Yes, he was successful with a group of veterans and a physical, dominant center before. But he can't always have a team who Pat Reily spent years to assemble. As a coach, he has to deal with the talents he has at hand, and try to figure out a way to maximize their production. These players have spent more than ten years to develop their games and, to certain extent, have been successful with their games. JVG can't come in town, have a single-minded game plan, and ask everybody to change their styles to fit his dream, or previous habit, or the only basketball style he knows. The frustration of the coach, players and fans is as obvious as his bald head. It is time for him to think, or to quit. He has a starting lineup with two centers and three shooting guards. Among them, Cato and JJ are his favorite players. God knows, these two may have better stats, but that is because other teams give to them. It is no hiding secrets that rockets offense depends on guards and center. They have the weakest forwards in the entire league. The other teams have pressed our guards, surrounded our center, and dared our forwards to step up to beat them. But our two wide open forwards never can stand up facing the challenge. Then, here is our supposed genius coach, criticizing his double-teamed center for only scoring 10 points, and then praising his wide open PF for scoring 10 points. JVG came to Houston with a dream, but now he only has nightmares. It is time for him to give everybody a break, to admit his inability to coach a tricky team and give up his misery.
poor Yao. He was the first overall pick, but it is everyone else's fault. We should all be disappointed in the rest of the team, not our 7'6'' inch center, who wants to play like a 2 guard.
1. Why did Van Gundy not use Yao as a jump shooter against Boston when it was obvious the defense was not allowing him to receive the ball down in the post? 2. Why should any free agent with an ounce of offensive talent want to play for Van Gundy? By answering #1, I can pretty much answer #2. Van Gundy's ability to adapt on the offensive side is just mind-numbingly bad.
Yao is not responsible for Houston has no good small forward and handed NJ three first-round picks. Yao is also not responsible for all the oversized contracts on this team. This team has some talents but is not a balanced roster. It needs some imagination to find a way to use our talents. However, our single-minded and conventional coach appears to have no clue how to achieve it. He ends up trying to chance his players. Both Yao's game and SF's game are suffering. In the meantime, Houson is losing. Yao is neither Shaq nor Ewing, period. Then stop to ask him to play like a Shaq or an Ewing. There must be a coach in this country who can figure out a way to use Yao and SF.
Yao is not a banger, or a low post player, so yes, Van Gundy needs to change. But, expecting him to box out, snatch the tough rebounds, and protect the basket is not to much to ask. He does these things sometimes, but he is very inconsistent in his defense and rebounding. Thats not asking him to be Shaq, or to be Hakeem, that is expecting him to be your center.
The wierd thing is that Yao even said before he was drafted that he watched Arvydis Sabonis play a lot and tried to model his game off him. I don't ever remember reading an article about Yao saying he wanted to be like Shaq. If someone is trying to make you be something you aren't, does that not make you resent that person? You gotta wonder why Van Gundy is being pretty stubborn about his vision.
It seems you have a negative stance on Yao. I don't, but I'd like to see him traded in order to further both sides. b****ing and complaining serves no purpose. Action is the only method of resolution.
He didn't try that hard then. Arvydas had a post game. In fact, he was a fantastic player, shame the NBA didn't see the best of him.
JVG has already improved the team, if only by improved defense. If that isn't apparent to you, then you haven't been watching. The offense is sputtering as JVG tries to mold the "me first " inmates into team players. And as today's Chron article says, the inmates continue to resist change and still don't "bring it" every night. And this is all without EG, without AG, and trying to blend in a number of new players. And regarding Yao, the league has figured out the book on him - it's time for he and Rox to counter. I agree with most that SF and Cat have redundant skills and that we are hurting for lack of a true floor leader and distributer. JVG inherited a group that had virtually no discipline and very meager court smarts (Yao excepted). It may be that major changes need to be made but I don't think they're quite ready to make that decision. Score to date after 36 games: Asylum inmates still > JVG...but the lead is slowly diminishing. D R
Dallas Rocket, Great post. It is amazing how some people here never want to hold the players accountable for the team's performance. I will admit that Rudy had gotten so lax with Francis and company that a change was justified. But we haven't even gotten to the all-star break in Van Gundy's first season and we already have people complaining about him. Van Gundy is going to be here for a while, people, get over it.
Manny Ramirez, Thanks If JVG can't succeed as the new sheriff, then the team needs a serious makeover. D R
Seriously! Yao went from being a rookie with all the promise in the world last year to a level or two just above Eddie Griffin(without the drive-bys, beating of women, etc.). Hell, he could have Shaq, Duncan, Tmac, Kobe, and Kidd with Garnett coming off the bench and still barely manage 80 pts. per game. This moron doesn't know how to run an offense. Common sense LES, if you're going to get rid of one coach make, make sure the coach you're bringing in is better. It's the same thinking as applying zone defense believing it will improve scoring....... Good job on working @ss-backwards.
That excuse is old. JJ is a veteran. So is Pike. Tell that to SA and see if they are having blending problems still.
I would love it if Yao played like Sabonis. Sabonis was a great low post player. He could score down there, but he also could run the offense from that spot. You couldn't double him, because he could pass out of the post to find the cutters and shooters that were left open. Even in Portland, when he was older and had lost his mobility, he was still able to see the play before it developed from the low post. It comes across as me having a negative opinion of Yao, and that is really just frustration. If Yao is not being used to his strengths, then so be it. I guess I was expecting more of Yao than he is giving right now. If he is still developing, then I will need to be patient. Whether or not he continues to improve, is something we will have to wait and see.
Yao goes where there is a team that wants him. Of course, the team that trades for him will make sure that he fits into their gameplan. There will be plenty of offers on the table. Rockets have much more pressing needs that can be filled with trading Yao since he commands a lot more than anyone else on this team.
Not only was Sabonis a great passer, he also had good hands, which it appears that Yao doesn't have (at least not yet).
Of course Sabonis was able to pass to the open guys because the guys passing the ball to him will get open. In the Rockets case, our guards first of all pass the ball when he is already doubled and then they just don't get open. The first solution is having the guards pass the ball quicker and second move without the ball to an open spot. Yao is a great passer and this year JVG has not used that in his offense.
