I thought this was a little funny. The H-Town players, fast-break makers? _______________________ http://www.nypost.com/seven/10122006/sports/knicks/knicks_on_the_run_knicks_marc_berman.htm By MARC BERMAN ISIAH THOMASOctober 12, 2006 -- Stephon Marbury repaired his beat-up image notably this season by endorsing a $15 discount sneaker this summer, marketed to kids from low-income homes. Marbury is wearing the "Starbury Ones" shoes this season to demonstrate it's the same quality as $150 Michael Jordan Nikes. Marbury's sneaker better also be a good track shoe, because Isiah Thomas can't wait to unveil his new up-tempo offense tomorrow in their preseason opener at the Garden vs. the Nets. Thomas's attack is starkly the opposite of Brown's methodical, slowdown offense the players loathed. The Suns began the high-tempo trend two years ago and it's catching on. "We won't be as good as [the Suns] are at it," Thomas said. "The whole league is moving that way. I watched Houston play [Tuesday] night. Even [Jeff] Van Gundy is playing a little faster. The pace is quicker."
yea, it isnt difficult to run fast when your 7'6" center isnt in the game I did hear Worrell talk about that Gundy is pushing for faster offense setups this year...so look for the Rockets to run as much as they can to try to get easy transistion buckets...and then back it out and wait for Yao if they cant get something in transition. This was talked about last year, but this year they seem to be really trying to do it...cant really tell how dedicated VG is to this philosophy till we get the rotation cleaned up adn see all our regular unit playing together.
I don't understand this theory that JVG wants the team to keep pace slow. His mentor is Pat Riley. I don't know how many times in the past 3 years I have seen JVG swing his arms so hard to tell the person with the ball to push it up the floor. He wants easy buckets. He wants oppurtunities in transitioin.
Who was their pointguard? You couldn't run with them for the simple fact that the players Riles had those years didn't have the strengths to be a fast uptempo team. They killed teams by abusing them in the half-court set and bullying them around on defense. On his ShowTime Laker squads, Riles had Magic and Michael Cooper...two fast, versatile players who excel in transition. I believe with all the rumors swirming around about Tracy starting at pointguard or whatnot, it is showing what Gundy is trying to capture. He finally has a team with plenty of athleticism and hustle in the backcourt...and I know Van Gundy has been rewinding and fastforwarding footage of those 80s Lakers his mentor coached. If Battier starts at PF, he's gonna want to use that speed Shane has over the opposing PF to his advantage...and then if nothings there, that's when Yao comes down - plants his feet and gets fed the ball.
During the game the other night, Worrell mentioned that Van Gundy had the 24 second clock set at 18 seconds during drills in Austin to facilitate a quicker pace. Van Gundy has always preached getting up the court quickly because he runs so many set plays.
one of them was charlie ward, who brought ward here. pat riley had tim hardaway in miami from golden state's "tmc", and he still didn't run so that's neither here nor there. pat riley hasn't "ran" since the eighties and jeff never has although he always says he wants to. he ran a little here in the second half of the first season with tracy.
The transition tempo was never about Van Gundy. It was about Francis and Alston. It's no coincidence that the best played stretch of Rockets' BBall since VG's arrival was with Sura, James and a healthy Wesley and Barry. All liked to up tempo. Apparently, Alston got the memo somewhere in the last 6 weeks of last season and starting getting upcourt quicker. And (gasp) actually passing to a Rocket teammate further up the floor!
VG or not, with the crew we had last year, they simply couldn't run. Our starters last year for the majority of time include: - JHoward - Wesley - Deke - Rybo - Bogans On a second thought, they were actually running, just didn't like running to us
This is exactly what I had in mind, too! I don't really care if the Rox doesn't go as fast like the Suns, we can't. I just want JVG to let Yao have more freedom with the ball like Rudy T did when he was around.
For JVG, the transition isn't about fast break layups. It's about creating a pressure situation on the opponent and forcing them to have to run around defending all the screens and switches. He does not run a designed fast break with a facilitator in the middle and 2 finishers on the wings. He wants all 5 guys to rebound and then all 5 guys to run up the tails of the opponents as they are getting back. That is not running as defined by those Laker and Bulls teams. That is situational basketball similar to the 80s Celtics. And there's nothing wrong with it. But we should forget about the Rox running fast break basketball like Phoenix. It's just not gonna happen. Wrong coach AND wrong personnel. What Van Gundy wants is more rapid ball movement and players hustling to the other end and wearing down the opponent.
Well, Kareem Abdul Jabbar never slowed down the Showtime Lakers. I don't think having one big center precludes running as long as the rest of the squad are fit for running.
francis's first year in orlando the magic were among the top fast break teams in the league, they were number one through the first half of the year.
JVG has always been misunderstood on the fact he wants a slow pace game. He is always telling whoever has the ball to push the pace. He preaches defense so much that the media feels he wants a slow pace game that's all.
it's not allways VG either. you have to call 'em like you see 'em. and as it turns out, VG does want a faster pace. so to all of those who were complaining about his boring offense, blame the players. this season the rox have the right kind of players to actually push the ball. should be fun.
I think some of our Rockets players will wear themselves down first before they can wear down an opponent. (howard, Deke?)
Yup, that's one reason he's constantly windmilling his arms and why he windmilled his arms with Francis and Mobley. Who were they going to run with? They knew there was H to pay of they went 2 on 3. There was nobody else. That's why SF walked it up. He knew there wasn't any break. He's running out there with Walt Williams and Kelvin Cato.
