JVG had scrub players because we hand no assets left to trade for somebody decent. The players we did try and sign were pretty much horrible failures, or vets who were just suppossed to hold us over. Battier was really the only solid player acquired. JVG could have gotten more out of some of these guys, but I put that mostly on CD. There's really two many variables involved (and exactly what impact those variables) had to make a really objective opinion on who's better. We can quote facts all we want, but how much that should be weighted is purely subjective. -quality if role players - quality of star players - injuries - JVGs defensive influence on RA's team.
Difficult for me to choose. I've always been a defense first type of guy, so I liked JVG's style. I was fine with the fact that the offense was nothing fancy and the game tended to be at a slower pace/half court setup. In addition, JVG would always stick up for his players. :grin: And hell, we all know the guy is funny. With RA I feel like we have become kind of Sacramento-ish, in our style. But he does tend to get the most out of the players/development. And of course did get Houston to the second round, and to 7 with LA. Though I suppose you could make the argument that those JVG teams didn't have much of a supporting cast. All this blabber later....and I'll call it a draw.
I don't know why you dismiss the facts as "exceptions" that these "talented creators" that Adelman allegedly had were not that much of a factor in the 08-09 season. These are not exceptions. These are facts. Yao and Scola aren't creators. They are low post threats. And JVG had Yao the best low post threat in the league at his peak and could not win whenever McGrady was missing in the lineup. Do you deny these facts?
Man, I had forgotten that JVG had Aaron Brooks, Kyle Lowry, and Ron Artest. For some reason I had always thought that JVG's best perimeter creator after T-Mac was Rafer Alston...
I know what I am about to post is off thread but....I have hoped the Rockets would hire Mike Dunleavy ever since Rudy T. left town. I was sick when the Rockets hired JVG with his slow,plodding and predictable half court offense. I appreciated his insistence on relentless defense, but he had no imagination on offense. He did prove that excellent defense can win games and I appreciated him getting the team back into the playoffs. I believe he is a good and decent individual and I love his court side analysis during tv broadcasts. I was delighted when JVG left and opened up another opportunity for the Rockets to go after Dunleavy...alas, it was not so. I do love Adelman's offensive approach, but I think he is not tough enough in his demands for defensive excellence. Both coaches are brilliant basketball strategists with opposite emphasis. That's where I believe bringing in Dunleavy, who seems to bring a balance of tough defense and innovative offense, would be a great coach for the Rockets.
you sounds like just playing defense can win anything. you clearly make wrong assumption. in a soccer game, your shot wide off the goal is same as inches away from scoring. none of them won a title yet.
I wish we had JVG as an assintant coach to focus on defense only. Adelman on offense ..Man NBA Finals!! ...
you just answered ur question bro, Van Gundy main focus in on defense, and Adelman main focus is on offense and developing young player which is IMO is way better system than Gundy's. every coach has his own strategy.
Yes, you had forgotten that Rafer Alston was the starting PG for more than half of the season for Adelman in 08-09. And you had apparently also forgotten how things went when Artest pretended to be a creator.
All offense become predictable in playoffs, and defense is usually the difference. JVG can coach offense too given the right player. It was proven with one half of the season. JVG has had playoff success too, being the toughest opponent for Jordan's Bull for a couple year, got to NBA final with 8th seed etc. Yes, JVG's player development is a weakness, but offense isn't. He was unlucky to get all those crappy players in CD era and got injured stars. Basiclly I feel both RA and JVG are very good cocahes, both can go real deep into playoffs with enough talent.
Agree with the rest, but strongly disagree with your assessment of Adelman's offense. JVG has NEVER come close to having a balanced team, either as an assistant to Riley or as a head coach. Whereas Adelman has had multiple top 10 offense + defense both at Sacramento and Portland. So while you can say Adelman has had little success in the offensive department with the Rockets, his track record has been far, far better than JVG in this respect. Also, Adelman had the decisive better hand? We put up our best offensive showing two years ago when Adelman lost one of the best offensive players in the entire game! Just because Morey came in and upgraded our role players doesn't mean Adelman's arrival also coincided with Yao and T-Mac decided they want to take season-long breaks. I'm going to with a wash on this one.
I like Jeff, but Adelman is a better choice as head coach. The perfect combination would be Adelman as Head Coach and Jeff the defensive assistant coach.
Its definitely a wash. Both guys are great upper-tier coaches but they have serious flaws that keep them below Pops and PJ, who are bar none the best coaches ever. JVG +great xs and os tactician +good D +has his team's back +hard worker -stubborn, pigeonholes players to certain roles -micro manager, sometimes can get overwhelmed -screams a lot, very dominant personality -always wins against teams he should beat, always loses to teams better than his RA +good system +good developer of talent +encourages his players to be more than they are -sucks at xs and os, always gets bamboozled by enemy strategically -occassionally loses to scrub teams, but also beats better teams -doesn't prepare his team as much, players often look confused -looks like a moron on the court Do you want the unstoppable force or the immovable object? Its all just a matter of preference.
You give JVG a team with Yao, T-mac, Brooks, Scola, Battier with Lowry and Landry and that team would have won a ring instead of Miami.
And this matters in the debate because!? Adelman never had the above team outlined. But he did take a McGrady-less, Yao-less-for-4-games Rockets to 7 games with the Lakers. Any reason to think we wouldn't win the championship if we add a prime-TMac and 7 games of Yao to that team?
