No offense to the author of the questions, but I think their quality (or lack thereof) plays a big part in his responses. Could you imagine if JVG answered these questions the way some of us would want him to? "How do you want to be remembered?" "Well, I would like to be remembered as the type of coach who gave 100%, who fought for his players and allowed them to be successful, who tried his best to lead his team to a championship." "What type of player does one have to be to be a "JVG" guy?" "Well, first of all, he has to be a dedicated, hard-working professional. Second, he has to give it all he's got, be a team player, and strive to be the best player he can be." And on, and on. We would laugh our asses off if, after the Rockets win the championship and they ask JVG, "Coach, how does it feel to finally win the big one?" And Jeff says, "It feels great. Houston, we love you! My team was down, but they were never out. They rose to the challenge, and they made it to the top. I'd like to thank all the fans around the world for supporting this wonderful game, and I'd like to thank everyone for making my dream come true. I love everybody!!!!"
BTW, that's no slight on Rudy. Mr T. was a fantastic coach, and when he said, "Houston, we love you!", you better damn well believe he meant it. But you can't try to be someone you're not- it's too difficult to sustain that over a long period of time, if not impossible. So, for JVG to say something like Rudy's speeches after the championships, it just wouldn't sound right. You'd almost think he was doing it to be sarcastic. I met and talked with JVG at the celebrity softball game a while back (he has a house in Westchester, NY, where I used to live, so I brought that up as mutual item to talk about while he was signing my son's basketball), and I asked him if he really likes doing these types of things, because he clearly looked uncomfortable. He said the worst, worst part of his job is dealing with the media. So I countered with "Well, what about your stint with TNT?" He responded with something like, "Yes, the world's one big paradox, isn't it?" Or I think it was "contradiction" or some other word- it was really crowded and conversations were choppy, at best.
I find his down to earth disposition refreshing and I think its a big reason why we have improved over the seasons.
You may "have to" love this guy. I would prefer his happy a$$ be someplace like New York full time, where he can "breathe."
Perhaps you'd like Phil Jackson. He coaches a player, retires cause of that player, bashes him in a book, kisses and makes up with that player, then goes back to coaching the same team that player is on. Wow.
edc's been on my ignore list for a while, but let me take a WILD guess at what he said. "Hi everyone, I'm edc...Phil Jackson's personal stalker. I've been in love with him as long as I can remember. I know that he desperately wants a head coaching job in Houston. Because he didn't get it, I decided it'd be fun to devote every single one of my posts to him on a Rockets BBS. That way...by some small measure, I may be able to help the man of my dreams land a job in Houston."
lets all thank jvg for the inside stuff.. you gotta wonder what this guy would be doing if it wasnt for basketball..
Nothing wrong with him at all. It's what we call in the careers business "personal branding." Everyone has a certain something that they are most recognized for, their most dominant traits/behaviors. Some are obvious by their user names; for example, most who have "Yao" or "Mac" in their user name are probably going to be slightly biased towards those two players, respectively. Nothing wrong with that at all. EDC's brand/reputation is "JVG Hater." Regardless of whether he likes it or not, that is and will always be his calling card on this board. Which is fine- except that when someone like this tries to talk about anything other than the brand (e.g. hatred or dislike of JVG), nobody is really going to listen. If EDC, for example, were to start a post entitled "Favorite Reserve Player on the Rockets", the first thing most of us are going to think is that he is trying to bring light on a player that possibly criticized JVG's coaching style. We would think he has an ulterior motive. There was a similar poster on the ESPN message boards a few years back - some of you might remember him as Fool Exposer. Every single post he made was negative towards Houston- athletes, teams, even the city itself. So, when he once complimented the Rockets after a win, automatically everyone assumed he was doing this to come back later with a negative response. You see, it's the boy-who-cried-wolf syndrome. Every time EDC posts, you know something bad about JVG is going to be involved. EX: Rockets sign Stromile Swift and Derek Anderson. EDC RESPONSE: They're not going to do well because of JVG's coaching. EX: Rockets had their best season since 1997. EDC RESPONSE: 40-point Dallas loss. EX: Rockets win the championship in 2005. EDC RESPONSE: Just goes to show that a team with mediocre coaching can win the championship. You can't win with him. It's no use. Just let him continue to establish his brand and know that you can never have a fair, impartial discussion with him about anything regarding the Rockets in their current state. For an example of fairness, look at Rockets 03. He criticized JVG earlier in the year and gave him props as the Rockets turned their season around. That is the type of poster who earns the respect of others.
OK. Here you go. "Tracy McGrady's comeback against the Spurs was an incredible individual basketball accomplishment."
That is some excellent Marketing Theory explained very clearly & concisely - much better than some of my Masters (of Marketing) lecturers! Out of curiosity, are you a marketer or academic? Can i play this game too? "Thank god for his amazing natural talent, cause the coaching staff sure as hell didn't teach him that" (sorry, just i couldn't help myself; was just too good an openning to ignore)
make that "sorry, I just couldn't help myself; was just too good an openning to ignore"... poor editing on my behalf
hahahaha jeez, it's like something went up his ass everytime he speaks but that's just the way he is.
EDC RESPONSE: "Just goes to show that the Rockets can mount incredible comebacks despite quality coaching at the top."
EDC RESPONSE: "And the most important thing to remember is that Rudy T was the coach when the decision was made to draft Yao. JVG's influence on Yao is mediocre to negative at best. If Rudy T. was still the coach, you better believe Yao would be a 24 point, 10 rebound player right now. The fact that Yao is still an 18-point, 8-rebound, foul-plagued player is solely due to JVG's coaching or lack thereof."
