I think all of this has to at least wait till the regular season and a few games in then we can sit and talk about how things don't work or do work. i think it's a bit premature to judge things on preseason...i mean these games relaly don't mean much to me. I will wait and pass judgment when the season starts.
I knew JVG O was bad when he came in but I did a little research... For the last 3 full years as the Head Coach of the NY Knicks(I could only go back to 98), here are the team point total averages. 1998/99 - 86.4 The only teams lower were the Bulls and the Hawks. 1999/00 - 92.1 The only teams lower were the Bulls and the Clippers. 2000/01 - 88.7 The only teams lower were the Bulls. And remember these are pre-zone numbers. He as never coached the offense for an NBA team in a zone defense until last year. During last year's term with the Rockets the numbers are: 2003/04 - 89.8 The only teams lower last year were the Bulls (see a pattern?), the 76ers, the Raptors and the Jazz. The previous year the Rockets averaged 93.8. I think the team could benefit by adding a guy who knows how to generate points. I know D wins championships, but if your O is that far down on the list, your D has to be unreal and I don't see our players as having unreal D. Unfortunately I don't think JVG will admit that there is a problem with the "system", so I don't see a new O until we get a new coach. In PRESEASON (I know, I know) we are last, but if history holds true, I can only see us passing the Bulls before the season is over.
I think it is because basketball players 1. has the shortest PEAK time 2. 1 player means more than in the others 3. athleticism means more in basketball than the others If MJ goes down . . the old bulls were lotto bound If Hakeem went down . . . LOTTO LAND Patriots would be ok . . If Brady goes down [not super bowl but ok] and in the NBA would cannot waste a players best years under a wack coach If JVG cannot get to the finals at yao's and Mac's peaks we need to find someone who can before they old and broken down have to get it while they hot Rocket River
Hey Art, check this...rosters, efficiency, and FINALS appearances (hopefully some*wins*) should be our our goal. If we make it to the Finals in three years, I don't think you will be mad. http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85245
Hmmm...good point. You rarely see a player beyond 40 playing (and contributing signifcantly) in basketball, but in football its not an uncommong thing. Plus in baseball and football, a player doesnt even seem to peak until the mid to late twenties and even early thirties.
Like I said, you need D to win championships, but you need O to win 82 games. We aint got enough O to win more than 50. And it ain't YAO, T-Mac's or any player's fault.
PPG in the case of JVG is a function of his low possession, slow paced offense. It has nothing to do with offensive efficiency. We were 10th in the league last year in eFG% which is a much more accurate barameter for efficiency. Go read up on the link DavidS provided which goes indepth on JVG's offensive effciency last year. These whiny b****es that keep complaining don't know jack ****. Why don't you bring up his opponent's PPG in those years for comparison. And how 'bout his win %? OOPS.
Don't look now but our first 16 games are not going to be easy: 2 - at Detroit, 8:00 PM 3 - at Toronto, 7:00 PM win? 5 - at Memphis, 8:00 PM 6 - vs. Sacramento, 8:30 PM 9 - vs. Memphis, 8:30 PM 11 - vs. Minnesota, 8:30 PM 13 - vs. LA Lakers, 8:30 PM 15 - at New Jersey, 7:30 PM win? 16 - at Atlanta, 7:30 PM win! 18 - vs. New York, 9:30 PM win? 20 - at LA Clippers, 3:30 PM win! 21 - at Portland, 8:00 PM 23 - at Sacramento, 10:00 PM 26 - at Utah, 9:00 PM 27 - vs. Denver, 8:30 PM 30 - vs. Detroit, 8:30 PM Oh, we will win some of those other games, but how many? I wonder if JVG's yard is big enough for a burning cross? Regardless who is coaching, that is a tough opening schedule. I hope we have patience.
These are two of our trouble teams. Memphis LAST year 1-3 Sacramento LAST year 0-4 I fully expect to play better against these teams, comapared to last years team. If you turn the ball over against the Kings or Grizz, they will make you PAY! The rest of the teams on your list, we either won the series, or split.
Oh Basketball god , I read that when it was first posted. And while efficiency is important, can you not have more total posessions (faster offense), be less efficient and have more points thereby winning more games (the true bottom line)? The bottom line is will you score more points than your opponent, not were you more efficient in your posessions than your opponent. Did JVG improve the D and decrease the opponents D? Of course. That's how they got away with scoring fewer points but picking up a couple more wins. And D is very important in winning - Jeff has improved the D - kudos to Jeff. Did he improve the win % of the Rockets? Yes, by a very small that you could argue that another year together would account for. Did JVG add more discipline? Yes - this is the one thing that the team needed and he put into place - kudos for that. Did Jeff improve the O? While it was time to play another game besides ISO, I'd say he didn't improve it. Will he take us to the next level? I hope so, but I can help but wonder if we wouldn't get there quicker if we had a better O coach.
We tried to play less ISO. But our "best" players strength (Francis) wasn't team oriented, he was more iso-oriented. Nor was *giving the ball to Yao* his best strength (obvious). It was apparent that it wasn't going to work. Francis had to go. JVG tried to mesh Francis and Yao into a unit. That HAD to occur in order to move on to the next level. JVG can't just give Francis the ball, improve our offense output (stat wise), but hurt the team and freeze out Yao. That can't happen. No matter how much we would've liked more points from Francis. The big question is, is TMac capable of understanding Jeff's offense compared to Francis. I think so. Jeff has more talent to work with. And more talent that is willing to work within the system. *Truly* willing.
Better talent. i.e. McGrady > Francis (turnover problem) Howard > Cato (2 foot layup problem) These things are obvious.
...and I am telling you that before the San Antonio game on the radio on Sportsradio 610, Van Gundy said that he didn't believe in "better talent." He elaborated by saying that the league was the 400 best basketball players in the world, so anybody should be able to win.
I'd have to hear the show figure out what the context was. He probably was taking about the importance of *team* building. You can SPIN IT anyway you like. It's in your best interest. If you think that if you went up to Van Gundy was asked him if he had a choice between Andrew DeClercq and Shaq O'neal....that it wouldn't matter? Sure, whatever. Just remember, as the Rockets improve, you don't. Kinda sucks rooting against the Rockets, huh?
Whatever. That was pretty much all they played, other than some lame statement about "Reporters don't say they wrote a bad column because of lack of talent." If I had to guess, he was claiming that the talent level is reasonably close between any two NBA teams, and poorly restating football's "any given Sunday" axiom. However, that is purely supposition, as I've told you what was actually aired, and it definitely included the claim that he "didn't believe in better talent."
That's exactly what edc is doing...spinning. It was clear that JVG was saying preparation and learning good basketball habits are the most important things to win in this league. He was saying that it's kind of ridiculous that player always say "I don't understand why we're losing, b/c we have so much talent on this team. " But the talent doesn't mean crap if you have bad basketball habits and don't prepare. Hmmm, I wonder who he was talking about...
The thing is, if you have more total possessions, then the other team does too. In fact, the more efficient your offense is, the more a slower pace favors your team. It doesn't matter how many total points you score, what matters is the difference between how many points you score, and how many your opponent does. If every game you played had a final score of 2-0 that would still give you a record of 82-0.
