Something you would never see if JVG was still here...

So, you are telling me Novak doesnt shoot well in practises and it's wrong for Adelman to play Novak. Novak was 4/4 and got 10 pts in 4 mins.

Tell me why in Jazz game we need Novak's shootings?

 

52-30. Let me repeat that, 52 wins. Sorry but our defense last year was not perfect, so of course we had games where we gave up lots of points. You can't sit there and tell me that we are as good a defensive team last year as this year.

Saying the defense is not a coaching problem is also ridiculous. We had a team with worst talent last year, yet we still managed to play better defense and even won lots of games with that defense. This year, we have basically the same team, but with more talent, yet defense has been down this season. How can you sit there and say that this isn't the result of a different coach when that was the biggest difference from last year?

Look, you can talk about JVG's inability to change it up, his refusal to play rookies, his lack of offensive plays and his stubbornness. But you can not knock his defense. His defense is what kept us alive and won many many games for the team. It wasn't by luck that we were Top 5 in defensive fg% every year he was here. Hell, he even got guys like Francis and Mobely to play their best defense ever.

You mean the myth that JVG coached teams play great defense? I'm pretty sure that is fact. Just check last year's numbers and winning record and tell me that our defense was not the reason we won 52 games......with less talent than this year's team and Yao Ming missing an extended amount of games.

 

What on earth are you talking about? The Novak play didnt work because he is 1- dimensional. He can shoot and nothing else.

Adelman wanted to see if Novak's shooting could help us.

There isnt anything wrong with playing Novak, but Adelman KNEW exactly what he was going to get.

 

Well, you dont really know the reason why Adelman gambled on Novak I guess. * sigh *

 

That was me and to add to my point from earlier, I have yet to see any of the players in JVG "dog house" bust out now that he's gone. Synder is still riding the pine, Wells has been about as up and down as can be and there are times I wish RA would reign him in a bit more. Vspan, out of the NBA. Lucas III, isn't in the NBA as far as I know. JVG played the players he believed were the best and this year seems to keep pushing that fact home as some of the same players JVG played are still getting solid rotation time this year

 

First round Exit after being up 2-0...AGAIN...let me repeat...FIRST ROUND EXIT.......

And for the record the Rockets are FIFTH in points against this year, their defense has not been that big of a problem.

5th is not too shabby

But as shown above defense is not the issue. It may be occasionally a problem like it was under JVG but defense has remained pretty danged good.

We still are near the top with an offensive coach, again, defense is not the overall problem.

This year we are top 3 in Def efficiency trailing only Boston and New Orleans

Angkor,

It may surprise you but I do not really hate JVG, I just made up my mind that he was not good enough to take the team to the promised land, for most of the reasons you cited above. Therefore I was all for a change, still am.....is Rick Adelman the answer, don't know but I am willing to give him a season to find out.

I actually think the problem is that outside of Yao and Tmac, no one else has proven to be a consistent scoring threat....not defense...offense....

This is why I want more Scola, Brooks and Landry...let's see if they can develop into our own Josh Howard type of quickly developing player.

DD

 

solid points.

it's clear to most rational, unbiased, people that coaching wasnt the rockets problem over the past few years.

 

Right now we are OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS....let me repeat...OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS.

This is after we won 52 games last year and ADDED significant talent.

 

If it wasn't his shooting, then what was the reason?

 

Right now, a mere 2 games out of the playoffs......and our best player and only consistent player who sets up the weaker players for shots was out for 14 games.

I am not giving up Mr Clutch, let's ride it out.

DD

 

of course you dont mention the injuries and players not being 100%. or the fact that they could have just been better teams and it was a miracle to even be up 2-0

defense has been good, but there have been a lot of 4th quarter breakdowns.

funny that defense isnt necessarily the problem but offense is, especially with this "mastermind" offensive coach....hmmmmmm..lets see, you think coaching was the problem yet the rockets are have better players and supposedly (as you have said, a better coach) yet they are still a top defensive team and a poor offensive team. The writing is on the wall, you just have to read it.

how jvg of you... make up your mind and not change it no matter how much you are proven wrong.

 

FYI our offense is actually statistically worse than last season.

06-07: 97 PPG
07-08: 95.3 PPG

 

I would compare offensive efficiency more than PPG. No doubt our possesions per game has probably gone up. If so, THAT in contrast to the PPG would show how much our offense has regressed.

 

06-07: 97 PPG/ OE 106
07-08: 95.3 PPG/ OE 104.5

 

I agree that the regular season is too long. I always thought that it's silly to play 4 months of balls and eliminate less than half of the teams. But that's something we won't see changing.

I disagree that focusing success in the playoffs is meaningless. If the regular season were shorter, say 60 games, I can bet you that Adelman would have coached the team very differently. Your goal is always the championship, not just some random games.

I have said this before. JVG sees each game as a winning goal. Adelman sees the whole season as one big game. Nobody questions why a marathon runner doesn't run like a 100-meter sprinter right off the start. You have different strategies for different distance races. I don't see why a coach should not see the regular season as the preparation for the post season.

To clarify: I am not saying that I am satisfied with the achievement of the team so far. I expected better results than this. But I do think that the real judgment should be the playoffs, not the regular season, especially for a new coach.

 

WE FINALLY AGREE!!!

I just don't understand how your prescription for this problem was to change the coach.

Keep the coach...add the outside shooter...or maybe even 2!!! Seems reasonable to me. That's what I was hoping they'd do. But Les ignored his GM and was enamored with "exciting basketball" that we're still not playing.

 

Because I don't think JVG is a good balanced coach, I think his management of players sucks and he is too focused on winning one game rather than winning the whole thing.

I just do not appreciate his iron grip, I think you get more with a little carrot and stick, rather than just stick stick stick stick.

I gave JVG 3 years, but after the third year it was clear as a bell to me that he was not ever going to win it all, and that is when I wanted a change. I watched over and over his failure to develop players, or to counter a coaching move that others had made against his team.

His only answer was "Work harder" ...remember Yao covering the pick and roll at the top, JVG would say...he has to do a better job of that.......there are some things that players are not physically ABLE to do.......and it is there that I found his myopic approach severly lacking.

I appreciate his candor, and that he thought he was doing what was right, I just disagree with him.

Just imagine if he took a longer view and didn't win the Denver game and we drafted Brandon Roy? It was at that point that I knew he was the wrong man for the job....sometimes losing a meaningless game pays dividends for the franchise.

I think JVG was too focused on the now...and that tunnel vision was bad for my favorite team.....so he was fired......
DD

 

This time last season Rockets had won only 4 more games than they have now.

 

Our leading scorer missed 34 games last year, that is almost half a season! Tmac missed 9 games on top of that. I'm not giving up on the Rockets either, but nothing so far this year screams that we are drastically better than last year. I will agree that the defense has not fallen off dramatically, but nor has the offense improved significantly to this point. In fact at this point we are giving up slightly more points and scoring less than last year.

 

Wait...so he should have been fired for not tanking a game?? Seriously?