well that's funny because what is rick's style. portland was different from sacramento which at least makes him versatile
Look at who has won championships and tell me how different their styles are. Miami- stressed defense, inside-out game. Detroit- stressed defense. San Antonio- stressed defense, inside-out game. Two of those three teams (and most of the championships this decade) are still in the playoffs. There is exactly one running team in the playoffs right now. If Rafer Alston and Chuck Hayes start for you John Wooden wouldn't make that offense roll.
The Rocket's job is the best job available now. I hope Les and D Morey take advantage of that and not rush to hire a coach. Adleman Elie Rudy Brown Wesphal Del Harris Silas Carlissimo etc.
i know that. we need better players, esp. at the PG and PF position. but look man, no team is perfect outside of detroit, spurs, mavs, and suns. and guess what, they're the 4 best teams. but we have the stars and i still believe we can win w/ tmac and yao. but the way we ran our offense at times was FRUSTRATING. for instance, when guys miss shots off of the tmac's pick and roll, i still don't know why we keep running that damn play. when yao is constantly shooting fadeaways, i don't know why JVG keep going back to him if he's not gonna get in better position. but jvg doesn't know any other way to score. he thinks when u have tmac and yao, u give them the ball and let them operate. but look at kobe w/ phil out for one year. he shot 42%, his worst ever. u need to put ur stars in position to succeed and ur role players to succeed. outside of head and battier, we dont have good shooters. and yet our offense is to let everyone jack up jumpers. adelman will change that. offense was our MAIN problem. yet for sure JVG still blames our defense. u can point to the defense. u can point to those rebounds. but the offense killed us in that series and all season.
If we had the cap space to sign Chauncey Billups this summer, I'd pencil us in for the Finals and probable championship with Jeff still coaching. Coaching is important, but personnel is paramount. Besides, you also play with the players you have. D'antoni has his style, and it just happens to be suited for a team with no real big man and a dominant offensive point guard. What style should we be playing with a dominant inside center and dominant wing, other than the inside out under JVG?
Yao has just as much mobility as Vlade did. Yao is not the first ever low post player and other teams have flurished with guards that new how to get to the basket. Yao is also a damn good passer and always looks good passing to the back door or someone cutting to the basket. Yao also has a deadly outside shot out to 18 feet. He could easily slide outside from time to time. Thats where the defense tries to push him anyway. VSpan does turn the ball over too much but make no mistake about it, when he was on the court in limited action early in the season he was a lot more active than Rafer on defense. BTW, no way you are going to convince my that Rafer is faster or quicker than VSpan.
Is it his fault Yao couldn't get a freaking defensive rebound in the last minute of game 7? Other things I blame him for, like not making the proper adjustments in the playoffs, but you can't expect him to do everything.
Not in a milliion years...especially laterally. I would wager that V-Span took more charges on the perimeter than ANY Rocket player in limited time this year..... JVG traded James for Rafer, he made his bed, now he gets to lie in it. DD
stop dreaming man. yao is NOT as mobile as vlade, esp. during vlade's prime years. not even close. vlade AND webber made that system, not just webber. yao is a good passer, but not DAMN GOOD. why? he's too slow and thinks too much at times -> his turnovers. he can't pass out of hard double teams that's for sure. u do not want a 7'6 guy out to 18 ft consistently like vlade did. yao is not that. u want him in the post punishing people and drawing fouls. yao needs to be more like shaq than vlade.
I was excited about him coming, but I am even more excited about him leaving. I don't like mindless spin (Morey, L.A., etc.), but endless gloom is just as bad. In some ways he didn't have much to work with, but what he had he either didn't develop or he forced rigid conformity. I never liked the parade of old Knicks, Ewing to develop Yao (a horrible idea), Rafer love (still can't understand it), or his perpetual doghouse for selected players.
vspan the charge leader...you do know that chuck hayes and battier are on this team right? jvg traded? you do realize there is a thing called a gm...right your blind homerism is comical and you only make yourself look more foolish the more you try to support you ridiculous claims.
Aren't you the one who said your ideal team would run JVG defense 80% of the time and Adelman offense the rest of the time? How do you expect to do that w/o JVG?
Having Yao play the Divac high post role would be a crime of the highest order. You do NOT stick the most dominant low player in the game at the free throw line and instruct him to find cutters. You don't ask him to shoot 18 footers either when he's automatic 10 feet and in. I think Battier and Snyder would fit the Princeton well. Unfortunately, the rest of our players don't have the finishing ability that Bibby, Christie, and Bobby Jackson did. I'm usually presently surprised when Rafer hits a layup or when Head finally makes one of those shots he gets off the baseline handoff from Yao. Remember when he airballed a wide open 5 footer in the playoffs? I also think that Yao's passing touch is a myth; how many times did one of his passes out of double teams sail over a wide open teammates head? I remember fondly the over-the-head handoff to Moochie, but Yao still has a pretty poor assist total.
My guess is that they already have a guy, and that it's Adelman, given the play in the press. Not my first choice and who knows... he might turn the Rockets down. I was hoping for Iavaroni, with Mario as an assistant. Sure, a pipe dream. I have mixed feelings about Van Gundy. I wanted him gone if we didn't make it past the 1st round this year, and I got my wish, but he did an outstanding job in areas of the team that we should all hope the Rocks can continue. Great defense, considering what he had to work with. Some players in this league a long time played their best defense under Van Gundy. Alston and Howard are two examples. One has to wonder what Van Gundy could have done here, given a deep team. We'll never know. If we're lucky, and a miracle of management and Alexander's wallet occurs, the new guy might get that chance. Don't hold your breath. Let's hope we don't regret getting what we wished for.
chinkman85: there are lots of other long-time Rockets fans out there, like you, who share your thoughts exactly, myself included. I've been a fan since the early 80s. I think the firing of JVG ends any hope in the near-term of making the Finals. It's back to the drawing board once again. Seems every team is trying to replicate the Sun's style of play and are engaged in an unreachable goal. Defense is still the key. The Rockets just needed another year and a few player tweaks (plus a fully recovered Yao) to move beyond Round 1.
