I want to fire only one bullet here. MD should have won that series against the Lakers. He had the personel and the tools for the job. He had an insanely rich owner backing him up. He just blew it, period. Even Buss and Jackson openly admitted that that trophy was a fluke. JVG was strongly enticed by Reily to join him at Miami before he decided to stay with NY. You would think Reily went to Miami for the sunshine. For all the deficit he suffer in physical appearance, JVG is a REAL coach. The verdict: Hiring MD is an ultimate insult to the Rockets fans and to Rudy. Hiring JVG virtually guarantees the riddance of mediocrity.
I think SoFine is correct for the next journey, but our expectations were changed after the 2 championships. I believe that either coach will be a step in the right direction. I wish Rudy well and am glad that he will still play a major part in the organization. I believe I have heard that both JVG and MD work well with youthful players. I look forward to the final decision as I think this city will embrace it, until sonething goes wrong and then the seats will be empty. Give JVG credit for coaching in New York. How stressfull is that!!! believe
Let us add Rick Carlise. Upside. He's young! He doesn't ask for too much money! He is a genius at offense! He is a genius at defense! He has only been coaching for 2 years and in his 2 years...his team went 50-32 and won their division! And that team....HAD NO STARS. All OK players...and one monster rebounder and monster blocker and monster defender who can't even make a 1 foot shot.....don't talk about his free throw shooting. Downside. He does not get along with some people. THAT CAN CHANGE!
Downside the Rockets arent looking at anymore coaches, and besides this a thread to help us look objectively at the 2 options we have, not at the MANY we COULD have.
Sage...am in the middle of something, will respond to your excellent post more later, but for now I only have this to say: The NY offense under JVG, especially on that run in the playoffs, was charecterized by getting into passing lanes, making tunrovers, and scoring on the run, not on an effective 1/2 court system, nor a creative one. When they did get into halfcourt, they more often than not rellied on Sprewell's herky jerky 1 on 1 moves, or Houston off screens, with Camby crashing the boards very effectively at that time. Camby was not really 'incorporated' into the offense, but was just playing so inspired that he was getting tons of put backs anf fast break trailer plays... Getting Ewing involved at all, aside from being the standard dump in focus, but usually with the second team at that point, was rare.
hey macbeth, how about congratulate you on being able to write a short post finally? seriously, thanks for the great details in a -- relatively speaking -- short post. I've been confused about these two...
Carlisle VG other ok coaches horrible nba coaches horrible nbdl coaches the homeless dude "spiderman" everyone in china Dunlasty in that order. whoever it is needs help. Please get a coaching staff, les. Not one big name and a bunch of zeros. 4 quality guys, please.
SageHare6 .... I agree with you 100%. Jeff Van Gundy would be an ideal fit for our Rockets. I touched on this in a different thread about JVG's skills as a coach and its pretty remarkable how soon people forget just how successful he was during his tenure with the Knicks.. Macbeth to say he doesnt have offensive creativity is ludicrous considering during that very same championship run and the years prior, ESPN and New Yorkers alike would contemplate the very fact of whether they should sustain running the offense through Patrick, which Jeff vehemently supported. He was very loyal to his big man, ( whom was ALWAYS the best practicer on the team) which set a very good example on how to reward hard-wokers, but even moreso, it kept Allan's and Latrell's job a little easier by laying off the iso's. Why would he want to keep their legs a little fresher by running the offense through Patrick? Because at that time, yes both Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell were actually being lauded for their perimeter defense. They locked down Vince Carter two consecutive years. VERY UGLY GAMES FOR VINCE. And to further dispatch the claim that he's not creative enough offensively, he learned under Pat Riley. Even if you wanted to say Pat Riley's style isn't exactly working right now, Jeff is a basketball genius in his own right, he's smart enough to evolve with the times. He managed to get blood from a stone in terms of getting talent out of his New York teams with it universally known, on paper, they didn't compare. (ie. NBA Finals 1999 as an 8th seed) Jeff Van Gundy just needs time for his own legacy. Larry Brown's legacy is with how many teams he's serenaded to the playoffs, while teasing them just weeks later by trading key assets. I'd rather have some stability. Jeff spent six years with Knicks, lol it took Larry Brown SEVEN teams just to spend six years with a team. The Rockets all pretty much have a desire to win and succeed. Jeff is a hardass when it comes to practice and attention to detail. We have the talent, now we need the direction and the dedication. In my heart, I believe Jeff is the man and will bring many championships to Houston.
As an added twist to this discussion, I've been wondering how everyone would rate the remaining coaches on the point of being able to adjust to the opposing coach's "adjustments". I know over the course of Rudy's tenure, there were games where people posting would say that Rudy got flat out, out-coached by the opposing coach. Anybody got any specific memories of either coach in this regard?
This is where i have my problems. I agree with what is said about the upside and downside,but that clearly pisses me off because I would like to see some of those good assistants to be candidates. Its not like we would have been desperate, but guy like Jordan,Cleamons and even someone like Utah asst coach should have been involved. I mean if Cleamons has been with Phil since 91 and the guy in Utah has been there since Sloan, some or alot of that must have rubbed off. Is it a chance? Yep, but sometimes the supersafe pick isn't the one that yeilds the biggest returns. Look at Del Harris in La. His teams were progressing, 48,53,56,then 61 wins before he was canned. Why wasn't he considered?Who know if he wouldn't have led the Lakers to their next title, but wasn't given a chance. I really just have to accept it, but i think we really pigeon-holed our choices with the big name gimmick instead of the best coach for our talent.
