hahaha, LOL, this is so funny i can hardly stand it. you know what would be even funnier? how about a real rocket fan stomping you down and forcing you to wear a power dancer outfit?
Well said, my friend, well said. Phil Jackson is indeed the most overrated coach in NBA history. If he coached the New York Knicks or Charlotte Bobcats to the crown, then maybe he'd be worthy of some of his accolades. That being agreed upon, with all respect to PJ, I never, ever want to see him on the sideline coaching the Rockets.
i think the players have had enough time to gel....we have to somehow use our talent a lot better... c'mon look at the suns this year adding nash and Q...they dont seem to be having much trouble coming in and playing well together with the rest of the team...the heat traded the players that were a big part of the team last year and they are winning and the mavs have a whole new look team and they are winning too... and dont forget the t'wolves last year adding cassell and sprewell if memory serves me right i dont remember them having any problems either... these are all key players for their team and they all seem to click really quick...
JVG's offensive plans are just too simple, he made us live and die on the 3 pointers. When we shoot over 35% from 3, we are 4-2, when we shoot less than 35%, we are 0-4.
If you can't fill the roster with guys who can play your desired style of basketball, isn't it incumbent on you to change your style to fit your roster? Then again, how would you describe the "style" for this group? I have no idea; I've only seen one game.
I agree. That's the duty of the coach. Asking players to do stuff they are not good at and blaming them for failing at it is just a sign of a bad coach. Look at Michael Vick. The coach in Atlanta tried to convert him to a pocket passer within a West Coast offense. That didn't work, so he quickly changed course making him the running QB he was so successful at. I've got a feeling that having a very good defense is very important for Van Gundy's self-image. He is known as a defense coach. If his defense is no good, then it will mean that aura is not real. The Rockets suffer through a game and edge out the Clippers. They limit the Clippers to 41% from the field, but they have to win in OT. Come on. The entire team looks like trash, and they are going to get slaughtered versus the super teams like the Suns and Spurs. If JVG does not change his inflexible approach to the game of basketball, he will always have teams that wallow in mediocrity.
I hate JVG as much as the next guy but we cant just let him come into town, turn our team into the New York Knicks, and leave with a free pass. That makes my stomach turn. He has ruined our team. I said dont fire Rudy and I said dont trade Steve. It was Van Gundy. I saw progress and potential in the team we had. Now look at us. Would anyone at this point in the season bet $50 on the Rockets making the playoffs? I wouldnt. Would anyone at this same point last year make that same bet? I did and won.
LOL. Come on, man. You've made some pretty big claims. I give you free stuff, and you give me a signature in return. I agree with a lot of your takes on many different issues (besides sports), but your unwillingness (as well as many, many others on this board) to give JVG even HALF a freaking season to right the ship just pisses me off. So, I've fought back the best way I can: the dreaded signature quote. If you stop the JVG potshots until the break, I'll gladly remove the signature now. Deal?
I hate the brand of ball we're playing right now. Obviously offense is not Van Gundy's forte. But lets share the blame. One of our two superstars is simply not one. Maybe Yao will blossom, but he's only mediocre at best. No consistancy. And tell my why someone 7'-6" can't rebound. Our team as whole is not good, talent wise. Let's face it we're still building after the McGrady trade. Prepare to suffer through the rebuilding unless Yao finally lives up to 1/2 of the expectations. Even then this team won't go far this into the playoffs this year. Can't blame CD either. He did pull the trigger to get McGrady and has a knack for pulling off the big deal. We're gonna need another offseason to pull in a PG, and a defensive PF (although we wouldn't need to do that if Yao would play up to his size and learn how to box out and contain space)
JVG should be fired because he cannot motivate Yao. He doesnt do a particularly good job with the rest of the team or the fans, but it makes the biggest difference for Yao. An awful lot of different things have been said about Yao's problems and inconsistency; to me the telling statistic is that he has twice as many ppg at home as on the road. Part of this is foul trouble, but the other half is that he isnt correctly (positively) motivated. Instead he is worried and freezes up unless he has the help of the home crowd. This falls on the coach, since Yao is basically a trier. Yao's comment about being scared when they go 10 up is as close as he can get to saying the coach is getting the motivation strategy all wrong, without directly criticising Grumpy. I think the rockets will probably do a bit better as the season goes on, but we will see the motivation issue pop up in crunch time at the end of the season.
I am now officially on the anti-jvg bandwagon. I thought he was good for the team when steve and cat were still on the team, but its apparent hes too stubborn to change his coaching ways and preferences. I mean look at the free agents that were passed on. Anybody see rafer recently, 28 million 6years, can anybody say bargain. I mean can anyone imagine us signing charlie ward if rudy was still here or any other coach. If he isnt making his 3pt shots he is completely useless. JVG and his preference for players like ryan bowen and ward is killing this team. We can pretty much kiss boki good bye after this season, the only young prospect we have and say hello to mark madsen. How do expect to win a championship if JVG continues to want a bunch of scrubs that just play defense and nothing else. JVG is overrated for what he did in NY with a mediocore team and now he has a team with some skillfull players and doesnt know hot to play to their stregnths. Can this team get any older with ward and motombo. CD and JVG should have learned what happened to the lakers in the finals. They have no youth or athleticism and cant defend teams with athletic and quick players. We have Iron Feet Yao who is too slow to help out on defense and just picks up quick and stupid fouls.
So because he has 2 championships he can't be fired? 11 games into the season and people are asking for the coach to fired. Crazy.
Motivation is one of the key jobs for a coach in the NBA. In a grueling 82 game schedule it is impossible to get up for every game. It is why a terrible Celtics team can beat a hot Seattle team, an expansion Bobcats team to take a championship Pistons team to overtime and a lowly Raptors team beat the high flying spurs with Tim Duncan, all today! It is one of the most important jobs of a coach to keep his team playing at as high a level as possible every game. And Van Gundy's is just plain lousy out it. Sure he knows defense and yes he has some knowledge of the game. But he doesnot instill heart in his players. He is terrible at motivating his players to win. It is why they can blow big leads to the lowly Hawks. No, if he's doing a lousy job fire him but Rudy was doing a good job much better than JVG, no comparison. Rudy got much more out of a younger less talented team. And now Rudy is coaching a much less talented with more new faces than the Rockets JVG has to deal with plus he has to teach them a completely new offense and defense and he is doing a much better job. Plain and Simply Rudy is a better coach than JVG and we fired him and the Rockets are the worse for it.
"Lousy job" will be defined by the results at the end of the season. You throw around the words "much less talented" and "less talented" so easily in favor of Rudy and against JVG that's it's hilarious. Whatever fits your Rudy love. I couldn't stand Rudy's coaching. And I'm glad he's gone. He's best coaching players that are veterans (Hakeem). Not mid-level guys, rookies and veterans. He's not a mentor. He's just lets them do their "thing (iso)." That's not coaching. I've seen it with Pippen, Barkley and now Kobe. Sure, Rudy is a motivator. But he's a clueless X's and O's coach and I can't stand his passing schemes. He just too reliant on the iso. Blah! You might not like the slower pace JVG runs. But at least we can run screens, backdoors, and move w/out the ball, not just iso. With Rudy is was "clear-out iso day" almost every-time down the court. I mean, I don't know what offense you remember from Rudy but it wasn't a fast-break. Francis/Mobley was a *iso-based half-court offense.* They did have open court steals from Francis/Mobley. But that was a result of their speed. Lets see what happens when we can get a PG better/faster than Ward. Now, If JVG doesn't improve this team at the end of the season, then yes. His job will be in jeopardy. But I don't see that happening. You just wait. If JVG is fired in a few years, I'd take Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Jerry Sloan, or Hubie Brown over Rudy any day.
