I have doubts too, but Clutch's source seems to be right more than wrong. As far as JVG not caring about winning and just wanting to trade Boki to spite him, I don't believe that for a second. You can say what you want about JVG, but is there really any doubt that this guy wants to win more than anyone? You can disagree with his methods without doubting his motivation.
Actually, JJ was playing more 2 this year than 3 it seemed, especially on D. T-Mac pretty much seemed to play the 3s on defense. I do think Wesley will be a more effective backcourt defender than JJ, no doubt in my mind. Well again, if Boki was being a lockeroom cancer, or a lockeroom lawayer, then you get rid of him ASAP. The question is, was he? I agree in a way. JVG has noted that this team has issues with players being whiners and not giving heart and effort. Its entirely possible they may be trying to fix that (chemistry) aspect of the team, even when the deals seem lateral in talent.
The only thing about Van Gundy is he wants to win and get all the credit for it by making the players just look like mindless robots.
There has never been reported, until recently, that Boki complained about his PT. He doesn't strike me as a vocal kind of guy. Nobody ever has the impression that Boki is a leader type or lawyer type. All these just don't add up to Boki as a serious locker room problem. I can certainly imagine him complaining about being placed on the IL after some decent performance. But why has he all of a sudden become a cancer that needed to be rid of ASAP?
Before Mike D’Antonio coached Boki's Italian club team Boki was on the bench and getting little minutes. When D'Antonio arrived he asked why Boki was on the bench and the staff told him it's because Boki thinks he's a better player than he really is, ie Boki had an ego/attitude and wasn't that good. D'Antonio thought differently...
This is so true. He coaches boring ugly basketball that he believes is more dependent on execution than the talent you have but rather dependent on the system. Even in the middle of or worst losing he says he believes more in his system now than ever. He has said all teams have talent and it's the coaching system that wins. All players are just pegs in his system and if they don't fit then dump them. He has no flexibility. When it comes to Gundy you better conform or be canned. He motivates by threatening to can the whole team and he recently said he isn't going to change. Well he is right about that and JJ and Boki or the latest victims.
Im just going by Clutch's source. Even if you don't believe it (again, I have my doubts too), then JVG felt that Wesley better fit this team, at this point in time, than JJ and threw Boki in to make the deal work. I have no problem with boki as a throw in, since that is all he was probably worth.
The problem is, he's partly right. If everyone on the court did what he wanted them to do, the Rockets would be good. If they rotated probably, rebounded better and with more effort, continue to keep turnovers down, pass well and shoot open shots... well, does it really matter what system you run at that point?? JVG just doesn't understand that part of the job as a coach is to find different systems that are successful that a given group of players will be more likely to execute successfully. I agree that JVG's system should work. Heck, when executed properly, maybe it is the best system - how different is it really from any team that has won the championship since the early 90's - defense, few turnovers, solid fundamental play, with style and fastbreaking to be used when available, not always. It's just not the system that IS working in Houston currently.
A system is only as good as the players that are asked to run it. Hakeem's system would not work with today's team because Yao is not that dominant on the low block. Rudy recognized that and used a penetrating and dish system. JVG is trying to use his Ewing system, but has the wrong players to make it work. No Ewing type of player, no strong PF, no sharp shooting 2 guard, etc..etc..etc.. JVG could and should adapt to the players he has and utilize a system that plays to their strengths. DD
How is Rudy's penetrating and dish system working in LA and how did it work in his last years with Houston? By the way, I think JVG has recognized a lot of things. He started by first getting defensive type guys (Adrian Griffin for example) and now he's starting to get shooters to spread the floor (Barry, Wesley). JVG has made mistakes, but give him credit for trying to change quickly.
It would be working a lot better with the new rules this year. A very valid point, and well spoken. DD
It all comes down to whether or not you feel he is getting the most out of the players, whether he is properly motivating his players, and whether he really does have the right system or not. Yeah, he keeps trying to change his players. How many players are we going to have to run in and out of here before we find the "right set of players" that will play Van Gundy's system the way he wants it played? Do we have to have 12 Ryan Bowens out there? Do we then have to watch replays of the Knicks-Heat games for 82 regular season games, where every trip down the floor there is bumping, pushing, pulling, hacking, and the score winds up being 70-64 because we are so inept offensively that the only thing we can do is make every game a mud bowl? And we get into the playoffs at the 5-8 seed, because we are doing it on heart and effort, because we don't have the talent, can't develop the talent, and won't run a faster paced offense because all we got is old men out there. And if by some miracle, we pull one out of the bag and get to the Finals once every 50 years, well, the coach did a great job didn't he? I don't think that style is going to win in this league today or in the next 5-8 years. Not to mention the fact that it seems durn near impossible for Van Gundy to find his types of players. Not to mention the fact that when he finds ONE player that supposedly plays the way he wants him to play, he trades that guy. The rules are changing to allow more offensive freedom, and increase scoring. Yes, the top defensive teams will still do well, but they will yield more points relative to what they have yielded in the past. And the top defenses will take advantage of the rule changes to do so. They will use the zone, and switch up defenses and play cleanly on the defensive end, not think that they can foul so often that the refs will miss the calls because the refs aren't gonna miss the calls anymore. The refs are gonna blow the whistle and clean up all the slop. And they will have to be able to run the floor in transition, get easy buckets, and play the perimeter well. They won't play top defense doing the old bump and grind of the Knicks and Heat. They will play top defense by being active on the perimeter with strong bodies in the paint, and mixing up the man to man and zone defenses to give the offense different looks to deal with, similiar to what happens in an NFL game, not by bumping, holding, pushing, and hacking and using their hands. That is why a good point guard, the QB on the floor, whose job it is to recognize what half court defense is being played, whose job it is to recognize where the mismatches are at and run the appropriate play, is vital to a championship team. Hopefully, we can come up with one of these fellas that can do all of these things plus put up with Van Gundy's constant criticism, plus be able to read Van Gundy's mind before Van Gundy finally figures out what play to call for the offense to run, so that we aren't 17 seconds into the shot clock before we know what play to run. Remember, Van Gundy never has won a championship. He took a group of overachievers and made every game, every series that one year a slugfest playing ugly ball. And that was after they sucked during the regular season and wound up with a low seeding. They lucked into the finals in the weak East, getting past the Heat and the Pacers on sheer miracle plays, and were slaughtered by San Antonio in the Finals. The got to the finals and were shot physically, worn down from a whole season of bump and grind, players playing too many minutes in a short rotation, and too many old players on top of it all. They were old men walking up the floor, desperately trying to keep the games close enough to have a miracle finish. That story is repeated maybe once or twice every 50 years or so. It is not the norm but the extreme exception. And they still didn't win. They just overachieved and got lucky. I don't think that's the formula for winning a championship. Those great Laker, Celtic, Piston, and Bulls teams of the last 20 years played long rotations and played younger players during the season. They had the proper mix of youth and experience. They conserved their big horses during the year. And then they shortened the rotation when the playoffs started, not in December. And they stepped up the physical play in the playoffs. They didn't play bump and grind the whole season and wear all their starters out. They were teams that could run the break, especially the Lakers and Bulls, but even the Celtics and Pistons ran an opportunistic break. How many times did we see Bird step out of bounds after a made basket and throw the ball fullcourt to a sprinting Ainge or DJ for the easy layup? How many times did we see LA and Chicago come down the floor after a made basket and get the ball to a scorer and get the bucket back in about 5 seconds? That was a characteristic of those teams, quick scoring. It was part of their defense to get the bucket back quickly and make the opponent come back up the floor and have to face their D again. They slowed the game down when the time, score, and matchups dictated it. And they sped the game up when the time, score, and matchups dictated it too. And they could turn up the intensity on the defensive end when the playoffs came around. I personally feel that Van Gundy thinks we have to play that playoff style intensity from Game 1 through Game 82. That's why he shortens the rotation, doesn't develop young players, and plays all these old men all season. And we don't run enough, and we don't rest enough, because we can't run with old players and we can't rest those old players because we aren't willing to let the younger players make mistakes and learn from them. It sure looks like to me that we are headed for a rerun of 1995-2000 New York Knicks with a younger center who is gonna get wasted over the next 5 years or so, playing this "winning style of basketball", while he is in the prime youth of his career. And hopefully before he and TMac turn 40, we'll get lucky and finally find the right players, and somehow slip into the playoffs, catch some breaks, and make it to the Finals. And then we can hope for the ultimate in luck, to somehow keep catching breaks clear through the Finals and win it all. Does anybody else ever wonder why the Knicks brought in Don Nelson, the dean of offensive mismatches and scoring, to coach the Knicks after the departure of Riley? Why didn't they hire Jeff then? Could they have known that Jeff lacked on the offensive side of the ball and they were hoping to maintain the defensive style that Riley gave them and add the offensive game of Nelson? Wasn't the move back to Van Gundy really a move back to the comfort of what Riley gave them after they struggled coming out of the gate with Nelson because he was trying to get them to play an uptempo game and they were a collection of mostly old, broken down, vets? And then it took them 3 or 4 years before they realized they were too old and need to get some younger players so they trade away some of their core for Spree and Camby. But by then it was too late. Ewing had gotten old. Are we gonna have to see Yao and TMac get old playing this kind of game, hoping, wishing, for some miracle shot chance at the Finals? Look at the record and results of those Van Gundy coached Knicks teams and look at the record and the results of the Van Gundy coached Rockets teams and convince me beyond the shadow of a doubt that this guy knows what it takes to win championships in this league. Look at the styles of game that the best teams in this league are playing today and convince me that Van Gundy's style is going to win championships. Look at the talent on the rosters of the best teams in the league and convince me that we are are developing our talent as good as they are. Look at the top players on the top teams in this league and convince me that our top players are not as good as their top players. The NBA players and coaches themselves will tell you that Yao is the best center in the West. They will tell you that Yao and TMac are both top 10 players in this league. They will tell you that TMac is one of the top 6 players in this league. They will also tell you that just as this bunch of Rockets is underachieving so did last year's bunch with Francis, Cat, and Yao underachieve. And now we have turned over the entire roster save for Yao and MoT. And we are still woefully underachieving. You mean to tell me we have changed out 10+ players that were underachievers and we are still underachieving and it is the player's fault? Oh, the new guys haven't had a chance to work together long enough? Neither did last year's players! Like I say, I really hope that Mr. Jeff knows the "secret formula" for winning championships. And since he knows that formula, I hope he really knows the "right players" that fit that formula. And I hope that we start getting those "right players" that will be able to understand and play the "secret formula" instead of picking up the "wrong players" who cannot play the way that he wants them to play. And then I hope that we get as lucky as those Knicks teams and by a miracle or two find ourselves in the Finals at least once over the next 5 to 10 years.
Also just back from a vacation and what do i see before me? One hell of a crappy trade. If boki was a problem child i'm fine with moving him on but damn, to give up Jim Jackson, whose grit and team play has saved more than a couple games for Wesley? All I can say this team better shape up quickly or another trade had best happen soon or the rockets will pay for this trade every time they negotiate with a free agent from this day on. Jackson is a respected player if not an all star. His refusal to show up in New Orleans brings even more attention to the raw deal. Damn. Needing help at the point isn't even a valid reason for this deal unless Jim didn't want to be here anymore and I think we all know that ain't the truth.
