Once Yao comes back, we have both offensive players(Yao,Martin,Scola,AB) and defensive players(Yao,Hayes,Jeffries,Battier,Ariza,Lowry) etc. Some of the players can play both offense and defense to a good degree, some of the players only has one dimension. And we don't konw who else is going to be here in the summer. RA just need to find the fight mix. AB/Martin/Scola together would make defense inconsistent regardless.
Houstona and Larry Johnson bother were not 20 point scorers before they went to NY. Houston might be close, be was also close to 20 pps after Ewing went down hill. Man, individual scoring average shouldn't be put into the conversation. Yao averaged 25 under JVG, but much less under RA, should we say JVG is a better offensive coach than RA? Probably not. JVG's team in NY did quite well, probably the most dangerous team to those Bulls Championship team, and went to NBA final once. He's a great coach too.
For those of you that say JVG didn't have any talent. It's because those are the type of players he wanted. He used his connections to bring in NY players. He wanted defense over offense. He wanted players that wouldn't free lance and would strictly stay to "his" system. He wanted Chuck, he wanted Rafer, he wanted Shane. He wanted to run the starting 5 till their legs fell off. He wanted veterans and not rookies. He wanted "old" verses "young". He wanted to slow the game down to a crawl. He wanted to run the same high % shot over and over and over and over and over again..... And so he's gone and so Tracy is gone. And so there is a new chapter in Rockets Basketball. A new day, a new light a new future. Welcome! RICK The Ruler!!!
One of the main deficiencies of JVG is his lack of any practical knowledge to the game. Granted he has a good theoretical grasp of the game, but good theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge will beat theory alone. His stubbornness tends to produce predictability on offense which allows opponents to adjust and squanders 2-0 leads in playoff series. His stubbornness on insisting rafer was the right player for this team made us basically waste the most productive years of the tmac-yao era on a PG that now cannot find a job. JVG was basically stuck in the era of mandated man-to-man defense where it was illegal to play zone and all you had to do was isolate the superstar and let him do his thing on offense. This lack of imagination on offense and rigidity led to his dismal record with either Yao or Mcgrady out. On the other hand, the genius of Rick Adelman is attested by his record with either Mcgrady or Yao out, and this year with both out. With Yao out, they still manage the 22 game winning streak. With mcgrady out, we still win the playoff series.
I am just disputing the the excuse made by you and others for JVG 's medicore offensive effiency. People keep propagating this notion that all his teams had bad offense, because of the lack of offensive options. I have disproven that notion. When four 20-pt scorers came into JVG's offense, their offensive output went down. JVG took over the Knicks in 1996-97 and left in early 2001-2002. Johnson 20 pts Charlotte 1995-96. Johnson 13 pts Knicks 1996-97 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=392 Allan Houston 20 pts Pistons 1995-96 Allan Houston 15 pts Knicks 1996-97 Allan Houston 20 pts Knicks 1996-97 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=349 JVG has always been a mediocre coach. A team that plays half-**ed by only playing on the defense end will get defeated by a team plays defense and offense.
One question to RA fans? Does he know how to use a star player? Should he play Yao 18 min without a break? Is he an experienced coach or a young coach? How many chanpion teams has he ever coached? He seems to be a good coach, but not a chanpion coach before he proves it.
1) His Kings and Trailblazer teams both had stars. 2) If Yao cannot handle playing 18 minutes without a break, then, no. 3) Adelman has been coaching for almost 20 years and has a winning percentage, I believe, of over 60%. His teams rarely miss playoffs. I think he's coached actually for 19 years and this will be only the 3rd time his team hasn't made the playoffs. 4) He's gone to the NBA Finals two times. His teams lost both times. 5) There are very few "championship" coaches in the league. Over the past 15 or so years, these are the only teams that have won an NBA championship : Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Heat, Pistons, Bulls. Of those 15 years and those 6 teams, 5 coaches won rings (Phil Jackson coached the Bulls and Lakers). The Celtics and Heat only won 1 ring in there. What I'm saying is that over the past 15 years only about 2 coaches have proven themselves to be a championship coach with any consistency : Phil Jackson (Bulls and Lakers) and Greg Popovich (Spurs). It takes a good system with really good core players you keep together to win rings consistently.
[hope & rooting for Rockets, BABY!] Okay, so forget freaking "analysis" crap. Let's just go with, RA's a great coach. ...RA, your turn sir! Make Houston CHAMPIONS again, BABY!!! [/hope & rooting for Rockets, BABY!]
I can't blame Adleman for that loss, he like many other coaches ran into a buzz saw called the Jordan and the Bulls.. Possibly the best team ever put together.
I stand corrected then. Bill Worrel was going over Rick's acheivements the other day and said once, I should have double checked it though.
not to mention he got cheated out vs LA in 02. The nets or whoever in the east were just a sacrificial lamb anyways. He would and should have gotten that ring.
The Trailblazers wouldn't have won it, even if they had a hybrid Phil Jackson/Popovich head coach to play against Jordan's Bulls. Jordan>>Drexler
I think denniscd started a similar thread last year prior to the Boston game. denniscd is bad news for Boston!
i did not start the thread to start the oh so old who is better rick or van gundy. the idea that van gundy did not develop any young players here is silly...head, hayes....definitely they made mistakes bringing in some older guys but that was done to off set some poor chemistry that had lingered on the four straight lottery teams he inherited. if you dont think he is a good coach, why are so many teams interested in him...i thought his last team was the best balanced team he had with the rockets. rick though is the perfect coach...great great strategist, motivates, teaches...just one of the best who has ever done the job of coach in any and all sports!!! oh and vspan sucked, sucks now, and forever will suck as a possible nba player...and can you believe we got scola for him?????
Again, individual points means nothing because you may have better scorer on a different team. John and Houston scored close to 20 didn't mean anything because they had a different role, JVG didn't make Johnson's FG% go down like Ariza. When they had Ewing, if Johnson still take so many shots, it would be bad coaching from JVG. JVG has been a mediocre coach? Then RA must be mediocre also. They both went to finals, they both rarely missed playoffs. JVG actually had a higher playoff percentage with silightly less talent. JVG's team plays offense too when he has good offensive weapons. In fact, RA's first year in Houston with basically same players plus Scola, the team's offensive rating is only 0.8 points higher per 100 position. Since then , Rockets added a lot more offensive talent and becomes more offensive focused, the offense went up while defense went down each year. You are right, a team that plays half-**ed by only playing on the defense end will get defeated by a team plays defense and offense. But that thing can be said to a team only play on offensive en as well. AS I said before, you need energy to play both offense and defense, when a coach focus more on offense, defense will suffer to a certain degree, and vise verse. The SRS ( points gain per 100 possessions) is a better measurement for how balance the team is. The last year of JVG era Rockets had a + 5.04，which is the best for Rockets since Yao was drafted. Both RA and JVG are great coaches, and I belive given the same amount of talent, JVG's team will be more prepared for playoffs, because defense becomes a bigger facter in playoffs than offense.
