This years rockets personnel + JVG > than this years personnel + Rick Adelman

I don't think JVG was as bad as people say, but I still think Adleman's a better coach. We haven't even had 1 regular season game yet.

Does anyone remember how JVG's teams were doing right after he took over for Rudy? They were a mess during the first games of the season. It's going to take some time for everyone to get clicking under Adleman, but there's already a lot more opportunities on offense.

Batter and Head are playing more freely and McGrady's getting a lot more easy buckets. I still think he'll use Yao a lot down low, but I think Yao will do pretty well in the high post once he gets used to it. He's a great free throw shooter, and no one's going to be able to block his outside shot.

Give it some time, and Adleman will do well.

 

The difference is, JVG was actually good.

 

Without going back and rereading the original post (late night last night and I just got back on the BBS), I'll address your post here, Sam. Hell yes, this team would be a powerful force this season with Van Gundy. That's too damn easy to answer. It's a better team. Countless posts have been made extolling Morey's offseason moves. We have depth we couldn't dream of last season. Would Van Gundy, with the ever present (on this team) caveat that the Big Guys stay healthy, take names and kick ass? Sure.

They would be playing in a different system and under a different coach and staff than Adelman's. That's the crux of your thread. You wish Jeff had this bunch to play with. I'm sure JEFF wishes he had this bunch to play with, instead of getting in front of the network cameras again. You wish the clock could be turned back and JVG could somehow have this squad, Adelman was still pondering who to coach for, or coaching for someone else, and the coach you would really like coaching the Rocks still parked himself on the sidelines. No shame in that. Just don't base any of this on the preseason. You know that would be rediculous.

Personally, I think Adelman is a breath of fresh air, the players will "get it" after awhile, and we'll rack up the wins. But like I said, Van Gundy would do better with this team, as well. It's not Rockets science... we have a better team.

 

any good coach will do well w/ this team. u have 2 superstars. u have great role players who are legit starters. u have a deep bench. u have depth. u have playmakers outside of yao.

it's not that hard to do well. but i don't think we would have won a championship w/ JVG. why?

he would constantly rely on tmac to do everything.

w/ adelman, u see battier handling the ball a lil bit. u see tmac not looking to create ONE SINGLE time last night and looked to score. that's why he won't get tired or worn out as a game goes on under adelman.

JVG relies on his stars TOO much. he'll put the whole kitchen on tmac to run things offensively. he'll force yao to bang down low and move around unnecessarily that will tire him out.

and he won't allow the creativity of other players.

but JVG was a VERY VERY good coach. adelman is a great coach. sure he has not won, but the good thing aobut him is that he ADAPTS his system TO the players, not force the players to adapt to his, which was what JVG did.

yao talked to adelman about he's in the high post too much. the chron article writes that he's changing that. tmac is an athletic freak so adelman is adjusting his offense to that (u don't see this many isolations even in sacramento for tmac b/c no one was that good like tmac).

so RELAX. enjoy a great year. b/c it will be a GREAT year.

we'll go to the WCF at least. beyond that, we'll see.

 

JVG had four years.

Nothing but first round exits. And it style too!

He had his chance.

He would not do better with this team because he is too stupid and stubborn to have this team.

 

political and PR reasons.

 

If we are going to play this game of what if...

In DD world here is what I think that JVG would do with the Rockets roster.

First you have to assume that Bonzi would not be back, which may or may not be good, still to be seen.

2nd, I think JVG would be starting Francis and playing Mike James and Luther Head as they fit his system better than Rafer, not to say that Rafer doesn't but Francis is a better penetrator and finisher and I think JVG would have played him over Rafer.

Also, for those of you saying he would not be playing Scola, I don't agree. He would have been all over Scola, playing him instead of Hayes as JVG's system works best when you have at least 4 or 5 threats on offense.

I think the Rockets would have had a great regular season, because they all would have been familiar with the system and just adding in new components.

Then I believe they would fall apart in the playoffs due to the inflexibility of JVG's system.

As for Rick Adelman, I think he needs time, so much turnover on the roster is difficult to handle, especially when you are instituting a brand new offensive system.

So, I think JVG probably would have had a better regular season THIS year, but in the long run, Rick Adelman will have more playoff success and the team will be MUCH better at the end of the year and going forward under RA than under JVG.

Just my .02.

DD

PS. Sam Fisher, nice job sucking up to Clutch in the intitial post so you can create a thread topic that is clearly contreversial. How clever.

 

JVG would never build this kind of team. So the hypothesis is moot.

BTW, why are people still so scared about Adelman using Yao at the high post A LOT? He repeatedly, I repeat, he repeatedly said that he would NOT do that. This is preseason. Preseason is for experimenting. It is NOT an indication of HOW MUCH Yao will be used in the high post.

 

I agree that both Van Gundy and Adelman are good coaches. But they do not have similar track records.

JVG NEVER coached a good offensive team. He ALWAYS coach a good defensive team.

Adelman NEVER coached a bad offensive team. He SOMETIMES coached a good defensive team, sometimes not.

 

I don't think many of this years personnel would be here if JVG was still coaching.

 

Exactly. I think a lot of people here want to judge JVG's entire coaching career because he wouldn't play a Greek, rookie guard who couldn't shoot and was a walking turnover.

Scola is a PF version of Battier. JVG, I think, thought more of Battier as a player than he did anyone else on last year's squad.

 

Based on what?

 

It's not a question of which of the two coaches is better. JVG's system didn't work after too many changes. we'll see after 4 years if RA can stay that long.

If we look at the manager's, of course CD made some great changes too but there's no guarantee in this business. I doubt SA would win the finals last year if the Mavs didn't meet GSW in the first round.

The only way to compare is to match their past numbers.

This thread boils down to who is your fave coach question.

 

All we need is James and Scola. Francis would have come back too because he loves the city too much. THe JVG Francis is better than the Rudy-T, Isiah, Larry Brown, and Adelman Francis. Screw Bonzi. He would have come back. That's what he said in June. But even if he didn't, Snyder and Harris are even better options under JVG.

 

It's definitely to early to tell how good/bad we will be in RA's offense, especially with how much Yao is struggling.

But, with that said, had the only changes been adding Luis and Mike James last year, we would have been legit.

There is no reason to think Luis wouldn't have played. Even V-Span dismissed that "JVG hates foreign rookies" tripe. JVG loves hustle players with high IQ -- Scola fits.

Mike James, no argument is necessary. We know JVG wanted him back. That's basically two capable components replacing nothing -- both Howard and Head completely sucked in the playoffs.

As far as last night's game goes, last year I honestly felt we were comfortable against San Antonio. Not to the point where we could be cocky, but at a level where a seven-game series against them wasn't worst case scenario. We played them well. Last night, we didn't, and it was a 100% defensive failure. I don't think a JVG Rocket's team ever gave up that many open looks.

I'm sure JVG could have done well this year. Now its just time to wait and see how we fare with RA. The addition of Bonzi, easily one of our top 5s so far, is definitely to his, and our, benefit.

 

Um... the difference is that JVG was accused of not developing and occasionally offending crappy scrubs. Adelman is putting one of his superstars in a position to fail. One offense is clearly far more serious than the other.

 

When Tracy first came here and we played the Magic in Preseason play and we lost JVG was bashed too lets just wait till season and playoff results to talk mess about people.

 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. We lost that Utah series because we couldn't score. Whether you blame it on the lack personnel or on JVG's unimaginative and predictable offense or even both, we had the defense to advance without the offense. Enter RA, a labeled offensive guru, to inherit a 50+ win team and pick up where JVG's defensively proficient and offensively challenged team left off.

Personally, i've always been a fan and supporter of JVG. His style of coaching wins championships. No, he doesn't have the banners hanging to back that up but it's a verified fact that his grind-it-out style of play wins. And we won, just not enough.

I view RA's acquisition as a breath of fresh air as well and I expect great things. Great things would be possible with either coach but i'm ready to go with the offense>defense approach that Adelman seemingly brings. This group is simply too good to not try otherwise with somebody else at the helm.