So JVG was right to coach his teams to win those meaningless games that cost us Brandon Roy right? Winning begets winning? No such thing as a developmental year by that logic.
So, philosophical differences. It happens Maurice Taylor wasnt given an explanation why he couldnt fit with Van Gundy's principles. Mike James was given a fair shot. Chuck Hayes was an opening day starter in 2008 then lost his spot to Scola. Steve Francis had his chance. Bonzi Wells and Artest had their chance. What makes it where McGrady's feelings and performance are the one that counts above all now?
McGrady didnt deserve the minutes. But come on Rick, making it like its some confusing puzzle here. You increase minutes accordingly. You've been juggling players' minutes your whole coaching life Still the situation is there was a PUSH for minutes, being nagged to death about it. With little to no merit for the minutes. That gets aggravating. I admittedly get spiteful on those kinds of situations. When someone tells me something like "You know Christmas is around the corner" "My birthday is coming up", I'll be less likely to comply in getting them anything. Yes, even the anniversary thing. And no I'm not married
ok, now it's pretty obvious that this was a mcgrady's interests vs. adelman's interests thing all along. mcgrady never liked adelman's style because it's not the way he likes to play (and should play, btw) and adelman only tolerated mcgrady because he was such a good player individually. now, with mcgrady coming back from a major surgery that had changed and everything went downhill from there to the point where there was no going back for both sides. i definitely understand both parties. mcgrady obviously wants to be the player again that he once was. any player would want that in his situation just like any player wants to play big minutes. i don't think it's about the money. it might be a part of it but believe it or not there's more to life than money. even for millionaire basketball players. i know the majority here thinks that he gets 23 mio $ from the rockets so he should just shut up and do whatever the rockets tell him to do. imho, that's a foolish point of view because if every single one of you were in mcgrady's shoes you wouldn't find the situation very satisfying. so, when the rockets changed their identity and their future plans to one basically without mcgrady being a big part of it it was a hard and frustrating situation for mcgrady. and that's where he had to start looking out more for himself because it was obvious for him that the rockets didn't really want him anymore. adelman on the other hand had to look out for himself, too. and that's the big dilemma in my book. with all that's happening adelman had to focus on this season and he couldn't look at it as a development season like the management does. adelman's the one who's got no contract extension and his job is on the line. and even though he's doing great and has his team once again overachieving it could have been a totally different story if the rockets were 13 - 19 instead of 19 - 13. adelman has to get the results now and he can only bother with the future after this season. that's where the big problem lies for me. yes, the rockets play a special style of basketball and make the most out of limited talent. but this can only be a temporary thing because at the end of the day it will lead us to nothing. the rockets won't be real contenders with role players playing this style of basketball to max out their potential. stars surrounded by good role players win championships, not certain systems and not role players by themselves. that's why the rockets are in trouble. with yao coming back next season adelman will have to change the offense once again to integrate yao. now even if yao comes back healthy and as the player he used to be it won't be enough to win a title. the rockets will definitely still lack star power next season and ironically t-mac was probably our best shot (which basically means the chances would be still low...) to fix that (unless morey can do his magic once again and land us a new perimeter orientated superstar through a mcgrady trade or free agency - both options are highly unlikely at this point...). imho, the rockets should have given adelman an extension before the season. that would have been the right signal and adelman wouldn't have had to worry about his own future anymore. winning games, developing young talent and re-integrating mcgrady back into the team was all possible at one point. i know, this hypothetical route wouldn't have necessarily worked out in reality but imho it would have given the rockets better chances than to hope that morey can miraculously replace mcgrady with another superstar without giving up other major pieces of the team. because at the end of the day losing in 7 games in the 2nd round will bring you as many championships as losing in 4 in the 1st round. unfortunately that (the rockets being a average playoff team) seems to be the direction the team is going at the moment. all this overachieving and fun to watch style will wear out very, very quickly with the fans if the results don't follow. just look at the phoenix suns... i just hope morey proves that he's the best in the business by getting us a new superstar.
Salient point. Les was an idiot not to do it. Why not lock in one of the best coaches the Rocks have ever had, a certain (IMO) hall of famer, who proved himself, as if he needed to with his record, last season. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Not the first time Les has been a bonehead when it comes to coaches. Phil Jackson showed interest in coaching the Rockets because of the McGrady-Yao duo. Instead of pouncing on the opportunity, he gave Gundy an extension.
in a hindsight, fran blinebury was advocating trading mcgrady right after the mav series. would've been a whole different story if les did just that...
I also wish he was more patient but I still don't see much chance of him being integrated into the team. Call me whatever but I see others on the offensive end doing similar things that he was knocked for. There weren't a lot choices but oh well. Not too many star athletes wouldn't have reacted in similar ways, may be not publicly, if they were trying to save their career after a major injury. I'm not happy with it but I'll eventually get over it as with previous trades of favorite Rockets. Still don't see much from this squad in terms of the playoffs as currently constructed. Still have a hard time with the system argument with Yao's return (post major injury) on the horizon but RA seems to believe in it so we'll have to wait til next season to find out. After this disappointing ending, I want to see what he's made of.
Nice post. I agree with you therefore I'm more disappointed. I wanted a perfect ending that was never meant to be. Reality is so sobering.
