This I don't get. He bashes Van Gundy as a Neanderthal in the opening and fails to include that the roster didn't become potent until this summer. Hmm...52 wins with an injured Yao and fragile McGrady. Yea, I'm sure the coach had absolutely no role in that miraculous success. Look, I like the Adelman hiring as much as the next person here, and think the Rockets could have their best regular season ever possibly due to a number of factors, but throwing Van Gundy under the bus as the sole cause of the team's problems is insincere and you're lying to yourself if you believe so. You can't laud the team for winning 52 games without Yao (with no mention of VG) and then say "they're getting to get much better now with Adelman." It's not that simple an equation.
With all that happened last year, JVG was the main reason we won 52 games. However, I like the direction the Rockets have gone in the off season. They got a new coach and players who better fit his system. I'm really pumped for the new season.
Great article, praising the Rockets and the future of the team, while correctly pointing out the reasons for the team's former failures. Here is to a 60+ win season. DD
what's up with the yao has a fragile body nonsense? the last two big injuries where not caused by a fragile body. they were just typical in game accidents. and like thecabbage said, jvg was a very big part of last season's success. and given the roster and the injuries it really was a success. not a big one, but still not bad. the next point is that author of this article only talks about the progress the rockets will make on offense under adelman. he totally "forgets" to mention the decline in defense under adelman that is also inevitable.
First I must say that I am glad that the Rockets are contenders again. It's no fun being a Spurs fan and the Rockets not being good. Secondly I want to say that offensively the Rockets will better but the key is thier defense. Will they be able to stop people when it counts... ?
Man I'm so excited about new season. New coach, new tactics new players, deep bench... I'm sure we can easily get WCF this year or maybe more
Well, I have posted this 5 hours ahead of you...... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=134746
The key is not offense or defense it is balance, the ability to do both.... Adelman's teams have had good defenses and good offenses in the same season, I think he will be able to do the same here in Houston. I just hope he follows the pattern set by most championship coaches (Greg Popovich/Rudy T, to name a couple) and has his team rested come playoff time, the regular season wins are important but not as much as being ready for the playoffs. No need to burn out your starters before the games really count. DD
yao played the 6 th most minutes last year. mcgrady did not lead the team in minutes played. how exactly were they burned out?
Those are only 2 of the 5 starters, but to answer your question. McGrady said he was exhausted at the end of last year, and Yao has not proven to be able to go more than 32-36 minutes a game. Both players tried to rest late last season but were reminded that they could play hard for home court, and came back to get it. Unfortunatly that didn't seem to matter too much, look at San Antonio last year, none of their players averaged too many minutes and they were fresh going into the playoffs. They didn't seem to care too much about getting the number 1 seed, it was more about being ready when the real games counted. Same thing happened in Houston under Rudy T, where Hakeem took a couple weeks off before coming back and leading a 6th seed to the championship. Winning 52 games is nice, but that is hardly any great accomplishment, IMO, I would rather them win some playoff series. Also, the team blew so many 4th quarter leads because the players were tired, they needed a blow earlier in the game to give them more at the end of games....which IMO, would lead to more wins, not less. Hopefully Adelman can manage the main guys minutes a bit better and have them ready come playoff time.....each player has his own threshold, it is up to the coaching staff to recognize it, and work around it. DD PS. This article deserves it's own thread, IMO, mods should merge it with the other thread about this article.
Thanks for the post and for all the animated pictures. Well deserving fan and great to have you. Thanks again.
Do you have images of this without the watermark? Actually, I'd put a couple of these as stickers on my vehicle.
You are nuts if you think the Rox should not have chased home court advantage last year. Yes, it didnt work out cuz we lost game 7 on our home floor, but as it is reminded every year, the home team statistically wins an overwhelming majority of deciding games at home. The team did not needlessly chase home court advantage. They came back and got it. Again, it didnt lead to the second round, but if you watched the games in Utah during the series, I dont think the Rox wanted any part of a fourth game in Utah. Also, you can not compare Hou to SA regarding minutes and rest. Hou last year had a terrible bench. SA could play the backups and compete, Hou would look lost when Tmac, or even Rafer left the game for long periods last year. As for resting players, Yao needed to play to get into game shape after his injury. Tmac had a few days rest prior to the playoffs due to sitting out the last game of the season and the couple days rest prior to the playoffs starting. He was exhausted cuz playoff basketball is tough, plus he had the mental drain of the first round failures hanging over him. Same will happen this year in a tough series. Yes he was tired, but we were a rebound or two away from it not being an issue if the team won.
Yes, Spurs can stop anyone when they need, which is different from Suns and Mav. Rox are looking good right now on offensive end, but need two defense stopers to win it all, I do not know if we have those to compete with Spurs.
though the mpg may be less the energy exerted in that time will have been a lot more for the two stars. Yao constantly taking punishment down low on both ends of the court and tracy constantly having to run around and face numerous double teams and create for anyone not named yao (and sometimes named yao) is a lot more tiring than having a role player like rafer alston bring up the ball and jacking up threes.
