Feigen's timeline of events: May 19, 2007, 11:20PM 'Odd process' leads to Van Gundy's exit Ambivalence, misunderstanding factor into change by Rockets By JONATHAN FEIGEN After four years, 328 regular-season games, 19 playoff games and the best regular season the Rockets had enjoyed in a decade and perhaps the most disappointing end in those 10 seasons, Jeff Van Gundy was fired at least as much because of meetings and phone calls. Van Gundy was fired, the Rockets announced Friday, because while he decided whether he wanted to return, they found a coach they liked better. He might not have been back anyway. He expressed initial, though temporary, ambivalence about coaching next season. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander never endorsed having Van Gundy back. But after nearly two weeks trying to determine who would be Rockets coach, it was the process general manager Daryl Morey called "odd" that ended Van Gundy's time as coach. "I understand it seemed like an odd process," Morey said. "I grant that it was. It was only out of respect for how Jeff asked for it to be handled, out of respect for Jeff that I desired for him to be a part of the organization. I wanted it to end with him back here." Morey still feels that way, but the split began nearly as soon as the season ended. • Sunday, May 6 — With a story in the New York Post reporting that Van Gundy had decided to retire, Morey calls Van Gundy to ask if he had made a decision. Van Gundy had denied the report publicly minutes earlier and told Morey he had not even begun considering his future. "(Morey) called me 12 hours after we lost," Van Gundy said. "I said, 'Really, I don't want to talk right now. We just lost 12 hours ago.' He came in the very next day and said it would be better for him if I gave him the answer. He kept fishing." • Monday, May 7 — After meeting with players and the media, Van Gundy and Morey talk while driving around town and then again in Van Gundy's office, meeting for nearly three hours. Van Gundy, having decided to live in Houston regardless of whether he remained the coach, offers to consider another position with the team. • Tuesday, May 8 — Van Gundy meets with Alexander, Morey and vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey. Van Gundy tells them he would return, but would need Alexander's support. It becomes clear to Van Gundy that Alexander wants a more up-tempo offensive team, one that Van Gundy does not believe suits the roster. Van Gundy tells Alexander he should have a coach with whom he agrees. The Rockets come to take that as a suggestion that they begin a coaching search while Van Gundy mulls his future. Van Gundy considers it more of expressing an understanding if they start to look at options and prepare if Van Gundy does not return. "I knew my owner had issues with style of play," Van Gundy said. "He wanted to be faster, Phoenix-like. At that meeting he said, 'Yeah, I do have issues with that.' "I said you owe it to yourself to go and search for someone if there's a better fit. At the same time, I relayed to them that I wanted to stay." • Wednesday, May 9 — Morey reaches Rick Adelman, who is reluctant to interview for the position Van Gundy holds. Though Van Gundy had said he would return the day before, Morey tries to get Van Gundy to commit to coming back without Alexander's endorsement, which Morey had come to consider a stipulation. • Thursday, May 10 — Morey calls Van Gundy to ask if he could have Adelman call him. When Adelman reached Van Gundy by phone, Van Gundy tells Adelman his return to the Rockets is uncertain and that he should take the interview. • Friday, May 11; Saturday, May 12 — Adelman meets with Alexander and Morey at Alexander's New York home in the Hamptons. He spends a 3 1/2 -hour drive from the airport talking with Morey, meets through the afternoon and evening with Alexander and talks again with Morey for 2 1/2 hours on the way back to the airport the next day. Morey had been collecting data on coaches and considered Adelman's track record better than any available coach. By the time Morey and Adelman leave Saturday morning, Alexander is sold. • Tuesday — Morey and Van Gundy speak over the phone, with Van Gundy reaffirming he wants to return, adding that he has no reservations about Alexander's endorsement. Morey tells him he and Alexander have chosen Adelman. Though he tells Van Gundy he could remain the Rockets coach if the team and Adelman don't reach an agreement, Morey works to put together a deal on a consultant position with Van Gundy. • Thursday — Van Gundy and Morey speak throughout the day by phone. Van Gundy flies to San Antonio to begin preparations for Friday's ESPN broadcast of the Spurs-Suns game. By their last conversation, early Thursday evening, talks have broken down with Van Gundy unsure about accepting the consultant position. • Friday — Morey calls Van Gundy in San Antonio to tell him he needs to end the process and needs a decision. Morey seeks to call the move to the consultant position a mutual decision. Unwilling to accept that stipulation, Van Gundy turns down the position. By the time they finish the conversation, Morey is determined to end the uncertainty about Van Gundy's status. The team prepares an announcement in which the Rockets and Van Gundy "part ways." "I was given a deadline," Van Gundy said. "I had to agree by the end of the conversation to say it was a mutual agreement. "I appreciate the offer very much. But I was a little disappointed by the heavy-handedness of the conclusion." With that, Van Gundy's tenure with the Rockets was over.
The above article makes it seem that JVG made his own bed - why didn't he just say he wanted to come right back, then he'd have a job? Although Rockets management did move awfully quick. Maybe both sides mucked it up.
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So by Tuesday, it was already decided JVG would not return as head coach of the Rockets.Then he was offered a consultant position.Morey waited 3 days for JVG to decide whether or not he would want to be a consultant, not our head coach.Morey did not want to drag this out any longer and told JVG he needs to let his decision be known already.JVG turns it down, so he is let go.All along nobody went behind JVG's back in talking with R. Adelman? Who's lying?Whats really going on?
les is the owner morey is the boss jvg is the employee not any different as jvg is the boss bonzi the employee vspan the employee etc...
Does anyone else think that Les thought of Jeff as his Plan B? I've been in positions for jobs where management was real non-committal like Les was, and it was because I was the back-up. They wanted to string me along in case their better candidate didn't work out. It seems like Les wanted Adelman, but if it hadn't worked out, he'd have run back to Jeff.
Very likely... in fact, Morey said it himself that, once Adelman met with him and Les, he called Jeff and told him they like Adelman more but could want him back in case contract talks break down. At least at that point Jeff was the back-up choice.
Les Alexander is an idiot. It's fine to fire Van Gundy, and I would have (more expeditiously) if I were management, but Elmer Fudd's reasoning is asinine.
I really do respect what JVG has done to the organisation, although he did achieve a certain level of success, however we must move on and achieve something which we've wanted to do for a long time.
Oh come DaD, you are not stupid. I was referring to these teams sharing JVG's "Defense First" philosophy. The Rockets' offense was exactly what CD & Les wanted when they blew up the team in the Tmac trade: have the offense run through two guys - Yao & Tmac - who are surrounded by a bunch of jump shooters. Virtually everyone here is of the belief that Yao & Tmac are enough to carry this team to a championship and I don't recall too many objections to this line of thinking in the beginning. This was the offense they wanted, this was the offense they got so what's the problem?. Now it would seem that you need more in order to succeed such as players possessing the ability to create their own offense but not to worry because simply by changing head coaches, that will magically come about. After all, wasn't it JVG's fault that his players couldn't play that way? That simply won't be the case under Adelman because he is a much better coach than JVG.
Well it looks like we have put the monkeys in charge of running the zoo so just try not to get hit by any of the flying monkey poo that will be flung around the TC for the next few years...
Sounds like Adelman refused to talk to the Rockets management without Van Gundy's permission... a class move on his part.
I wish people would just settle on one version of their story about JVG and personnel: was he responsible for making trades/drafts/FA signings or not according to you? When Hayes plays well, the JVG critics claim JVG was not responsible for using him because he was cut in camp. When Head plays well, the JVG critics claim JVG did not like developing Head but only gave him minutes because of injuries. When the team struggled, the JVG critics claim "CD built the team, JVG ignored it" because apparenlty CD was responsible for brining in talented guys like Bonzi and Spanoulis and Novak and JVG did not like them. Now when some of us (including new GM Daryl Morey) point out the Rockets didn't have sufficient talent, the JVG critics claim he's finally responsible for all the player moves over the last four year. People should get their story straight as to who is responsible for which part of the Rockets operation.
Actually that's not a claim someone made up ... the Chronicle printed over a year ago that JVG "lamented having to give Head playing time he had not earned after the backcourt was overrun by injuries". http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3686042.html You can debate whether that playing time that JVG lamented giving Luther and would not have given Luther had it not been for injuries was instrumental in developing Luther or not, but I don't think you can debate whether JVG liked it or not. He didn't. I agree with JVG when he says he doesn't like giving minutes to players they haven't earned -- great in principle -- but I think he took that to the extreme at times. When we were out of it last season, I could not stand watching the Rafer-Juwan show... though admittedly what JVG had left on that roster was total and complete crap (which makes it even more damning to Stro that he couldn't get much more than 15 minutes). It was all a very tough call. I wanted to keep him as I think we can do much, much worse... but he had a bad quirk or two.
I agree, he didn't like having to give Luther minutes pre-maturely. However, he did choose to give Luther minutes, given the circumstances, even when Derek Anderson was still nominally available. I think the truth is that CD did some things to fit what he perceived as Van Gundy's desires (getting Shane), but there were some moves they probably made without Van Gundy being very happy about... It's not easy to sort out what they are now, but I have to believe that Van Gundy would have liked to have Mike James, even with his trade kicker, than Spanoulis and Bonzi. I also tend to think that JVG, being pals with Fratello, knows enough about Stro's bball IQ to be dubious about that signing. It's true that Van Gundy doesn't like to play players "before they are ready"... he also apparently didn't like to play "midgets in the backcourt" (that's young or old... from Head to David Wesley). As much as he's shown an ability to win some games with some rag-tag combos of players, he seems to be the kind of guy that b****es about having to win those games with rag-tag combos-- and that probably rubs some (including Les) the wrong way. While I admit, yes, he could have given Spanoulis and Snyder more burn, one has to notice that there really has not been a player that Van Gundy "ignored" that quickly blossomed after leaving Van Gundy. Didn't happen to Stro. Didn't happen to all the Knicks picks he allegedly failed to develop, didn't even happen to Boki (who improved some, but is just a bench player at best). Those guys did not blossom simply due to a coaching change. Makes me dubioius whether a Adelman for Van Gundy switch would make all the different some people hope it would make.
It would be awesome if we could get a montage of Vince McMahon and Donald Trump saying that to JVG. It'd be classic if we could superimpose Les's head on top too.
Just because I can never use this one again: Thanks JVG for the memories, I never liked you. You gave me hope, and let me down, what do you have to say for yourself? Ironically, I thought he'd say that!
