I don't post here that often... all I have to say is "It's damn time" Jeff, you were given numerous chances to bring the championship banner back to Houston... I don't need to continue the sentence since many before me have said it already. Now it is a good opportunity to see some changes within the organization. Let's see if Rick can lead the team and the fans to the promised land.
Solomon adds two-bits. I too am tired of Van Gundy's media whining. ----------------------------------------------- May 21, 2007 Van Gundy gets more blame than Alexander It's funny how people act shocked that a coach's firing was poorly handled by the Rockets. That's the nature of coaches getting fired. Often it's bungled. But you're taking cheap shots at the organization if you leave out the part Jeff Van Gundy played in his own departure. First of all, what did he win? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I'm not talking the idiotic championship-or-else philosophy some have. I'm talking win a playoff series. The Rockets have gone 10 years without getting past the first round, and Van Gundy was in charge the last four. He was not a winner in Houston. Period. Regular season games are a host of one-night stands and weekend flings. Those notches on your belt count, but they don't mean much. You use them to learn how to succeed in real, long-term relationships - the playoffs. Well, Van Gundy, who did better at one-night-stands than all but one former Rockets head coach, had three quickie divorces in the playoffs. Secondly, he is the one who threw the Rockets' contract offers back. During the season, the Rockets offered him extensions that he turned down. Thirdly, when the season came to an abrupt end - with an embarrassing home loss in Game 7 to Utah - he waffled on whether he even wanted to return. Unless we're talking an icon considering retirement, aren't all bets called off if a coach isn't sure he wants to keep his job? Now, Van Grumbly whines through his media enablers that the Rockets went out and found a coach who wants the job? And that his firing wasn't handled the best way? Please. Yes, Les Alexander deserves a little criticism for the way things broke down at the end, but when you're dealing with a coach who didn't win, who refused your contract offer and who when the season was over didn't enthusiastically claim he wanted the job you paid him handsomely to do, can you blame Alexander for looking elsewhere? Then when you find someone better - and yes, Rick Adelman is a better coach than Van Gundy - are you not supposed to make the move? I say Alexander's biggest mistake was he moved too slowly. He should have fired Van Gundy before Yao got out of the shower after the Utah defeat, and saved everyone the hassle. • • • As for those offering warnings to Rick Adelman about working for Alexander, remember this, Adelman worked for a couple of Maloofs in Sacramento. At least Les doesn't do sideline interviews and jump up and down from a courtside seat during games yelling, "Call a time out!" Sacramento's treatment of Adelman at the end was even worse than the Rockets' pre-divorce dealings with Van Gundy. Just as the Rockets did with Adelman, the Kings talked to Phil Jackson about whether he wanted Adelman's job while Adelman still had the job. But the Kings held onto Adelman as a lame duck for a full season. At least Alexander waited just a few days before releasing Van Gundy. Adelman never wavered in his desire to return as the head coach after a surprise run to the playoffs following a midseason trade for Ron Artest. Adelman's squad lost to the No. 1 seeded, 63-win Spurs, and might have pulled a Golden State had Artest not been suspended for a game during the series. Adelman talked to one of the Maloofs on the phone for five minutes, telling him he wanted to stay on as head coach. A few hours later, he got the "phone call of death" from the team's president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie. • • • Information you didn't know: Under Adelman, Sacramento led the league in field goal percentage defense in 2002-03, holding teams to 42 percent shooting. The Kings did that while managing to score 101 points a game. The 97 points a game the Rockets averaged this season is the most a Van Gundy team has ever scored per contest.
Wow! I hope so, too! Because I'm sure that's the same night that Jessica Alba and Halle Berry come knocking on my door begging for a menage a trois!
I don't think either side can really whine about the other in this situation. The bottom line is that Jeff and Les did not see eye to eye and they needed a divorce. Jeff didn't think Les gave him enough support with player personnell, Les didn't think Jeff made the best use, offense-wise, of the talent on the team. I think Jeff did a fine job, but I am glad as a fan that he left, given that Les is staying. You can't succeed with your owner and head coach not playing the same tune. All this PR issue... minor details. I'm more interested in what the next coach will do.
