http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Practice_Recap_030206-170427-822.html Rockets.com: Carmine Pirone With a stretch of four games in six days on the horizon, the Rockets took it easy Thursday and gathered to watch film of last night’s loss to the Sixers for about an hour. Luther Head did stay late to work on his outside shooting as did David Wesley and Ryan Bowen. Gerald Fitch, who has yet to suit up for the Rockets since being acquired from the Heat for Derek Anderson, stayed late to work with the coaching staff as Houston continues to search for a back-up point guard. The Rockets will have a shootaround tomorrow morning before they welcome the Denver Nuggets to town. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m BUY TICKETS HERE Rockets Post Practice Quotes 03.02.06 Jeff Van Gundy (on whether the team has accepted its fate at this point) “I think it is more so individual. You have to be, even though we have a mediocre record, be a mediocre player or mediocre team. That’s all dependent on how much you’re willing to put into it. You’re certainly not always going to win, but you can always put forth great effort and great passion and discipline. Particularly after a loss, I’ve never been around a group that would put so little into their work after a loss.” (on how the team’s attitude can change on a season-to-season basis) “Last year this was not the case. The year before, this was not the case. We had a much greater competitive spirit my first year and last year than this year. This year, too often, we’re mediocre about how we go about our defense. In all aspects, we’re just half-hearted at best.” (on a quickness disadvantage last night) “There wasn’t a quickness disadvantage last night. There was an intensity disadvantage. Against Phoenix, there is a quickness disadvantage, but there was also an intensity disadvantage; there was both. Last night there was no quickness disadvantage. (Allen) Iverson’s great, don’t get me wrong, but we had plenty of time, plenty of quickness to get in front of him with help. They (Philadelphia) don’t stretch you the way Phoenix does.” (on what he and the staff can do to address the energy and intensity problem) “You know what, and I really do believe this, all 30 coaches in this league all care the same about the results because their jobs are all tied to results. They prepare, they care deeply. The difference is in the care factor of your team. You can tell in the way we lost these last two games that our care factor in those games was really low, very low. There is no easy cure for that.” (on three-point shooting) “We’re 16-68 over the last three games. That’s 24 percent, and most of them are wide open. Now the bizarre ones that we are jacking up in the last seven minutes of the game have been contested. Now everybody says you need to run, but the reason you want to run is to get a better shot in transition. We can get good shots in the half court; we don’t make them all the time, but to take ill-advised shots when we have Yao and Tracy is unacceptable. You can get a decent jump shot anytime.” Juwan Howard (on uninspired play) “Coach is entitled to his opinion. If you look at the tape of yesterday’s game, which we witnessed earlier, it was disappointing to watch. At times you feel like you are giving more than you’re giving, but sure enough, when you watch that tape of the game the night before, it shows you something entirely different.” (on whether he can dictate effort) “We, as a group, need to go out and give a great effort night after night. Coach pointed out that there are a number of guys not doing it. Especially when you are playing the game of basketball, something I feel we all truly love. I know in my opinion, I enjoy it every minute. I try to go out there and play hard and just be a leader on and off the floor. I think all of us feel the same way, but sometimes we lack that on a consistent basis.” (on whether he sees the defensive problems as a lack of quickness or effort) “Our defense needs to improve; that’s a fact. I think last night Philly shot 53 percent from the field – that’s unacceptable if you want to look at it from a Rockets standpoint. We pride ourselves on defense here. Coach, of course, stresses it and you guys know that. Defense is what wins games in this league night in and night out. Lately, we haven’t been very good defensively.”
Good, I want to see Gereld Fitch. I am tired of Luther Head. He is a horrible point guard and he can't shoot so he is a horrible SG too.
This is really disturbing. I'm beginning to question if these guys really want to make it to the playoffs. Mediocrity is not an option for us anymore.
Yeah man. JVG is so fed up he's at the point of not caring anymore sounds like. I saw the effort from T-Mac (for the first time in many games), from Yao, from Hayes, Juwan was hitting his shots, but no one else. Wesley and Alston seemed hesitant to give the ball to McGrady or Yao in the clutch. Alston didn't play D all game. I have this empty feeling in my stomach, and no, I'm not hungry. The team I love is not only losing, but they don't seem to care (with the exception of Yao) either. Instead of picking up our energy, we're losing it. This team is dying. We need to pull out of this bullsh*t. The loss hurt, but not as much as poor decision making and energyless play in the clutch. Sometimes the shots don't go in, as was the case with Yao's last attempt, as was the case with T-Mac's deperation three. If we don't beat Denver...I'm going to be REAL ****ING ANGRY.
That's how important Sura is to Rockets. He plays hard, and he'll make sure everyone else plays hard. Rockets need a leader. Hopefully Yao will develop into one.
Gee I begin to dislike JVG more and more. First I don't like that he always put the blames on his players, and never himself. Listen to this, he basically just said that all coaches in the NBA care (and so he cares), but some of his players don't. If you go back to read his post game comments, this is pretty much what he says after each and every loss: we lack intensity, we lack passion. Come on, I also care, I can bring intensity, can I play for you? Is intensity and the so dame called heart the only things you can come up with as you are searching for reasons that cause your team's not so great performance? Don't you think there is some room to improve on your game plan, match strategy? Other than Yao, almost everyone else on the team was acquired with your consent. Didn't you see any "heart" problem in them before getting them here? Second, he is not being fair to all of his players. Talk about taking illadvised shots, TMac (and Yao to a lesser degree) had a fair share of them last night. But no, that's not a problem. It is only the "other guys" that can't take illadvised shots. Way to bring up your team spirity coach! Until JVG starts to realize his own problems he will never be able to turn this team around.
Star players vs. role players If I had to choice of whom is going to take an ill advised shot I'd rather it be T-mac or Yao as opposed to Wesley or Rafer
i agree i cant really recall JVG ever saying maybe i should have subbed a different guy in, or maybe i should have played zone during that strech, or even maybe i should have called some different plays.
JVG is right on the money. The coach can only do so much to motivate his players. Its up to the players to be motivated on a day to day basis. I work in sales and let me tell you there are days when I don't feel in the mood to do anything sales related. but I have to motivate myself to do it because its my job and if I don't sell anything I don't make any moeny. In other words there is no coach there to motivate me, I have to do it myself. Its not the coaches job to motivate the players, its the coaches job to develop a gameplan and coach the players. The salary they earn and the goal of obtaining a championship is what is supposed to inspire them, not to mention the fact they are getting paid a kings ransom to play a kids game. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson didn't need coaches to motivate them on the court....
Well, it's entirely on JVG and CD, as much as he tries to deflect his share of the responsibility for the team's lack of 'inspired performance' this entire season. It's all really very simple and can be explained as follows: JVG/CD have turned a high-energy and cohesive group of players on a team who really enjoyed playing and pushing one another to a team with low-intensity players and thus an inconsistent team. It's not just injuries to a player like Sura, it's trading away the likes of Mike James (a pitbull along with Sura) and Jon Barry (a fun guy who ALWAYS got his team going on runs and turned up the energy level on the court every single time he played; just look at last season), and also signing a player like Stromile Swift, who seems to embody the low-intensity, inconsistent, low overall basketball-IQ of this team. Personnel, personnel, personnel...they make all the difference in the world. It's not just about talent, it's about the right pieces around your core. If your core lacks sufficient intensity as Yao and McGrady often are (sometimes they show it, but not all the time), then you bring in players who make up for that and get them going, just like we did last season. Let's not beat around facts here: The GM and the head coach are solely responsible for personnel on this team. As things stand, the personnel on this team has failed to do or give him what he wants, that's on HIM and CD, not anyone else. Also, the players didn't show lack of 'effort' or intensity last night, that's BS, they just couldn't make shots and it cost them dearly. They were trying and played well for the most part, but couldn't make shots. Not making shots is a sign of a bad shooting team, which we undeniably are, but it is NOT a sign of "low-intensity" or "lack of heart" or any other BS like that. JVG is starting to get on my nerves, and I was a BIG supporter and defender of his in the past, but trying to 'pass the buck' is weak and self-serving...you keep doing that for long and your players will quit believing in you and will stop fighting for you. Hope you don't wear out your welcome in that locker room soon, JVG, tread lightly.
Not only that, but they both played their ENTIRE careers with Hall of Famers on their rosters, and knew they were contenders every single season...that's usually a very good motivating factor. It's ludicrous to compare us or any other team today to those two legendary franchises...man look at those rosters for God's sake.
Smells like the beginning of the end for JVG. When a coach says his players don't care that means they are tuning him out and they've lost their confidence in his system. How many guys do we have left to waive or trade? We are getting down to trading our main guys in Yao or T-Mac or guys we just acquired like Alston or Bogans. I have to believe the team will part with JVG before it parts with many more players.
One of them was coached by a JVG copy cat, also known as Pat Riley. Coaching is very much overrated, all experienced coaches are good coaches, they have some varying weaknesses and some strengths, but a well-built team will always win even if dufus was coaching them. The Pistons wouldn't miss a beat if they had no coach at all, same thing with the Spurs. Coaches can make a minor difference, but they rarely make a major impact.
