Who did he screw over in deference to Tracy? I don't understand. You think he should motivate everyone in the same way? Fine, but that doesn't answer the question. Do you really think coaches should treat all their players the same way? I mean, in principle that sounds nice, but I think in sports when you're dealing with athletes making millions and your job is on the line if you don't succeed, that's not a practical way of going about things.
You can screw over the rest of the team, sometimes if there are double standards players other players begin to tune you out......it is a minefield to negotiate. JVG got to some guys, and lost others......I like JVG, my problem with him was not in his motivation but rather his lack of making adjustments, particularly in the playoffs. His answer for Yao not being able to guard the high pick and roll was always for him to try harder.... Which is laugable, Yao is never going to be able to cover that, neither can Shaq..... DD
It's not like Adelman has found a great solution for Yao guarding the PnR. That's still a weakness for the team -- probably a bigger one than it used to be. We'll see how Yao does against the numerous PnRs he'll undoubtedly be facing in this year's playoffs.
Last year he had someone else come from the top to help and let Yao stay in the paint. Not sure what happened to that, but I am sure it will be back now that Tracy and his lazy D are off the team. DD
Which players did he truly lose? Bonzi "******" Wells? And Yao was playing much more motivated, "heads up" defense (and offense) under JVG. You do realize that they can exploit his defensive weakneses even more now... no matter what the situation. Our "zone" is pathetic. And now, its not just the pick and roll, but he's having simple one-on-one defensive failures (Al Jefferson, Brook Lopez?!?) Now, frankly, he looks lost on defense... and goes through some serious lapses on offense that I thought he'd be over with by now. I think the good you get with JVG far outweighs the bad... namely, with this team lacking any sort of identiy (offensively or dfensively), and its "leaders" are soft-spoken and don't truly lead.
I can't argue that, it makes a lot of sense. I just happen to think he had his chance, and when JVG was asked to make quality adjustments as Sloan and Avery did, his answer of "Work harder" was not good enough. He had his chance, and now he is one of the best announcers in all of basketball... DD
Sloan and Avery had far better benches/depth to make such adjustments. JVG made the most of what he was given... the fact that he was able to do so much with very little (compared to what Adelman has had, and what the teams we lost to had) is the crux of the argument. He "had his chance", but he was never given a roster worthy enough to compete for a championship.
This is a good point. If you're a manager of McDonalds (or in this case, lets say Memphis or the clips) its great to be a motivator. Its important to keep the mundane routines fresh. You know you're never going to make it to the top. Adelman is a coach that inspires to make it to the top and doesn't have time to babysit fragile ego's. Tmac is exactly that. He's the type of player that says, "ok, were ahead, lets take a break" and then when they get behind, he's ready to throw in the towel for that game. He will throw up his hands and say, "hey, I did my best, I can't do it all". Athlete's like Kobe play for the win, whatever it takes. He's the type of guy who will say he didn't do enough, even if he scores 81 points. The game is not over to him until the buzzer sounds. He doesn't stop playing mid game if they are ahead and he doesn't use excuses for his losses. TMac is a dominant player. You can't use him for a role player. WHen you have two or three big guys on a team, you need a self motivator to pull the load if the other two are having a bad game. Tmac is the opposite. If the other big player is having a bad game, TMac comes in with the self defeatist mentality, thus making himself useless too. This is a big factor why he has never made it out of the playoffs.
are these jvg haters still angry because they thought he held yao back cause he wouldnt let him shoot 18 footers?
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JVG is a good man and a very smart guy. He is seems to be more jovial and easy going guy now. But then when he became a coach, he is a totally different guy. He is a grumpy, always complaining (hardly any compliments) and has a big, deep dog house when he is the coach. Perhaps he thought he could push or motivate his players with this indifferent attitude but then his players are scared stiff (always looking behind their shoulder after every mistake).
with all do respect, what do we know about what goes on in the locker room. until we experience it first hand, we have to remember we are only giving our opinions. we need to stop acting like we know everything about the tmac situation, we don't know the full details of his health, we know he probably was too quick to jump to surgery, but stand back and think what he could be thinking... you play 12 years in the nba, tmac isn't the most intelligent person in the world from what i gather through his interviews and such, but you feel pain and you instinctively think, hmm this isn't right, his problem is that he doesn't trust the doctors, he has it set in his mind that he had surgery, why am i still feeling pain? so tracy jumped to surgery because he didn't see himself playing at a level that the rockets needed from him to succeed, so why play at all...it actually is smarter for him to end this year than keep playing and hurting the team, he knew this, he just went about portraying this in the wrong way. i swore all season that he would be back when it counted in the playoffs, and i was really disappointed when this information came out that he would sit out the rest of the year, but seriously...stop all the whining about tmac threads, as much as you all hate to admit it YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING...we can't control some things "that's just the way it is, some things will never change"
that is generally every coach, your team is never good enough when you are a coach, and you don't want your team to think that they are good enough, modesty and humbleness go a long way
I just think too many people are taking everything in without thinking of the other realm of possibilities and explanations. I guess it is a thread designed to vent opinions and frustrations, but I have a hard time believing Tracy is a cancer to our team, he makes us better when healthy, the only year he was really healthy with us was his first year, and he played supreme that year, he scored so many points off of screens and such, but it seems he has a low tolerance for pain, or maybe his knee really hurts THAT much. So he doesn't move as much, he stands at the top of the key, and waits for the right situations for him to get things done...that doesn't help us, and he realized this so he sitting...now I'm just repeating myself, so I'll stop now...
oh that's right because i am not on tmac's back thrashing at his soul i must not be a rockets fan. no, i just have a brain, and think about things before i start freaking out about our problems, THE MAN IS INJURED i don't agree with how he went about relaying this information, or the fact that he doesn't trust our doctors, but i don't think he is LYING about the fact that he is feeling pain and can't seem to improve his knee...
