I heard JVG was very excited on the media day, and said this team is pretty much like the Knicks he's ever had. In another word, this team is able to compete for the championship. Another hearing: JVG was selected as the worst coach last season? Is that true?
From your statements, it's obvious you were never a player or coach in this league or any league for that matter. As old man rock stated, there are only so many jobs to be had in the nba. Every coach, when they get fired, becomes an assistant to their mentor or to one of their assistants that got promoted from his staff while his name was hot. Look around, even PJ Carlissimo is on a staff. Unless you have irreputable star power, you can severely limit your income by opening your mouth in the NBA. Take Pat Riley. How many of his disciples are coaching or are assistants right now? My name is not D-Wade or shaq and I bad-mouth Riles. How many opportunities are left for me out there? None of his disciples are going to touch me out of respect for the man that gave them their shot. You've got to kiss a little backside and keep your mouth shut if you want to stay in this league. The difference between spots 7 through 12 talentwise and the NBDL is not that great and you can be replaced if you open your mouth. Until you actually receive a check to play, you might want to give the old man a break.
Why is it so hard to believe. Have you not bitten your tongue in a work atmosphere about someone who has the power to maybe promote you at some time. Maybe lying is not the best word but you are not going to reveal the whole truth in this situation. So you say the best things about the man in power. But you never say the whole truth. Likehis a freaking little hitler or he likes to watch armenian midgets dance naked. How many players have said great things about JVG. Ward (coaches for him), Ewing (coaches for him) Oakley (trying to land a roster spot), Barry (trying to land a job with the Rockets broadcast team) and none of those guys sound passionate about him they say things like he is a very smart coach. I am not saying everyone is of that thought, TMac certainly likes him. But Tmac is treated differently. JVG is not stupid. He knows that star players get coaches fired in this league quicker than anyone. Look at Yao and other players getting screamed at on the sidelines by JVG. Not once have you seen that happen to TMac yet TMAc has had his fair share of mistakes and nobody hustles more than Yao. No let me be clear about one thing, this is my opinion and I know many disagree as is their right but it is not necesary to call me full of ****. Find abetter way to comment and I won't respond that back to you.
He won two more games that first year over Rudy's last year? The second year, Yao was much better and had TMac. I flip flop on whether i think JVG is a good coach or not because he's had a lot of turnover during his tenure.
Politically correct thing to say about a coach you dislike and don't respect: HE is ver professional, he knows the game of basketball, he is always prepared, etc. What JVG's players say about him: He is the best coach I have ever played for. Would you say that you boss was the best boss you ever had, even if you hated him and had no respect for his abilities? I think OMR is just a JVG hater like edc. Some people do not like him and never will, be it because of his coaching style, how he presents himself to the media, that he once cut them off on the freeway, or whatever the reason. The fact that only one player has ever really trashed JVG (and that player was Steve Francis, not exactly the pinnacle of BBIQ) while lots have said he is the best coach they have played for (including superstar TMac, journeyman Jon Barry, and headcasse Latrell Sprewell) tells me that maybe he is not too tough to play for and is actually well liked by his players.
"I loved our commitment last year, our attitude and our chemistry. It was great," said Van Gundy. "Our problem was we did not play with a high basketball IQ and our skill level last year was not good enough to win consistently enough. That is a JVG quote from Clutch's article "Van Gundy sees roster improvement". Isn't that pretty close to what you are asking for? As to the issue of players 'lying' (bad choice of words or not) as to not burn their bridges just in case they have to play for him at a later date, I just don't see that. There are too many stories of players who won't tie their shoelaces, throw balls, refuse to go in to a lost game, and generally bad mouth their current coaches (much less choke them) to imagine that that many ex players would still speak well of him. Didn't the Knick players band together to buy him a new car when the team jet blew his old one up? That is much more than typical job security concerns. I am a big JVG fan (I like structured basketball) and I forgive his weaknesses, but I'll admit to the concept that he does have some weaknesses. Whatever your problems with him are, I think you have to admit that substantially his players like and respect him. I am sure it is not 100%, but I feel pretty comfortable with the statement that substantially his players like and respect him.
I have NO idea where you guys got that JVG was dissing Alston. He said that he didn't shoot well last year and he even said that no one did and that the poor three-point shooting by EVERYONE and the poor three-point defense by EVERYONE was the reason they sucked. He said Rafer needs to bounce back and shoot the three well, but it was FAR from him calling the guy out. The way he said it was probably how Rafer would've said it himself. You guys are really reactionary.
And Steve Francis even admitted the year after that that JVG was criticizing him for his own good and that he respects him. Cat's the only one I've heard who is extremely guarded in praising JVG.
I wasn't stupid in calling you full of it. I thought it through before I made my statement. I'm not angry about it. You seem to be and you still haven't answered my question to you. You are now implying that I'm saying ****. It said, "it". "It" can mean a lot of things. You are calling me ass hole and stupid ass. There is no reason for that. I'm sorry that you took this personally. I never wanted it to be an insult, I'm just sticking up for a coach I believe is the real deal and honest. You are and will continue to be one of my favorite posters on here, but if I think you are not making sense, I'm going to say something about it. I think that's fair. JVG gets a bad wrap and people who get a bad wrap usually have someone out there that made a leap based on faith or personal opinion. Example: Bonzi Wells' repuatation is pretty bad. His answer: ~'I was never bad, I was just in Portland.' The bad wrap sounds like it was unfounded based on the way he addressed the inquarries. I can't say for sure, but I know that Bonzi's reaction to the question seemed to be one where he was trying to clear up his reputation with the media. He was trying to clear up the bad wrap. You made a leap of facts and used your opinion to do so. Basically, you are now basing your opinion of JVG on your opinion. My experience with language is that if someone uses their opinion as fact, it is to support what they are about to say. You claimed these players are lying, then went on to talk about whispers around the league. If there are whispers around the league, where are they coming from? If you can't state where they come from, I have no reason to trust your opinion. You may be right about all of this stuff you said in the original post, but the way you wrote everything you said, there were no facts in the statement, yet your choice of words was authoritative. This type of speech can give JVG a bad wrap without any factual basis. Steve Francis' play was better when he played for JVG than when he went to Orlando. I give JVG some credit for that. He turned Rudy T's roster that went lottery, into a playoff team. The Knicks went south after JVG left. I credit his good coaching to this. Based on those facts, I believe JVG makes players of lesser quality, winners. Does this mean he's a nice coach who is easy to play for, no. Winning draws respect. So does telling the truth. Moreover, of every coach that I ever played for, I respect the ones that were hard on me and pushed me to my limits. This made me a better player. It was easy to play for coaches that were easy on me, but we didn't win, so I never respected those coaches. I respect the ones that were hard to play for. That's why I think players like JVG overall. Players who want it easy and don't want to scrap for every inch, they may not like JVG, but that doesn't mean that they're lying when they talk about him publicly. So, yeah, I think you are using opinion as fact and that makes you full of beans. But ONLY in this one small case. I really do like the threads you start and your posts and most of the time you don't try to act like you are "in the know" and you don't speak in a way that a disagreement leads to name calling. Usually your statements draw good discussions because they are a little more open to others. This time, you left no room for disagreement. If this pisses you off, good. Maybe you'll feel like players who get called out by JVG, but I bet the next time you decide to post your opinion, you'll respect what I had to say here, because I was fair and honest. Just like Jeff Van Gundy. But it may take a while for you to cool off. And please don't call me ass hole anymore. It out of character for you. Actually, I'm starting to wonder if someone logged on to your account.
remind me again did Alston shoot well last season...... I'm sure JVG has communicated to Alston that he needs to shoot better and what he said to the media is just calling a spade a spade.................. nevertheless JVG is one of those coaches that if he is your corner the players love him
Exactly. I actually got the impression that he was happy with Rafer but he feels he just needs to get back to where he was in seasons past with his shooting and I also got the feeling that he fully expects him too.
What did JVG say about Rafer's defense? Anything more than the 'defending the three'? I'm curious to know if the 3pt offense and defense were the only complaints that Van Gundy had for Rafer.
Let me start of with your first part as I don't want to get into who is or is not bad mouthing him. Yes I never liked JVG. Didn't like his personality even before we hired him. But to be fair to him it didn't really matter who the Rockets hired. I was so pissed at the way Les handled letting Rudy go I wasn't open to anyone. (I know Rudy retired. ) I am over that now and the Rockets are still without a doubt my team. So now it's about the best coach to help us win. ANd I think their are better choices but maybe with the team we have now he just might be the right coach for the moment... or at least good enough. I have also changed my opinion about him. From once thinking he was an egotistical maniac. To now believing he is a many faceted type person who is not all bad. I like what he did with the Rowdies even though I know it was part publicity stunt and I like that he is in volved in charities. I don't think he thought much of Houston in the beginning but I like that he seems to have grown found of our community now. And those all contribute to my change of heart but more than anything I think I understand him a bit more. I use to think he was just a pompous ass who could care less about anyone but himself and his coaching but now I think that is just an image he conveys to the media. And in actuality he is a bit insecure, like maybe questoning, "what I am doing here I better act like an ass so people think I belong". Yeah insecure, it's kind of typical New York attitude one would have when unsure of himself, never let them know you're sweating. (my opinion) I also believe in his on delusional way he actually believes he is one of us. What I mean by that is he doesn't look at himself as a millionaire famous NBA head coach but more of an an average Joe, worker bee. That's why he drives a Honda and why he is so defiant at times. He is not a company man or he doesn't have that yes man mentality. And even when he is making smart ass remarks to the media it's really more about not kissing the big bad Media or David Sterns ass but rather standing up against the goliath. So those are the positive things that I have seen. In addition I really think he wants to stay in Houston and wants to keep his job so he is becoming more flexible. But still he has some pretty strong negatives that stop me from coming full circle. Let's see if he can change some of those. He has a good group of players who are for the most part are ready to be coached. Let's see if he can show a new leaf and not here about any inhouse bickering or players in the doghouse. Believe it or not it is what I want now. I can enjoy my Rockets victories more and I think we have areal shot at a championship this year. Go JVG and Go Rockets. It wasn't so bad that time.
Those complaints were basically pointed at the whole team, not Rafer. He kind of went on another tangent after Matt Jackson started to ask him about the PG situation. He only mentioned Rafer's outside shooting and how he would like it to get back to where it was before.
Okay DOn I got it. But just as you thought out what you said. I thought out what I said before your full of it (which in my book means full of ****). I didn't say all where lying I said most. And perhaps using the word lying wasn't the right word and maybe not telling the whole truth would have beem better. But even if you don't agree with me wouldn't you agree that if an active player hated JVG it would be in his best interest to keep that to himself. Why burn bridges. So that's all I have to say about it. I apologize for my outburst and peace out.
