"There are little pockets of resistance." JVG Comments

Right, cause I don't know about the rest of you, but I buy tickets and tune in to Rockets games so that I can watch them get along. Performance on the basketball court is, of course, secondary.

 

You guys are missing the big picture.

Yes, it does cast a better light on Rudy T from one direction... he's not a strategic idiot, he was undermined by Steve's unwillingness to act out the plays that Rudy diagramed.

But then again, on the other hand... the fact that Rudy T was unable to get Steve to change this aspect of his game after this many years puts him in a *horrible* light. In fact, that's more than enough reason to get him fired.

I don't know for a fact that JVG is doing the right thing in airing his gripes through the media, but I'll tell ya what... "he's not doing what Rudy did last year" is hardly a good criticism. I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick of the lottery.

 

it sounded right in my head but i meant to put "of" instead of "from." as in we have a TRG interview, it's at hoopsworld, and it's misquoted at that in the link we originally got. that's all i meant.

 

You are right. Rudy couldn't change him. But honestly, I don't see JVG changing him either. I hope differently of course. But watch Steve in the huddle and when teammates try to talk to him- he just has this blank expression on his face. I see Mo, Yao, and even Moochie asking questions and talking to teammates, but Steve just is in his own world.

I do blame Rudy for something else though- signing Steve to that huge contract. And signing Mo, Cato, Moochie, Maloney, and yes, drafting Boki and Eddie. But then again, he drafted Cassell, Horry, Yao, and traded for Drexler. He also had faith in Hakeem- when Rudy first came on, we were thinkin about trading him!

 

ROFL

I don't necessarily agree with you on that and I don't think it's nice to call them chumps either. But, the way you said it is really funny.

 

How old are you?? X's and O's are not the same thing as communication skills.

 

Hmmmm, that sounds awfully familiar. New coach, thoughts about trading their star player, jeez, where have I heard this?

 

Umm...Jackie, save the indignant outrage for the guy who attacked me for no reason.

 

Are you comparing Steve to Hakeem? Don't you dare.

 

Dear God that was funny. My sides now hurt, thanks.

 

daoshi,

Please note that my point was that SF does not need to change his attitude or his "heart", he simply needs to buy into the X's and O's. IMO Steve honestly is about winning, works hard at his game and he has a genuine desire to do it the right way. He is getting his jock stretched right now, but once JVG has him whipped, he'll take off to the betterment of the Rockets, you, me and the rest of the BBS.

We concur and are saying the same thing...differently. I do like your point.

BTW, I personally think Jordan was and remains WAY, make that VERY WAY egotistical (stubborn)...Francis from an ego standpoint is not even Robin to MJ's Batman. Considering MJ, I suppose it would be easy to have an ego, given that he is likely the best player ever to walk the face of the Earth (point of debate with which I will not argue either way).

 

Um, Steve. There are not many variables to change here. We tried changing the coach variable. The next variable to change isn't the coach again. It's you.

 

I respect the way JVG tells the media exactly what is he thinking. It makes me feel closer to the growing process of this team. It's alot of fun. I hope to here it more from him in the future. When things are going well...he will say that. I will jump up and down and believe it. He's a blast!

 

Van Gundy wants results
Too much Francis, not enough hustle, Rockets' coach says
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES



What's wrong with the Rockets, Part II.

A day after Jeff Van Gundy seemed to call out his team and specify Steve Francis, he said he was only pointing out the obvious failings and did not intend to single out his star guard.

Then he found another target. Himself.

"I'm just telling the truth," Van Gundy said. "What am I supposed to say? `Wow, we're busting our (butts) out there?' We're not. That doesn't mean we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes. It's an indictment on me. It's not an indictment on them. As a coach, your job is to have an organized, disciplined, hard-playing team. We don't have any of that right now. It's not about me indicting them. It's me indicting me -- and them.

"It's the hardest thing for a coach to say. It wrenches my gut to say, `Right now, we don't play hard.' "

With that, Van Gundy also made a promise.

"I can say this," he pledged. "We will play hard."

Van Gundy had no interest in "psychoanalysis" about why the Rockets' effort has been so lacking. But guard Jim Jackson, an expert on starting over in a career that has taken him to 10 teams, guessed the Rockets' adjustments to a new coach and system have made them cautious.

"It's being tentative (and asking), `When should I go or should I not? Should I throw this pass or should I not?' " Jackson said. "That's because you're not comfortable."

Center Yao Ming, playing for his fourth coach (including two Chinese national team coaches) in 14 months, described the struggles as no more than part of the usual process.

"It's frustrating," Yao said. "There's a lot of problems we need to fix, and we need to use these experiences to discover what our problems are."

Identifying the problems, however, has not taken much investigation.

"We don't play hard," Van Gundy said. "Who cares why? You don't have to be smart to watch us last night and say that was a disorganized, uninspired performance."

The Rockets are last in the NBA in preseason scoring, averaging just 78.8 points. They are tied for last with their average of 14 assists. Their field-goal shooting (40.1 percent) ranks 23rd.

But as much as adjustments to a new system might be hurting the team's performance, Van Gundy and his players have cited parts of the game that are universal to any system. Getting back defensively, closing out on shooters and boxing out are not uniquely Rockets goals.

More troubling might be that they have made little progress in the most basic of areas. After two games against the SuperSonics, the Rockets never did seem to figure out that Rashard Lewis is a pretty good shooter. On Sunday, they didn't seem to mind that George Lynch was taking target practice.

When the Rockets took outside shots, Hornets players took off for fast breaks all night Sunday, only seeming to generate interest from the Rockets when Van Gundy played points guards Moochie Norris, Mike Wilks and Francis together.

Van Gundy has no intention of relying on that rotation. But he said he would sift through his 19-man roster until he finds five players willing to play hard.

"I go into the year thinking eight or nine in a rotation," Van Gundy said. "I'm searching for those guys. If it has to be six, it will be six. If it has to be five, it will be five. You can't have guys make mental mistakes on the floor, and you can't have guys on the floor who won't play all out.

"Right now I don't have anything in my mind except I have to find guys who are going to play all out and not make mental mistakes. Smart players make smart plays. Players that play hard make effort plays. Those are the kinds of guys I need on the floor."

He did make a point to say that his criticism of the Rockets offense was not pointed at Francis. Instead, he said Francis has been forced to go for "home run" plays because of the problems offensively, rather than Francis has caused the problems by swinging for home runs.

"The first thing is last night -- and I shared this with Steve -- I said we're trying to hit too many home runs," Van Gundy said. "That wasn't on Steve. That was poor team offense that led to our best player having the ball in his hands trying to create something from nothing, which a great player can do occasionally. But you're not a very good team if that's what you rely on."

Francis insisted he understood Van Gundy all along and was not offended.

"Whatever. I know he's not going anywhere, and I'm not going anywhere," Francis said. "We just as a team have to get on the same page. We're straight. We're cool."

But neither Van Gundy nor Francis is happy. Halfway through the preseason schedule, the Rockets seem no closer to being ready for the regular season than when they left training camp in Galveston.

Asked if there had been any progress on Sunday, Van Gundy said there was none.

"You can't say it's good when it's bad," he said. "When it's good, I'll probably still say it's bad. That's my nature. But when there is nothing good to say, you can't make something up. It is a lack of effort. We don't play hard. That's it. We don't play hard. Until we do -- and that's the foundation for every good team: giving an honest day's effort every night and being unselfish -- we're going to struggle."

 

He did make a point to say that his criticism of the Rockets offense was not pointed at Francis. Instead, he said Francis has been forced to go for "home run" plays because of the problems offensively, rather than Francis has caused the problems by swinging for home runs.
good say!!!

 

That doesn't sound like their cool. But atleast he acknowledged their is a problem and the solution.

Mr. Clutch, I wasn't comparing Steve to Hakeem, it just seems like the same thing is going on. New systems can't be learned in 2 weeks, but that doesn't mean we should trade our best player either.

 

OH YES, I ACTUALLY AGREE WITH JVG, OUR ADAPTATION TO CHANGES ARE LIKE LITTLE POCKETS OF FART. HEY AT LEAST WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS,, OH YEAH TOO LITTLE TOO SLOW TOO LATE

 

I read this as Steve saying, "Look, it's not a big deal, I'm on board...I didn't think he was singling me out. We're in this deal together. There's no smoke here..."

There could be people that will say "Look he began his quote with "whatever", obviously he doesn't care and wants to be traded."

I think this last news bit is a thread stopper and not a "lengthy thread enabler". They both downplayed the quote, JVG recanted a bit, and neither led on to there being an issue with the out of context quote that now has 200+ posts dedicated to it.

 

I don't understand why we are continuing to have problems with effort?? Why the heck is everyone not busting their butts to learn the new system? I can understand not being able to implement it yet, but a continued lack of effort is inexcusable, imo.

 

Simple really.

If a player doesn't fit in, put him where I spent my high school BBall career....SIT HIS BUTT ON THE BENCH !!


DD