What atheletic young players? Who did he even have on the roster? Stromile Swift? Kirk Snyder? Luther Head?
The Rockets averaged around 100pts last yr and were among the best teams in fastbreak points....they averaged in the 80's under JVG
The possibility of young players were replaced with the likes of Charlie Ward, Mark Jackson, Charles Oakley, Clarence Weatherspoon, Vin Baker and Rick Brunson. Players who "complimented" JVG's game plan of all defense and absolutley no offensive
Or like arguing with some toolbox who can't tolerate opinions other than his own and feels the need to chime in 33 times a day.
If this team would have had Hakeem instead of Yao... If this team would have kept Rudy T... If Yao had been healthy... JVG was funnier than Adelman and alot better to talk to. So I will stay with my man JVG. I talked Rocket Basketball with JVG for over an hour and he sold me on his coaching. Talked to Adelman for about 20 minutes and all I got was he wanted to utilize Yao away from the basket... to which I replied, you sure?... which ended our discussion. I'm good with either one if we can rebuild quickly into a contender.
Do you understand what pace and efficiency are? I'm guessing none. It would help to have a basic familiarity with them before you opine. Please tell me which young players would have signed a 10-day contract in February 2004 to replace Oakley. LeBron? Durant maybe? You're 0-2 so far, 1 more strike....
The number when his team scored 60 something points for an entire game for instance? His uber system does not take full advantage of our best player. Adelman is not the best coach for this team. His only advantage is he is a better coach for the Rockets when Yao is injured.
I'm going to ask you the same question that the other dude couldn't answer - why haven't the Rockets been able to show any improvement in their relative offesnive efficiency under Adelman? And only a modest improvement in absolute efficiency? Please answer, the other guy failed, dadakota is too scared and not smart enough, you are the only hope.
First, as far as I recall. Those guys were signed for minimum wage, except for Ward, who signed for around $2 mil a year. So, what young atheletic good players were available for minimum wage or $2 mil back then that could have replaced the aforementioned guys. I imagine you have some names in mind since you feel so passionate about it. Please do share. Second, Van Gundy didn't run the font office. Sure, the front office might have wanted to work with him, but they didn't always listen to hm. For example, there were reports that Van Gundy didn't really like Swift's game. And yet they spent the MLE on the guy anyway. Third, Van Gundy played young guys in the rotation who earned their minutes. He played Hayes, who was, by the way, younger than Swift. He even palyed Luther Head because he helped the team with his shooting. He even gave Stro an honest try before Stro got traded. It's not like anyone that he didn't play has really proven him wrong by becoming good elsewhere.
Under Adelman, the Rockets have dropped from arguably the best defensive team in the NBA to a subpar defensive team. You cannot allow that to happen.
In about 10 posts, some idiot is going to respond with "Head only played because of injuries" and I swear to god I'm going to find out who he is, trace his location, get on a plane, and brutally beat him on the bottoms of his feet, Midnight Express style, with a rolled-up copy of a print-out of the Rockets game log from that season.
Easy there, Luther. I know you are mad about the Hornets deal falling through, but you don't have to beat up somebody to prove you were an actual NBA player.
1. Because he isn't a better coach than JVG. 2. He has better players but the lack of defense which leads to lower easy (high percentage) scoring hurts efficiency. 3. JVG had more healthy games with Yao and used him in a much more efficient manner (because he is a better coach than Adelman)
Also under Adelman, the Rockets had their first playoff win in 15 years and a historical 22 win streak. Here is the thing you hate to happen: Won absolutely nothing with the best center and a top 5 player, both were 25, 26 years old and both were healthy and hungry.
And as you've documented Healthy = playing 50 games a year. But by Yao's recent standards, i guess that does count as healthy.
Both Yao and TMAC were healthy in 2 playoffs under JVG. JVG obviously made the most out of the combo: being losers. Adelman only had a healthy TMAC in one playoff and a half healthy Yao in another. Adelman did not have a chance to coach a healthy Yao and TMAC for a real playoff game. what a shame. Anyway, Adelman had the results to back him up. JVG did not. JVG got fired because he sucked at coaching not because he was too good for the team.
Rick Adelman without Tmac - 2nd round....JVG with a healthy Yao and Tmac...first round exit... JVG with homecourt advantage = loss JVG with a 2-0 lead coming home for 2 games....= playoff loss. Sorry, JVG did not get it done in Houston, even he said it.... No excuses..... If Adelman has failed after 5 years and shown no improvement the door will be open for him to leave too. Mr. Jeff Van Gundy........ You're FIRED ! DD
