I guess I'm the only one not worried? We have one of the top 3 players in the NBA missing. Of course we're going to struggle. Derek Anderson has really come into his own lately, which bodes well for more offensive punch when Tmac/Yao swallow up the first two options. Luther Head has been HUGE, I don't think you can remove him from the starting lineup. And he's hitting at a 50% clip shooting mostly with people around him. Once Tmac drives and dishes, he's gonna find himself a lot more open. Yao Ming has been a let down thus far, but I almost think it should be expected. I don't think anyone here believes Yao, and Yao alone, could lead a team to the championship. Teams are fronting and doubling him when he goes to the bathroom -- that all changes when Tmac gets back. Marion wouldn't even come within 15 feet of his man in the PHX game! (Bowen) Also, our defense and rebounding will improve when Tmac comes back. The Lakers are struggling with minor injuries, maybe PJ is over the hill edc?
T-Mac is easily Top 10, an argument can be made for Top 5, but Top 3 is a stretch. For the record, I'd pick Duncan, Shaq, and LeBron. McGrady is in the next batch with Kobe, Garnett, Nash, Dwayne Wade, and Stoudamire. The Miami Heat are missing one of those "Top 3" in Shaq, and are 7-5. The Phoenix Suns are missing Stoudamire, who is T-Mac caliber, possibly slightly better, and they are 7-5. The Lakers (with Phil Jackson) were not expected to be sniffing the top of the West, yet they are several games ahead of the Rockets, and staying in contention for the playoffs.
Miami Heat also has D Wade and a better supporting cast. I hope they have a better record than the Rockets. The Suns still have last years MVP. I hope they have a better record than the Rockets. PJ is doing mediocre with minor injuries. I'm not saying he's going to miss the playoffs or is a bad coach -- im just pointing out the early struggles of a "great coach" in your mind. McGrady is more important to his team than any of the other injuries you listed. You'd rather have Wade, Old Shaq, Nash over Tmac?
you actually bring up another point in your comparison of the rockets vs the other teams without its "top player".... miami and phoenix are missing their "big man" not their ball handler...you take wade and nash out of their lineup instead of shaq and amare and you will see a pretty similar result that you see with the rockets....struggling obviously if yao wasn't playing instead of tmac im pretty sure our record would be closer to .500.
I'm watching what's going on in Orlando and from a guy who never really had a problem with Van Gundy's coaching, I'm having starting to have my doubts. Brian Hill is trying to get Steve Francis to play the way Van Gundy did, but its going a lot smoother in Orlando, with a team that isn't as good. Steve is playing defense, dribbling less. But he hasn't become ineffective like he was his last year in Houston. JVG just doesn't know how to get the most offensively out of players. He brings every offensive players' stats down, no matter who it is. All for the good of the system.
(1) The "supporting cast" without McGrady is clueless. Orlando proved McGrady cannot carry a bad team all by himself. (2) Duncan, Shaq, and LeBron? Those three I would take over T-Mac. You want to put him fourth or fifth after those three? An argument can be made. I'm not sure I'd put him there, but IMHO, after LeBron, the bunching is pretty close.
Thats right. Practiaclly everyone who comes to Houston, or were in the chance from rudy t to jvg drops statistically on offense. Yet somehow the players are getting the blame. If you look at this team on paper, its easy to see that we can be a high scoring team, and score 100 very frequently. How many times have we done that after 14 games? Try never.
In a recent ced thread, I predicted the Rockets starting 15-23 and then going 35-9. This was when Tracy started having back problems (The first week of the season). They're doing worse than I expected. I do like idea that this team has to learn how to play without T-Mac, even though it is painful to watch.
The thing is, we're only a "bad team" because we don't have one of the top 3 players in the NBA. You can make an argument for top 10 with Shaq, top 5 would be stretching it. For the record, I'd take KG, Tmac, Lebron. I'm not saying JVG is a genius, I'm just saying he shouldn't be judged so early in the season AND without his, by far, best player. This team is built FOR McGrady -- of course the supporting cast is "clueless"
I actually think JVG is at some risk of getting canned. If this continues after TMac returns, he might not make it. Wow, I never expected this situation.
This thread is such a clear sign of denial. Its all part of JVG's "master plan" keep telling yourself that.
I would be extremely surprised if JVG is in danger of losing his job. I never wanted to hire JVG, but he is a good defensive coach. If we had TMac healthy -TMac would be running the offense and JVG would not be under pressure for the O running poorly.HE would not be under the microscope now. TMac's health is not JVG's fault. 2 wrongs do not make a right. Many here have villified Rudy. I will not do the same to JVG even though I think he is lacking as a psychologist or offensive coach. In all fairness, let this play out. JVG is here. It would be counter productive to fire him right now. We are in too deep for those kind of changes now. I am even leary of trades as many have suggested trading Yao. We are lucky to have Yao Ming on this team. We have little we could trade for talent to improve this team.
if we had a 1/10 of the players we need, this thread wouldn't even pop up. it ain't JVG's fault that we suck goat balls and need another player or two
sorry, but there are plenty of good role players and veterans that are good enough to be better than 3-11 on this team. JVG offense is awful, if you watch the games you realize this offensive system isn't going to win a championship, hell even a good amount of regular season games....a change needs to be made, and i'm officially going with the head coach. there are good enough players to be a .500 team, even without tmac. he flat out doesn't know how to get an offense to score more than 90 points a game on regular basis, that's pathetic. he has to go, period. JVG is a good coach but he isn't the man for this team. let's look somewhere else. i'm tired of losing, it's getting old.
...and I'm saying something is terribly wrong with the personnel AND the coaching if the other eleven guys look like the keystone cops, and are seemingly incapable of a single victory. Guess what? Both of those are the direct responsibility of Mr. Van Gundy. I am reminded of the Rocket teams of a decade ago that were built FOR Olajuwon, that almost always managed to keep their heads at or above the .500 mark without him.
Lets look at the teams We've lost to thus far. NOK@Home There Record stands at 6-6 and are a much Improved team.nontheless should have won Orlando@Home There record also stands at 6-6. really underrated team, but again, should have won at home Miami@Miami There Record stands at 7-6, but there allways at hom. also without tracy, we did as well as expected. Boston@Boston There Record stands at 5-7. even without tracy, we should'nt have lost by 20 in this game. San antonio@San antonio There Record Stands at 10-3. despite being Comprehensivly outplayed, we only lost by 6. without Tracy, noone would have expected us to win. Pistons@Home There Record stands at 11-2. possibly the best team in the NBA. Again, without tracy, it was the best we could hope for. Indiana@Indiana There Record stands at 7-4. they are a very good team and without tracy, really i cant see how anyone can say that this was a game that we should have won. having said that, we lacked a closer in the dying stages of that game and probaly with tracy, we could have won Dallas@Dallas There Record stands at 9-3. our most hated Rivals for sure. but again, we tried our guts out and thats all i can ask for. Head had a breakout game. Phoenix@Home There Record stands at 7-5.The Suns had 6 players in double digits to our 3. with tracy, we probaly would have won. Memphis@Memphis There Record stands at 9-5. we played horrible and only lost by 5. again with tracy, we would have won that game. Chicago@Home There Record stands at 9-5. they are possibly the best young team in the league. they beat the spurs in san antonio last night to.this game exposed how slow our Primeter defenders really are. having said that, with tracy, we could have won this game to. Besides the New Orleans and orlando game, we really didnt drop any games that we should have. all this has proved to is that how valuable tracy is to this team. you takeout duncan out of the spurs and give them our scheduel, see how they would fare. i bet it wont too much better .
The problem with this team is that they are completely built around TMAC and Yao. With TMAC off the floor, our main penetration guy is gone. most of our players on this team are jumpshot shooters. Like wes, and RA. They are catch and shoot players. Now, with out TMAC they aren't really capable of driving to the hoop on a consistent basis. DA is starting to show he might be able to slash his way to the rim. but so far he too has seemed to just be a jumpshot player. In order to get the ball to an open jumpshot shooter you need a guy to drive to the rim. With out TMAC, we don't have that. Can't put that blame on JVG. EDIT: Oh, and Blazer. You're supposed to write THEIR, not THERE.
If JVG is such a fricken genius then why can't he run a zone defense every now and then to protect Yao? DD
