this may or may not deserve it's own thread but i wasn't sure which van gundy sucks thread to put it in. anyways this is what jon barry said the other night during the minnesota game: "I think Jeff is very mis-understood, everyone thinks, no running, slow it down, sloth ball, and that's not the truth. He has never put the clamps on anyone, I've never heard him say don't take that shot. He likes to have people who have confidence in what they are doing. I loved playing for him, he's my favorite coach i've ever played for....He's got this tremendous knowledge, his x's and o's are phenomenal." that's word for word. sure it's only one players opinion but i think it reveals a lot. Jon Barry was one of the most free-lanced, free-spirited players in the league who played off pure emotion, i'm talking pull-up fast-break 3-pointers and behind the back passes. barry is the exact opposite of what most of you guys seem to think is a van gundy player yet they had a mutual respect, maybe admiration for each other. i think it also dispels a lot of the myths that people throw around about van gundy. there's too many people here who assume that players are uncomfortable with him as a head coach. that he won't let them play their games and is too strict on shot selection. he only cares about defense and he doesn't want his teams to run. could this possibly be any further from the truth? my main point is that way too many of you are caught up in the van gundy media persona when in reality that has NOTHING to do with his ability to lead this team to a championship. you need to get over the fact that van gundy shoots it straight in publice and at times maybe more harsh than you like to his players. these are grown-ass men. even more importantly when was the last time you heard one of these guys speak out against him? can't say that about larry brown. from hanging on to mourning's leg to dishing out $100,000 to protect yao, i think he has a reputation to nba players as a coach that is there for his team. too bad rocket's fan's don't know it. so you want to fire him because he couldn't lead a group of role players to the playoffs? he's a scapegoat on this bbs plain and simple. Last season was one of the most exciting rockets teams i've ever watched and he was a part of that. he's got the support of both our franchise players so i really just can't get why this board intensely hates him so much.
Sorry but im calling JB out on this one. This article is about a week old but interesting nonetheless. JVG doesnt let his players freelance He doesnt build confidence because if he doesnt like you he wont play you, or develop you. Unless your name is Ryan Bowen, you will have to worry about making mistakes his x's and o's go as far as pick and roll, come off a screen, kick it into yao for either the shot or kick out , and screen and roll at the top of the key. I havent seen more than 3 or 4 plays that the entire NBA and its fans have memorized, and JVG continuing to force them where they dont work.
That's a lot to extrapolate from just a few comments. I'm glad his players like him, and it's quite obvious that you like him. But that still doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's not the best coach for the Rockets.
I'm not the biggest JVG fan, but I think JB's right when he says JVG is mis-understood. We really became a running team the 2nd half of last season and we were really good. We kinda saw glimpses of it this season when we were healthy.
How are you going to call out Jon Barry? He has been around the NBA since he was in diapers and is a very intelligent guy. JB has played for many coaches before coming to the rockets, spent a lot of time with JVG (practices, meetings, and games), and has nothing but good things to say about him even after the rockets let him go. Yet u think u can judge JVG's coaching techniques better than Barry?
All the role players love JVG. Especially the ones at the end of their careers where they already are comfortable with their roles. But, which young player has JVG developed? Perhaps Yao, but I think that is a product of himself more than JVG.... So, which player has JVG brought in as a rookie or young player and actually developed? Most players like that he just doesn't play, even at the end of the season. DD
Textbook example of why Jon Barry selected the word "misunderstood" in describing VG. Fans who watch closely observe that VG only pulls the reins in the half-court. The Rockets are free to do whatever they want in transition O. "Misunderstood" is the inability of some distinguish that Mike James along with a healthy quartet of Sura, McGrady, Barry and Wesley had 2 to 3 times as many transition points as a team with Alston forcing tempo. As far as X's and O's....I'm not sure what how many options there are available to an offense which far and away led the league in different starting lineups. My observation from the healthier Rockets from the prior season was that they ran a lot more plays. Even VG mentioned this in a recent Rocket's Insider interview when he proclaimed that (in the half-court) the Rockets needed to be more than just Yao-centric or TMac-centric. "Misunderstood" is also a rush to judgement on playing time. VG and the players know who is working hard in practice. As fans, we don't. Other than possibly a disgruntled Derrick Anderson, I don't recall a single VG Rocket complaining about PT. Even in his comments during the Rockets' broadcasts, JB basically stated he was never fully healthy after his injury this season. I'm siding with JB on this one. He's going to be a valuable asset to the Rockets' media/broadcast team.
Young players developed? Get some with talent and then we shall see. The biggest disappointment as far as a young player is Swift and three pretty good coaches have tried now to 'develop' him. Eddie Griffin? I don't think Yao, or Lebron, or Amare, or D Wade are too difficult to develop. I just think developing players is overrated. It is mental toughness, dedication, and talent that drive NBA development not coaching. The biggest mistake coaches make is taking away from a player's strengths. I think it was very smart of Van Gundy to keep Yao banging down low instead of trying to make him some kind of 18-20 ft. shooter. Yao is now starting to dominate the paint. Some were calling for moving him out of the paint because he wasn't playing physical. You can notice that since Yao has started to play physical in the paint he doesn't get as many tacky fouls called.
I'm not a JVG fan, but hopefully JB's comments will stop some of the juvenile anti-JVG venom spewed out by some people here. My issues with JVG have nothing to do with his public persona, which is clearly an act. It's amazing that so many people think players hate the guy. If that was true, he would have been gone from here a long time ago and 51-31 last year would have never happened. And hopefully once and for all this can dispel the myth that JVG wants slowdown basketball and ties his players' hands on offense. Can we finally lay that myth to rest? We should hire Rick Carlisle away from the Pacers so people here can see what it's really like to have a coach who wants to call plays every time down the floor and who the players truly dislike. JB is a straight-shooter. For someone on this forum who has no bloomin' clue about anything to call him out is completely ridiculous. There has been (maybe) one thread this season that intelligently discussed JVG's strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully this thread can be #2. As far as developing young players, Yao & Luther are the only decent ones JVG's had since coming here. I'd say he's done OK. Yao's development should mute most criticism on that subject while Luther is still a work in progress. I'm hoping he comes back next year a much more consistent and fundamental player. He has A LOT to work on. I have a suggestion: Separate JVG the coach from JVG the GM and grade the two separately. I think we all agree JVG the GM is awful; but he's also gone now that Morey is on board. Let's focus on JVG the coach and criticize/compliment his on court decisions. Forget the persona. Forget the nutty idea he caused all the injuries by practicing the players too hard. Forget the nutty idea all the players (except Rybo) dislike him. Last season's team had a special team chemistry that wouldn't have been possible if JVG was a jerk with the players. I don't love JB like many of you but he says what he truly feels and is worth listening to.
He must be misunderstood by his own players too, then. McGrady is an example. Look at the way he played prior to that Dallas game last year. You're going to tell me that Steve Francis didn't have the "clamps" put on him? Really?
How many plays did the 94 Rockets have? Lets see, they had "throw it to Dream and stand behind the 3-pt line waiting for a pass." How about the Stock/Malone Jazz? They had 1 pick-n-roll play. It doesn't matter how big your playbook is. What matters is how well you execute the plays you got. TMac and now Yao are both unstopable BY ANYBODY (when healthy). They won't need a big playbook ...I promise. They just need to be on the court. I bet you regret posting your anti-JVG post this time?
Unlike Rudy, under the JVG system, you're not allowed to be stupid. So if you dribble out 18-20 seconds of the shot clock every time you're allowed to freelance, yes, you'll be reigned in instead of being allowed to keep committing shot clock violations.
Funny enough, that's the perfect example to COUNTER your point. TMac by his own admission said he was deferring to Yao. JVG had a talk with TMac and he told him to quit deferring and play your own game. IMO Steve's "clamps" were of his own doing. JVG asked Steve to do MORE ...not less. I recall Steve saying this several times. He was asking Steve to be a better point guard by getting more guys involved. I don't think that is unreasonable. Steve tried his best but he just never looked comfortable because that wasn't his game. So accuse JVG of trying to develop Steve into something he is not but, IMO, JVG didn't have clamps on him.
That must be why his turnovers declined under JVG. Oh wait, they didn't. You might try sticking to posting about baseball, btw.
Some of the posters here on Clutchfans play for JVG and know what its like, so don't question them when they bash JVG.
JVG worked 8 seasons as the head coach of New York Knicks and 3 more for Houston Rockets. How many seasons did his team play run and gun up-tempo games? 0.5 season for last year, and...? And you want to convince us that he likes to play fast? IMO, the typical JVG basketball is to slow down the game and play half court offense and defense. His offense sucks. That is why Rox is consistently at the bottom of almost all offense categories, especially fastbreak points. He has no idea how to teach fastbreak. I read a Francis' interview somewhere and he said they didn't even practice fastbreak in team practices. Remember the first half of last season was awful, it didn't change until JVG had no choice but let T-Mac loose and he got lucky to acquire several players who knew how to play up-tempo. The team started rolling and Rox won a lot of games, he would have been a true idiot to slow them down. But you can't say it was his style of basketball. Based on his tracking record, the 0.5 season of basketball you are referring to is an exception.
Steve was not smart enough to realize that getting your teammate involved is not a "clamp down" but a matter of effectiveness, efficiency and synergy. So Steve did not get it and his TO remained high so he got shipped off for our betterment. Maybe it is who should stick to post on anything but real men's sports. You are so blinded by bias and you refuse for to see things differently. Major and Kryo made excellent points.
Cuttino Mobley said he was misunderstood too, I believe them, JVG is a great coach that can lead the Rockets to a championship if they're good and healthy enough.
Do you watch games? EVERY time down the court JVG is waving his hands like an idiot trying to get them to run. Or maybe that is his code for slow it down and run a high pick-n-roll for Juwan. A good coach adjusts the system based on personnel which IMO I've seen JVG do several times since being in Houston. I'm willing to give JVG one more season to see what he can do. He proved last season he is good. Now lets see if he can go from good to great.
