SI: Who's the NAB's Best/Worst Coach -- Voted By The Players

yeah, but what do they know?

 

That's probably for the best, because you are way off base with your assertions.

Alleging that Yao was, umm, "overhyped" before the draft is absolutely laughable.

If you remember correctly, outside of a few pundits who thought he could be the real deal, most in the national media viewed him as an enigma and lambasted the Rockets for taking him over the likes of Jay Williams.

These include Dan Patrick, Chet Coppack, Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley, and Peter Vecsey just to name a few.

What hype do you think Yao recieved? Are you not versed enough to recall most opining that once Yao goes up against American competition the best he'll ever be is an Asian version of Rik Smits?

This view was more than prevalent during the early summer of 2002.

I would be very interested in going to this new world....this parallel universe of sorts that you have apparently visited, where the beer flows like water, there are ten beautiful women for every man, and Yao was overhyped.

 

You can make a case that Yao was overhyped before he was drafted and may be during his 1st year in the NBA. But the poll was taken earlier this season and anyone who still think Yao was overhyped at the time when the poll was taken is delusioned. How could somene who was dissed by the medias day in and day out be overhyped?

 

Greg Popovich is an average-to-good coach. I give the Spurs props, but I just can't buy it's because of him. I think they do a great job of securing talent, and having Tim Duncan definitely helps. But I just don't buy his being a great coach. I know, I know- 3 rings. Still think he's average. OK, good.

 

uh, the majority of nba players think he's the worst coach? that looks like 10.8 percent to me, hardly a majority.

jvg doesn't present himself well so it's no surprise to see him on a list of the worst coaches as chosen by players. i'd rather see his approval rating from current and former players, it'd be over 90 percent easily.

 

Okay, let's re-visit your previous posts shall we:

(1) No, you DID NOT qualify your first assertion that Yao was hyped by quite a few "NBA people" associated with teams. I believe your actual statement was:

Yao was over hyped by quite a few people, include some NBA "experts" before the draft days.

Before you dismiss the list of national media who made it a point to degrade Yao prior to the draft, understand that at NO POINT did you ever write "Hey fellas, I'm not talking about media. I'm only talking about people who scout or work for teams".

So let me ask you this: How are we supposed to know who "quite a few people" are? How are we to know who you deem NBA "experts"?

Go back and re-read YOUR OWN posts before you try to qualify your statements and wonder if I read your posts.

(2) You said "You didn't read it/hear it, doesn't mean it didn't happen".

Interesting comment, and I happen to agree. But it cuts both ways. Maybe you only heard the limited "hype" from Rockets-central. Maybe you didn't actually have your finger on the pulse of what the national perception of Yao was pre-draft. Because, like you say, just because (you) didn't hear it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

(3) You said:" ...but you left out the part where I listed several "real" basketball people who hyped Yao before the draft"

Really? The only person you listed that WASN'T associated with the Rockets was Rick Barry and Bill Walton. Who else did you list? Who is on this voluminous list that you speak of? I'm just curious.


Look, I'll buy the fact that there were some people who hyped Yao. Just like there were some people who hyped Michael Olawakandi. And Pervis Ellison. And anybody else who was projected to go number one in the draft.

But when you remember the characterizations of Yao by many as an unknown foreigner who was being likened to a cross between Shawn Bradley and Rik Smits, except without the college experience, it's hard to read with a straight face someone trying to assert that there was this "wave" of hype way-back-when.

 

I dont know by how much but I do think these kind of publicities will hurt Rockets chances of landing players in market.

Dont think that other players in the league have not taken notice of how Anderson and Stro have been treated this year by JVG.

I am sure players around the league are lining up for a chance to play for JVG and help his minions, Juwan, and Bowen win a championship ring!

 

Stro has earned his treatment. Barry and Anderson did not earn their treatment.

JVG is not a plus when it comes to attracting talent like Rudy was. Now Yao and Tracy are talent magnets, who can make up somewhat for Van Grumpy's negative ways.

 

Wow, maybe if Popovich gets popular enough, he can leave the NAB and go to the NBA.

 

By who?

 

What's really telling is that in the worst coach poll particularly, a laughable "majority" pointed out Montgomery with only 15% - that's 36 players or so. Hardly a damning verdict. With JVG, it was a total of what? 26 players out of 248 that voted him worst? Considering the maturity of players in this league, I can believe no less than half of them were voting based on petty personal issues.

Pop winning with 30% is a little more definitive.

Evan

 

i was going to say something if nobody else was.

it's a little surprising that jvg ended up on the hated list, from all the things we've heard players say about him. but on the other hand, i'm sure he rubs some players the wrong way. basically, love him or hate him.

around 10% of 2 hundred something (forgot the exact figures, too lazy to scroll back) voted him the worst coach. that's about 20 something players. i'm sure he's pissed off at least 20 something players by now.

 

Th eability of staying on topic of this board is abysmal.

 

Sometimes you just got to go with the flow and see where the threads take you.

 

Nice derailment on your part.

 

Yeah, that's like sending group email "stop spamming", or saying "shut up" during BPB in the chat room. I've always wondered what's up about that. But thanks for further derailment.

 

I wonder why JVG would get so many "worst coach" votes. I actually find that surprising. I thought he had a reputation as a very good coach amongst players.

Makes you wonder if the current Rockets players are just sucking up publicly when they talk about how they love Van Gundy but internally are badmouthing him to other players.

 

If I recall correctly, most of those quotes come from players while they are playing for him. If a player is asked about his current coach, unless they are feuding, what else do you expect the player to say other than that my coach is awesome and can kick your coaches' @ss anytime?

One exception that I do remember is Mobley. He said JVG is a great defensive coach (he should have added in-the-paint defense), but when asked about his overall coaching ability......well you can guess...

I think most people get turned off by him because of his Ego and his stubborness. He is one of those I am always right kinda guy. He has a HUGE ego for a man who as not really accomplished a lot. That is one of the reasons, IMO, him and Phil Jackson cannot get along. Clash of the Titan Egos. A basketball coaurt is simply not big enough to contain both of their egos at the same time.