Why does jvg get so much love. He couldn't get out of the 1st round with 2 of the 10 best players in the league .
If everyone is depending on talent, why was Adelman such a winning coach with the Rockets? Coaching matters and each of the last four coaches we've had have coached our team above its talent level. As a Rockets fan I can't remember the last time I thought (or heard anyone even say) "We have so much talent and we're underperforming." The Rockets almost perennially outperform their talent. That's one of the things I love about the Rockets: they put a real premium on want-to guys. Chuck Hayes, Mario Elie, Chucky Brown being my favorite examples but on this year's team look at Lowry and Parsons and Scola just for starters. Anybody think they're playing beneath their talent? The Rockets almost always feature scrappy players, advantaged as much by grit as raw ability. But that doesn't matter much if you don't have the right coach. We've been as blessed in the area of coaching as we have in the area of big men. HOF coaches, HOF big men.
Alright because appreciating Mchale is equivalent to taking away from the Ruler's achievement.... You don't have to be pro one guy and con the other. Agreed though.
JVG and Adelman are equal as Batman Jones said. JVG created a work environment that produced coaching talent like Thibodeau. When the coaches are equal, then their coaching staff breaks the tie. How does that not make sense?
It could also be argued that JVG was only as good a coach as Adelman because he had superior assistance. When you argue for an MVP candidate you never break the tie by saying yes but look how much talent he had around him; in fact, one would invariably argue the opposite. But I do get what you're saying about surrounding oneself with talent which is a big part of what makes a good head coach.
They are NOT equal, Adelman's record is far superior to JVG's and he has done it at multiple stops. That is not to say that JVG is a bad coach, he is a pretty good one, but Adelman is a HOF coach. There is no harm in recognizing one is better than the other. Adelman is better than JVG, and McHale is the weakest link. DD
JVG might not wind up a HOF coach but he absolutely deserves to be. And in many ways Adelman only did as well as he did with the Rockets because he had the benefit of coaching a team that was already schooled in JVG's defense. IIRC Adelman acknowledged this benefit on more than one occasion.
That makes no sense. If a coach creates a work environment that develops young assistants into COY winners, that reflects on his ability to coach. DaDakota, The question isn't who is the better coach throughout their careers. Reread the opening post. The question is who did a better job as a Rocket coach. I think JVG did,,,you don't. There is no way in hell you are going to convince otherwise...so just move on and try to convince someone else.
Not really interested in arguing this out since I don't disagree with you. What I was saying though was that if a head coach happened to have a particularly good defensive specialist or big man specialist, especially one well suited to the roster, it would be to his advantage. And not every assistant is trained by his head coach. Obviously your quoted post is inarguably true but it doesn't negate any other factors.
Incidentally, I do think that JVG was the smartest, most creative coach, most likely in team history -- because he is an incredible basketball mind. Couple that with his insane, unmatchable work ethic and it really baffles me that anyone could think he was anything less than great. I'd really like to see him coach again, especially with the Rockets. I think Adelman was a better players' coach though he didn't seem to push the players as hard. And his offense was clearly more productive and more inventive than JVG's.
Adelman has been pretty stubborn in playing time. Although JVG has the image of never playing young players, which is not true of course, there isn't one player who played under JVG who did not get playing time they deserved. If I recall correctly JVG eventually gave the starting job to Hayes when he felt that he was playing better than Howard. Can't say the same for Adelman, although he has developed quite a few of our players, he underutilized Chuck Hayes in the season when we had Artest. Lowry also only blossomed after Brooks' injury. It's no surprise that both Hayes and Lowry had break out seasons only after injuries and trades forced RA to give them more minutes. But I'll give RA a lot of credit for developing both of these players.
IIRC, Adelman himself said that it took him too long to realize playing Hayes at center was better than any other options he had. I wouldn't blame him for that. What coach would envision a 6'6 guy being the best option at center? JVG didn't have that problem because he had Yao. He played Hayes at the 4 which was his natural position. Brooks was pretty good before his injury. It was very debatable whether Lowry was the better player at that time. I agree that after the injury, Adelman kept playing him even though he clearly sucked. But it's not unreasonable for the coach to want to give Brooks a chance to play back to his pre-injury form. Stubborn? Depends on how you see it. I have no problem with people believing JVG was better than Adelman. But to say that JVG clearly did "a lot better" with less is not fair at all. Adelman had to overcome a lot of adversity due to injuries. He had to change the starting lineup almost every 3 games in his first season. Not to mention the TMac fiasco. Yet they kept playing over their head.
You are right. I also agree that JVG is not a lot better than Adelman, in my opinion I actually think they are really about the same. Both players were victims to really really bad luck. But remember that although we did have Yao during that Artest season, we were essentially running a 3 man rotation at the 4/5. It was rotated between Scola, Landry and Hayes. Also, remember that the season before we had Artest, when RA first took over, Hayes was playing more minutes. Though for RA that was probably because JVG left Hayes as the starter before he was fired. Either way, Hayes minutes were significantly reduced a season after he was with RA. Also, remember that before we got Lowry, Rafer Alston was getting a lot of minutes when Brooks deserved a lot more. Morey basically had to force RA to give Brooks more minutes by trading Alston. Brooks then won the MIP the very next season (although his true impact on the team was debatable).
