agreed. i think "systems" are generally overrated. obviously, adelman/eddie jordan and d'antoni proved that systems have their place, but they are exceptions to the rule (and required great talent on the the part of their front offices in building the kings of a few years ago and the suns). as far as i'm concerned, the other great teams are winning with tough coaching, smart decision making, great defense, and talented, unselfish offense, and great personnel decisions. now, it's clearly van gundy's fault for bringing in old veterans to support mcgrady and yao (if in fact he is really the one pulling the strings), but other than that, i think he can still be a winning coach if the front office can miraculously revamp the team for next season. the players seem to still respect him, and that's something rare to find around the NBA. and frankly, you're right, they have no choice. you have to assume that mcgrady and yao only have a few good years left together, and it's a little late to start over, coaching wise.
That could still be the problem. Didn't he start a couple games? I remember him putting up at least a nice effort then. And I really think that could be the key. I just think Stromile is not meant to be a bench player. This guy can't catch a quick rhythm and adapt to whoever is out on the court. He needs stability and to play the bulk of his time with the same people on the court. An effective bench player has to be ready to come in, adapt, and make a quick effort and quick impact. I just think that will never be Swift's game.
possibly. but a starting PF shouldn't have to depend on things like stability or rhythm to be an effective player. it's not like he has to find a rhythm in shooting 3 pointers or anything. at the very least, defend and rebound consistently, game in and game out, no matter if you are a bench player or starter (yes, like hayes). if the shot isn't falling, no big deal--get putbacks or don't shoot at all. i guess i'm saying he shouldn't have to have ideal conditions to be able to be effective--his intended role is pretty simple (at least compared to the other positions).
Mark my words as long as "Ole Scowler" is in Houston they will never win a title. I hope JVG makes me eat crow, but I seriously doubt it. Watching the Rockets on offense is not entertaining at all and the defense which is suppose to be JVG's forte is not that good either. On any given night the Rockets don't seem to be able to stop the 3's from raining down and JVG never makes an adjustment during the game for some reason. I know he will get a free pass because all of the injuries this year, but really it if there are no big name coaches available why not take a page out of the Texan's book and hire a guy who is up and coming and deserving of a head coaching job.
i agree. i am kinda interested to see what someone else can do with tracy and yao. such a lethal combo..i cant believe we are not #1. screw duncan and nowitski. and detroit. people should be picking us to win it all..not just a bump for SA. i know we had injuries this year but you gotta think jvg brought half of these players here. if he had chosen a better supporting cast they wouldnt have been 0-13 without tracy.
You said it! JVG and CD built this team. If they can't win the blame rests squarely on JVG and CD. In the past they blamed Rudy and then they blamed Francis and Mobley. This year they can't win because it's injuries. Eventually there has to be some accountability. I'd love to see Yao with a new coaching staff that could actually use his passing ability and develop him further. The Rockets are wasting valuable time because they will not admit they made a mistake bringing JVG here and then compounded the mistake by giving him an extra year.
I heard another rumour that the weaker team they built last year actually won at over a 70% clip after the AS game...
