I'm sick of Van Gundy too, and I don't even get to watch most of the games. I'm so sickened by what he has turned this team into - a Big East dinosaur. I obviously don't question management's desire to put, not just a winning team, but a dominating team (think dallas for the last x number of years as opposed to SA), but just think to yourself, do you any resemblance of either when you see this team play? I mean, let's not kid ourselves, how many times (excluding the injury depleted games) were you really confident during a game this year, that the rockets were in total command? I look at it this way, I'm always HOPING they will eke out the win, rarely ever do I turn the game on thinking they will dominate. JVG has put together a bunch of pieces that do not fit into his system.
For those of you who are just now showing up to this thread, I've highlighted the only relevent part.
The organization should find out who has brought all those bad lucks to the team and fire/trade them, be it a player, coach, management or...owner!!!
Francis for Stro+Rafer+Juwan? Francis's value is probably at an all time low, he's got three more years on his contract, potentially two (valuable in his last year as an expiring contract to trade). Providing Rockets bring over Spanoulis and Rockets re-sign Bogans, Hayes, and Wesley. There'll be room for two draft picks and a free agent (Cato for the minimum?).
Thanks topfive, but you are in total denial. Something drastic has to occur quickly, or the TMac/Yao combo goes to complete waste. I hope that I am completely wrong about this, but I think it is time we faced the music.
According to NBA.com, the best outside shooter that the rockets have is D. "one field goal each game" Wesley, he is ranked as 83th in 3point% in the league. This means, every NBA team can find about 3 shooters on average who are better than the best shooter that the rockets have. No matter the rockets suck.
I LOVE this trade idea. Then we can trade Luther Head + T-Mac + Rybo for Kwame Brown and we'll be UNSTOPPABLE!
Francis was the main reason the playoff series against the Lakers wasn't a farce. Juwan & Stro have been disappointing. Stro was supposed to do what Cato did but he's too soft. Cato's available next season. Bye bye Stro.
What really scares me is that JVG may not know how to evaluate talent. This year is the first in which he has had major input into our summer recruiting, and both of the important signings (Stro and DA) have been busts. Why is JVG so fond of ex-Knicks? I am beginning to conclude it's because he doesn't trust himself to pick the talent -- and so he leans on the players selected by an acknowledged master (Pat Riley). This is not my firm conclusion yet, but it gets firmer with each recruiting disaster.
I used to be a staunch JVG defender, now I am more indifferent of him. I still defend him when I get the chance, seeing as it's not his fault the injuries occurred in such mass numbers this season. However, JVG wants things done his way and he wants the players that do the things he wants done his way of course. What JVG fails to do is evaluate his players to see their strong and weak points and set a gameplan accordingly. I think sometimes his substitution patterns are downright ridiculous and sometimes they work for the best. The consistency is not there, however. In defense of JVG, we should give him another season with healthy players. Same goes with T-Mac, we should definitely give him another relatively injury free season before even 1 more "Trade T-Mac" thread pops up. His style may not be pretty, but this team got 50 wins last season, that's all I care about.
This team has already been dismantled by injuries. There's nothing we can do about rebuilding it until the offseason, so I don't understand what the point of this post is.
At this point, I only care about is the next few years and beyond. This has to be, with the high expectations we had, one of the most disappointing seasons ever endured by NBA fans. (Gads, I sound like Bill Walton) How much patience should we have - when virtually everyone on this board sees all the ineptitude - should we have? How is it possible, with a nucleus of tMac and Yao, to assemble a team of scrubs around them? Would Phoenix do that? Dallas? San Antonio? The Yao/TMac window of opportunity will soon be gone.
Sometimes you get the bear. Sometimes... the bear gets you. (With respect to Yao, that is FAR from some kind of Eastern thing.)
per Shady McGrady: "In defense of JVG, we should give him another season with healthy players. Same goes with T-Mac, we should definitely give him another relatively injury free season before even 1 more "Trade T-Mac" thread pops up. His style may not be pretty, but this team got 50 wins last season, that's all I care about." Agreed. I canot blame Van Gundy for our talent drought. I like Alston-keep him. I like Hayes, Stro, Head and Bogans. We need a 4 really bad to help Yao. Stro is doing better all the time, but we are really weak at power forward. Keep Van Gundy another season. We would have to buy out his contract anyway and I do not see a better replacement out there. I would like to hire Mario Elie as Head coach, but we should let Van Gundy field another campaign next season. He gets a pass for the injuries. Hire Kiki VanDerwegh after CD steps down and get some more talent.
