Man, for a guy who's earned the nickname Van Grumpy... them's some mighty encouraging words there. You don't hear stuff like that out of him too much. Seems like he's really starting to loosen the reins and let the guys do what they do. We saw last night what Yao can do with a little confidence and freedom to create ("Why the hell are we making an outlet pass to Yao on a fastbreak?" I love it!). Van Gundy's laid a good foundation of focus, intensity, trust and execution and I think he sees these guys understand that and are on board. But, he's not going to get confused with Mr. Rogers. I'm glad he's not going to let up on the pressure to stay consistent... making comments like: playoffs not a lock, playing bad defense lately, not wanting to fold up like Memphis. Got to keep these guys focused and finish strong.
12345 What you talking about Willis25? If ya don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all... Didn't your Mom teach you that?
I dont know what he said, but I'm pretty sure the guy interviewing him walked away thinking the Spurs and Heat were God's gift to the NBA
He said Duncan is an MVP player and the Spurs are a machine. He also said Shaq is unstoppable and Miami is playing the best basketball in the league
Man I hope he is wrong about Howard. We really will need him back if we are truly to make a deep playoff run. Spoon/Padgett/Bowen just won’t cut it in the playoffs.
Not good news about Juwan. We miss his offense and every point will count in the playoffs, Juwan could put up the occasional 20/10 game, we can't/haven't gotten that out of Spoon/Padgett.
He commented also on Vin Baker, basically saying that if barring injury Jeff will stick to the rotation he has now. meaning Vin ain't getting off the bench unless Scotty. Clarence, and perehaps Torraye gets injured. Man, he's even below Torraye on the depth chart.
That was the highlight of the show, imo. caller question: coach I saw the benches reaction to Yao mings wrap around move so I just wanted to ask.. if you had a reaction what were your thoughts on that move: JVG: My first thought was 'why are we outletting to Yao Ming' (laughs) But he made what was a mistake into probably what was one of the highlight plays of the year for us and you know I just love watching our bench reaction as well because our team - and I don't mind saying this - I love our team. I really do. I love this team. For the guys they are, the coaching ability aspect, how they come to work everyday, how hard they play, how unselfish they play. and that doesnt mean we're perfect but its one of the most enjoyable teams I've ever been around and so I want so much from them... or I want them to achieve so much because a lot of them havent had a lot of success.... and to watch how they revel in eachothers success like Yao's move last night makes the job and coaching them enjoyable, and its really one of the - to me- the great components of our team. You know we're not one of the most talented teams or the young and atheletic teams but our guys really have developed a chemistry and since of trust that allows them to play fairly well on a regular basis.
caller(dwight). hi coach, I just want you to know that a lot of us think that with what you've done already you should be coach of the year JVG: I apperciate that. (pause)I'm not even coach of the family this year!(laughter all around) he's running away with it. caller: we'll get 'em in the playoffs. my question is have you considered on the teams that like to drive it inside playing a zone with maybe Yao and Mutumbo at the same time and if we did play a zone what kind of zone would you play? JVG: you know i've toyed with the idea of playing some zone but i just never felt that for our development as a team that it would be in our best interests to play zone. now we'll play zone principles in our man-to-man where we'll give great help but uh playing yao and dikembe together we would do and have done for very short minutes and uh if we have trouble rebounding the ball on a particular night than certainly I would consider that but we'll do it out of our man-to-man(defense)
