
It's a great regular season bench mark. But, if we were for some reason to get less regular season wins than JVG and still advance in the playoffs, I wouldn't call it a complete failure.
I have no problem with Yao this year. Frankly I think he is gonna be a monster no matter what system he is in. Why should Adelman get a free pass with a team that had the 5th best record last year that has greatly improved its talent?
He looked to be in the process of turning Yao into an inferior version of Brad Miller. It's not the stats he's getting, it's the way he's playing. If anyone thinks the Rockets can actually do something with Yao playing like that, he needs look no further than 2004-2005 where we had an even better McGrady than now. I am extraordinarily displeased with what he has done, but I'll give him some regular season games before I start calling for him to be fired. As a benchmark.... winning a playoff series will do, but if we don't finish around 52 wins, we'll fall to the 6 seed, which means we'll have to play one of the big 3, which means it will be very hard to win a playoff series.
As we learned two years ago, injuries can quickly take matters out of the hands of coaches and GMs. Adelman should get some slack for the first month since he has to get the team chemistry to develop, in the wake of a brutal schedule no less. What we judge Adelman on will not be in what he does during the regular season, but rather the playoffs. We're the proud owners of the team with the playoff lowest seed ever to win a championship, so never lose hope!!
You can't judge a coach with such benchmarks. It was annoying when people did it with JVG, and it will be annoying when they do it with Adelman. There are just too many factors outside a coach's control. This is what I look at: Does he have a sound offensive and defensive strategy in place? Does he put players on the court that give him the best chance to win? Does he get his players to play hard? Does the team improve over the course of the season? If a coach can do those things, he's done a good job. Generally it will translate to wins and improving your chances to advance in the playoffs. But sometimes it won't, for various reasons.
Well it was clear that ownership had a benchmark for JVG: If he won Game 7, he stays, if he loses Game 7, he goes. He lost, and now he's gone. So why not set a benchmark for the next coach that he needs to win a playoff series?
I didn't agree with that benchmark either. The Rockets were a few minutes away from winning that game 7. When you constrict advancing to what happens over the course of 5 minutes, to a large extent it becomes a game of chance. I don't think it's fair to judge a coach on that basis, and I wouldn't want us to do it with Adelman either. There's a very good chance the Rockets will be a 5th seed again. And we'll likely be playing a very good opponent, again. Whether or not we have home court advantage will be up in the air. Considering all that, isn't it possible that Adelman does a fine job coaching the team and we still don't get out of the first round? I think it is.
leave adelman alone already...the dude can coach...so could jvg...it wont be about coaching...it will be about the players playing well...its a players league, everyone knows that
Honestly, I don't even care if we win less games than last year in the regular season. So long as we win more games in the post season.
I don't think its fair at all.. Rick's system should take some adjustment period and JVG's is more suitable for grinding out wins that keep the players satisfied. Rick's should see much more success during the postseason -- which is exactly how I will be judging our new coach - whether or not we advance past the first round.
To clarify I was pointing out the use of "watermark" in the OP. IMO how many regular season wins don't matter as long as the Rockets are in the playoffs. What happens in the playoffs is another matter.
Really. We havent even played a real game yet and the sky is already falling around here. What happened to everyone preaching patience with a new offense/coach/players?
Don't care about regular season as longest we get into the playoffs. The benchmark should be: get past 1st round Otherwise, whats the point of hiring him?
Actually I used them both. Correctly no less. Benchmark means thats how far he needs to go. The point he needs to achieve. Watermark is the point that has been shown possible. (high water mark) What has already been achieved at the head coaching position.
