to be fair to JVG, our talent level has jumped a lot when you consider J. Howard/Hayes turned into Scola/Landry/Hayes. Novak has got more comfortable as an NBA player, making more shots in limited minutes. Luther added another year of experience. We also have not won as consistently even with Adelman until the emergence of scola/landry and rafer starts to make some shots.
You don't think the coach has something to do with the emergence of scola/landry and rafer starting to make some shots?
Adelman's the real deal. You think Larry Brown would have gotten that kind of response in, well just about anywhere he coached? When the home town fans still love you that's significant.
I have been to King's games as a press member. The Maloofs treat their staff well, make the games fun to watch for the whole family, Arco arena is nice, but gotta say Maloof are very shrewd business peopl.
Shane Battier recently said they have amazing confidence in themselves and the SYSTEM. It's Adelman's system that made players like Rafer Alston and Steve Novak flourish. JVG's defense isn't the reason we are playing good D right now. The coaching and hard working players on this team are the main reasons. I hate it when credits that should be given to hard working defensive players like Yao, Battier, Hayes, Scola and Mutombo be robbed off to make a ghost coach make good. Sure JVG got players to play D, but it was on the condition of those players being hard workers in the first place. It's not like JVG could make lazy players like Stromile Swift play hard D. JVG made a bunch of hard working defensive players play hard D, that's it. He got his credits on defense which wasn't enough to keep his job. Now Adelman made such players step up their game on both ends of the floor and we are getting a 20 games winning streak. Coach Adelman and the players should get the due credits. If you want to thank ghost Rockets employees, then thank Carrol Dawson, he got Yao, Mutombo, Battier and Hayes on board. Without them JVG nor Adelman can make the Rockets top defensive teams.
Battier didnt play any defense when he was a Grizz or a Duke. It was under JVG who repeatedly using his disciplinary methods that he finally got through Battier's head to play defense.
side note: but the Grizz were a damn good defensive team when Battier was there - and since he left have been terrible... They must've had Gundy on the phone over there too....
Don't forget Van Gundy helped Adelman when he was with the Trailblazers and Kings could hold teams to the top 5 lowest FG% in the league.
Reason? The claim that JVG won't play rookie was false. Check Chuck Hayes's and Luther Head's rookie season stats. JVG loves hustle type players, Luis Scola is exactly his kind of player. I am a bit hestitate on Carl Landry's opportunity though not because of JVG's feeling on him but he could very much be knocked out by Mike Harris already in the training camp. Since Mike Harris is a hustle-type player too.
Exactly, to get a standing ovation like that means you were a very well-loved coach, despite the owners not liking you. Kind of reminds me Gladiator...sorta Proximo: Listen to me. Learn from me... I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.
From his freshman year on, Battier's ability to think sequentially has made him acutely adept at blocking shots, particular recovery blocks in which he bails out a teammate while moving from another area of the court. Battier can be uncanny in that regard. He is 6'8" with only a reasonable reach. He has nice quickness, but he is not necessarily the most naturally gifted player on the court. Yet he entered the season in third place on the Duke career blocked shots list with 166. "My earliest memories of kiddy ball--I think my first organized game was in the third grade--I was the tallest one there," Battier says. "I just developed a penchant for blocking shots. I loved to see the kids cry after I blocked their shots. That's sadistic on my part, but I guess I've always taken that with me. "I've always had great coaches who stressed defense. Half of it is coaching, half of it is anticipation. I'm not the most athletic player out there, but I anticipate very well." Maybe what Battier does better than anyone is study the game. Krzyzewski long ago established himself as one of the best college coaches ever, so Battier came to Duke to learn how to play basketball and absorb all that he could from a university setting. "Shane is one of those kids who learns," Krzyzewski says. "Today he is learning something. I don't know what it is, but he will learn something. He is one of those guys who likes to learn. Isn't that great? "They are great guys to coach, I'll tell you that, especially if they are talented and want to learn." And what Battier has learned about basketball is that he can affect the game in almost every way necessary. There really is not much he doesn't do. He owns the school record for career charges-taken with 85, having led the team in that unglamorous category in each of the last three years. His 1,206 points at the start of this season ranked him 30th on Duke's all-time scoring list. He set the school record with nine three-pointers in the Blue Devils' season-opening win against Princeton, a game in which Battier scored 29 points. Scoring came to his game later in his collegiate career. Early on, Battier was content to play defense, rebound, pass, take charges, and do whatever he could do besides taking shots. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCJ/is_4_28/ai_69750767
No, the defense is different this year. JVG had a part in teaching tenancity and rotations but this is an entirely new defense. More in tune with the Portland defenses when Adleman coached up there.
Yep. I was going to write something up about the new defense and contrast with the old, but haven't gotten around to it.
I know Shane Battier is a smart guy and all, so after reading that article I was just curious to what his GPA at Duke was. According to this website it's a 3.8. (with a degree in religion) Yaozers! http://www.blackvoicenews.com/content/view/41866/4/