"There are little pockets of resistance." JVG Comments

Taking a drastic approach so early in the process leaves you no where to go. It's like hitting someone with your best shot at the beginning of the fight and they are still standing. The thought process is...Now what?

JVG can be an a-hole in private all he wants, I just don't think we need to hear about it. Great players have a lot of pride and don't need their Coach ripping them in public. I hope JVG is ripping them all a new one in practice, that's where it belongs.

 

That is harsh, but do I disagree? Not really. The comment about him not wanting to pass to a 7 footer open on the 3 point line really bothers me. WTF is he talking about? All our big men are on the low block in this offense! That's an excuse for not passing to Eddie LAST YEAR.

Let's trade Steve before every team in the league realizes he is an athletic talent and nothing more.

 

Exactly!

 

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to pick up on your analogy.

Your analogy is taken from a boxing bout where the goal is to knock out the opponent. This is exactly not what is wanted here. Here, the goal is to discipline the "opponent" so that you can get him to run in the same direction with you. This is why it is better to give them a stern warning blow in the beginning, so that they learn to have some respect and will run in the direction you tell them to.

Now, if you wanted to ultimately knock them out, your approach would be better to reserve the tough blows for the end.

But this is not what this is about.

 

Great post! "I have been playing like this for the past 5 years"!And that's the reason that Rockets has been a lottery team in the past five years!

 

with all being said, i hope stevie pulls a marbury this year...punk to pimp....very impressive. actually marbury is even more of a punk than steve, alot more, and i really dont like him. (recall him yelling "Im the real ALLSTAR!" at steve last year in a game when he scored. *no good punk* But if HE can pull it off i have more hope for steve now....theme of the year..MATURITY...lets hope steve gets past puberty this year

 

You are right again!
We just don't seem to know to set and use the picks correctly!

 

If Steve can turn into a Marbury, I'll be happy. Steve can't never be Kidd or Iverson or Kobe but Steve can be Stephon.

Stephon's really changed since his earlier days. He is now a scorer and assist man. He is a leader. He has the attitude and the talent that backs it up.

If he wasn't hurt, I think the Suns would have killed the Spurs last year.

 

maybe it is harsh, but you speak the truth.

 

JVG just wants SF steps out of Yao's way like Cato did last year. And contribute to the team instead of playing the same losing ball game.

 

Maybe Steve needs to take a spirtual journey. Clear things up.

 

Pragmatically? It ain't hard.

If Francis cares more about his public image than his on-court play, then it's easy to argue that appealing to Francis' most valued forum for censure against Francis is the only effective avenue to affect him.

I'm sure he's criticizing Francis in private, too. IMO, the only real issue is whether it's effective. If it's more likely to alienate players and make them more intransigent... then it's foolish. If he can embarass Francis into improving, it's a good idea.

But if you're making a moral appeal, it's misplaced. Would anybody here like their boss to publicly criticize them? Of course not. But that's mere personal self-interest and preference... not a matter of ethics.

 

Quote:
Steve Francis: "I know this is a preseason game, but I felt we all would be more motivated to go out and play hard, but it didn't work out like that. We need to go back and think about what we did to get to the NBA and play hard. I've been playing the same way I've been playing for five years. I play hard. If that means I go one on one when the shot clock's going down, that's what I've got to do. We just have to want it. We have to want to win. The will to win doesn't come from one layer or two players, it has to come from the team. Right now we're 0-4, so we have to sacrifice certain things. For me it starts with moving the ball and I thought I moved the ball great tonight (he had 4 assists in 27 minutes). We've only been together for 10 or 11 days and we're trying to implement a whole new offense and a whole new defense, so it's kind of hard to know the different calls."

did anyone other than CXmoney1221 read this?! Sounds like Steve's "Five Years" quote was taken way out of context.

I really think this is what Steve meant when he said that he played the same way for five years. He plays hard. There no question about that.

(although I'm concerned about the source of this quote: The Rockets Guy at hoops world)

 

Wow. I missed a lot...My thoughts;


A) Clearly there is a problem with Steve, but who didn't expect that? I'd say it's way too early to start talking about trading him and stuff like that. We all knew that there would abe a period of adjustment for Steve, and that it could get ugly. Ok, it's started to get ugly, but that's part of what happens when you take a player that has been coddled and protected and basically allowed to do whatever he wants for years and give him a coach who demands acountability. If we were going to blow up the team as soon as the predictable happens, then we should have done so as soon as we hired JVG. Right now he's just implementing the kind of tough-love system of accountability we all wanted; give him a chance to do his job before talking about trading one of our two star players...

B) In terms of JVG singling out players in the media, honestly, I don't like it. Certainly he has that right, and certainly it's one way to go, but although there are examples of it working, I think that there are far more examples of it not working. As I said when he made generalized comments in the media a little while back, if JVG continues to do this, and gets specific, he takes a great risk of losing the team. Yes, I know he knows more about what he's doing than I do, but so did George Karl, and he lost teams by doing this time and again. So have many other smart coaches.

C) In terms of Rocket River's comments, come on RR...that's adopting a position just for the purpose of defending Steve, no matter what. JVG has established time and again that challenging his players face to face is the least of his problems...and even if you, as I do, have an issue with challenging players in the media, that still fails to address the primary issue here; Steve. Are you suggesting that JVG doesn't know what he's talking about when he identifies Steve as the problem?


D) In terms of JVG's overall comments, and the seeming gloom and doom slant they have, that's JVG. I don't remember the last time I heard him say that everything was hunky-dory. I don't ever expect to see that; he's a negative motivator. Now that's not to say that, in this case, he's not accurate. Certainly there has been precious little positive evidence in the games so far...and he would know what's been going on in practice...but in any event I would expect him to sound negative about the team, and we'd better get used to it.

 

I am ready to make another prediction: this topic may well become the LONGEST THREAD IN BBS HISTORY! 113 posts and just getting warmed up. Many of the "heavy hitter" posters aren't even here yet. This could really get interesting!

 

No...he said he plays hard, and goes one on one when he feels it's necessary. BOTH were part of the context, not just the former. Were it just the former, no problem...but in that he was responding directly to comments about his penchant for going one on one as opposed to playing team ball as JVG wants, and he includes a defense for going one on one...that is a problem.

 

Everyone that did a recap on the game said Steve played an excellent game. Why do all the bashing now. Why is everybody criticizing the one statement. You have to have read the whole entire quote to even form an opinion.

What I would want to know is if JVG made a comment that Yao didn't fulfill some assignments, would there be any bashing?

 

I was at lunch then, but now I am here. Carry on.

I concur with MacBeth. If you did not see this coming, then you are an optimist, the type that wouldn't make it through a cold front sleeping in a tent in your backyard, rather than one that could live a week in the frozen tundra. This we know, JVG is a realist, and he will apply the heat to mold Francis into a super player. All the while, having his finger on the "trade if it gets out of control" button (well his hand will be on CD's, who's finger is on the button.)

Given that it was to be expected, the next couple of weeks will prove out who Francis is. Is he a man-child, who resents authority? I hope not, as his opposition to management would hinder his trade value, should this situation actually boil over. Knowing he had been babied by "T" management JVG knew the relationship between his comments and Steve's take away. He knows the risk of alienating his star, and may already know Steve well enough to criticize him openly. Steve seems an honest and genuine professional athlete, he talks win, team, improvement...this is where the rubber meets the road, and his (Francis') hypothesis becomes practice.

I for one do not think Steve is an A-hole, as he worked most of his life and had a humble beginning. Sans a life-changing event, you are who you are, at about age 21, regardless of the fortune/misfortune that one later enjoys/endures.

 

I love Stevie, but from his comments it seems like we are in for a long season. I agree with some of you that JVG is a negative motivator, but that WILL drive off Stevie and Cat.

I still believe we should have made a trade to dump the Cat and pick up a real PG and put Franchise at the 2 a la the Sixers with AI.

Lottery bound again!!!!! Too bad we keep trading our 1st round picks...

What's with no attendance at the game???

Are you guys planning on making it to the arena to support the team despite the lousy preseason start?

 

I don't really feel like watching this garbage. Seeing Steve blow assignments to where the shot clock is low and he has no choice other than to shoot a bad shot while ignoring what he says is a 7 footer at the 3 point line is not a good use of my cash.

Now, I don't have a problem with them losing, but I want to see some semblance of a team and some sort of effort and improvement.

This really puts Rudy T in a better light. Now we see what he was dealing with. His offense was not made up of blown assignments and dribbling, that's what Steve chose to do. Rudy just never aired his complaints in public.