"There are little pockets of resistance." JVG Comments

AI can dream and drool all he wants.. the 76'ers have nothing the Rockets would take for Yao.

 

Ill-Skillz: Larry Brown (and before him Bill Fitch) may have turned players off and had to leave after a couple of years, but before that happened those teams got BETTER! I would be eternally grateful to JVG if he leaves this team in two years with as much improvement as the Celtics made under Fitch and the Rockets made before their guard/cocaine meltdown. Heck, I'd be happy just to see this team run a fast break correctly three times in a row. OR a pick and roll. If they could get both down, we'd win 50 games. Add some actual defense and who knows? Besides, JVG's former players seem to have a long-term bond with him more than with Brown or Fitch. More like Wooden in that regard.

MacBeth: Name me another franchise center in history who had never been seen playing in college? Who didn't show up not just for training camp but for the entire freaking pre-season? Or who had played HALF as many games in the six months before the season started? Rudy COULDN'T build an offense around him because nobody really knew what we were getting. There isn't enough practice time during the season to develop a new offensive style from scratch. He wasn't ready to be made the focus of the offense; early on it became obvious he would contribute more than most of us expected his first year and there were sporadic, disorganized efforts to get him more involved. Sometimes they worked brilliantly (over the head, no-look passes to Moochie and/or Steve). Sometimes they failed miserably (confused look, holding the ball until the opponent slaps it away).

Jackie Chiles: Brilliant analogy comparing JVG to the new teacher who has to establish hard-ass credibility at the start before loosening up a little. Once the students realize that the teacher actually CARES about RESULTS, and isn't just being a hard-ass for the sake of being one, they frequently end up liking them. A couple of the best teachers I ever had were teachers that everybody (except the people who were in their class) said "I hope I never get that teacher!" This seems to be the kind of feeling I get from listening to may of JVG's old players.

Generically: It's going to take more than the entire preseason for JVG's philosophy to "take" and show results. Even when it starts "taking", you end up for a while with players who are thinking too much and not reacting instinctively. We'll be lucky if it's rolling by mid-season. We'll be lucky if Steve's bought in by then. Even talking about a mid-season trade of Steve is way too soon. What happens in the offseason will be determined by how this team looks in the second half of the season. I strongly believe they have too much talent with a 2nd-year Yao to miss the playoffs completely, but they also have too much talent to have making the playoffs be the long-term goal. The goal has to be making the playoffs this year, with a marked improvement in the team the second half of the season to establish momentum for a STRONG run at being a contender next year. For that to happen, the first half of this season is going to have some ugly days. Hopefully, it will be like watching Yao last year -- for every ugliness there was also a magnificent display of potential beauty and room for limitless growth.

If Steve hasn't bought in by the END of the season, we can talk about a trade during the offseason. Sooner than that might be the same mistake we almost made with Hakeem after some sniping between him and Steve Patterson. (Unless of course things get to the point where we're talking Spree vs. P.J., God forbid.)

One more: I'm not sure I see JVG as a negative motivator. I certainly don't get the impression that he is as negative a motivator as Bill Fitch or Carlissimo. (If he was, how could have worked with Spree?) Instead, I see him as a perfectionist who is willing to tell it like he sees it. But basically I see him trying to include positives along with the negatives when he talks about anybody. Just not necessarily in the same interview. If he has a point to make, he makes it even if it might hurt feelings. But he's aware of that and also tries to make it clear (over a period of time) that there are other things he likes about what that player is doing. That will probably take some getting used to from athletes who are not used to hearing anything except how great they are. Reminds me a little of Larry Dierker. With all the flameouts that team managed in the playoffs, and with the team having completely tuned him out by the end, you're still talking about a team that went to the playoffs 4 years out of 5. Nobody else has EVER managed that team to more than ONE playoff appearance. If JVG can exceed all previous Rocket coaches by that amount, we will ALL be EXUBERANTLY happy.

 

GocartMozart, good post. Lots of interesting observations.

Especially about the JVG "hard-ass teacher" part. Jeff was hard on his Knick players, but for some reason they still suppoted him.

Even Spree!

 

goCartMozart, excellent post. I think the whole season is an excellent time frame to make judgements on steve and JVG.

 

Cool...you live in Sugar Land!

Anyways...I think Francis and JVG will have a relationship like Allen Iverson and Larry Brown had...I thought it was nice that Francis highfived with JVG...

Yao is not resisting. LITTLE pockets.

 

And you only posted 39 times in a yr and a half?!!

 

AI can come to Houston to fulfill his dream.

 

AI and franchise in the backcourt? only won word to describe that: BADASS!!!!