Pippen didn't suck. 14.5 ppg, led the team in assists and steals and averaged 6.5 boards. Anderson was solid. 10.5 ppg, 4.4 rebounds, and solid defense. He had the best scoring numbers of his career as a Rocket. Cato did subpar considering his contract size but he essentially accomplished what he was brought in to do. Averaged 6.2 rpg in just 22 minutes per game and stands 5th on the Rockets' all-time blocks list. His 6.2 ppg were also the best of his career. Taylor was solid as a 4 who could come off the bench and provide instant offense. He averaged 10.5 points in his 5 seasons here on 46% shooting. He'd be perfect off the bench for this current Rockets squad. As would Cato and Anderson. 3 of the 4 players enjoyed the best years of their respective careers under Rudy. So to say they "suck" is just ignorant.
I really thought JVg was the right choice for the Rockets at the time they hired him especially with Mobley and Francis and Yao trying to develop. I also thought he was the right coach to try to come in and clean up from Rudy's player favoritism which had gotten out of control. However, I now think JVG has just about used up his welcome. He reminds me of Doug Collins when he coached in Chicago, he basically developed them into a championship team, but right at the point of getting there he could not adjust properly and could not adjust properly to what Jordan and Pippen needed. Enter PJ, who inherited the team already in place and with Jordan and Pippen already groomed and he THEn made the right adjustments and moves to take them over the hump. I think JVG is the same situation, he was right to push Yao and also work with T-Mac initially, but now it's the same thing over and over, he just does not seem able to change his own strategies enough to take them over the last hurdle. I don't think Van Gundy is going to get it done.
you're putting way too much importance into what van gundy and the team did last year. throw that year out of your mind. van gundy has really had ONE season with yao and t-mac completely healthy, and we were one of the top 4 teams in the western conference that season, game 7 excluded. if you look at the second half of 04-05, with sura coming back, and the additions of wesley, barry, and james, this was offensively the most exciting basketball we've played since the hakeem days. van gundy and offense? is it possible? yes. it was far superior to anything rudy ever did with cat and steve. why these van gundy haters block that out, i have no idea. whether or not van gundy is the guy to take them over the hurdle, i don't know, but he certainly hasn't failed over and over. he's really just getting started with these two together and yao ming is just now becoming a super-star. if you were head coach would you want someone to evaluate you based on last season. be fair. that was a clusterf$%k out of anyone's hands regardless of whether van gundy was coach or not. other then pure van gundy haters who blindly pound on the guy, minus facts, i just don't understand the point of evaluating last year, especially when you have tangible evidence of what this team can do under him with yao and tracy healthy. he's not always a fun personality during the season, and the marketing people sure hate him, but that's not important if the players love him. you can even argue all you want on his gm skills but as a head coach i think he's fantastic.
great post. honestly man you're one of the best posters i've ever read in this forum, hopefully you stick around for a long time.
Thats fine. He prepares well, but has never won a thing in his career. He doesnt develop young talent, and his offense seems very stale. His defensive schemes seem to work pretty good, but the team gets burned on the perimeter. Aside from that he isnt the worst out there, but he certainly doesnt belong in the class of elite coaches, or with ones that have won championships over the last 15 years or so.
good grief man.... over the last 15 years these head coaches have won championships: pat riley larry brown greg poppovich phil jackson rudy t now out of that extensive list of available head coaches, who btw, are the only ones you apparently have deemed capable of coaching the rockets, which ones do you think we can get? i'd say the only ones remotely possible would be larry brown and rudy t. i love rudy but he wasn't doing anything with the team before van gundy and likely he doesn't want to coach anymore. i also am a larry brown fan but since you don't like van gundy good luck getting used to LB. i really don't know who you want to realistically coach this team and who also has "won something" in this league. i'm not going to argue the other stuff anymore, it's obviously pointless.
Me thinks the coach's influence on last season has been blown out of proportion. If we can get healthy, nobody will be talking about sacking Van Gundy, that is obvious. But if we cast our minds back to when we first hired Jeff, people were generally pretty happy with him as a guy that could control the reins of a team that had been, for the most part , fun to watch, but ultimately defenseless and inconsistent. With a healthy lineup on the floor, Rocket teams under Van Gundy have played with a more consistent intensity and defensive effort - and generally had more success. Of course what i'm alluding to is the fact the coach can't manage injuries. If we sneak through one or two more savvy moves via MLE/trades before the new season, no one will deny this is Gundy's litmus test.
None of those guys developed here. Taylor was better in LA, and progressively got worse during his time in Houston. Cato had his best yet his first year here and got worse over time. Anderson had a good first year and then went downhill his second. Rudy could never fit Pippen into his system. The guys who had "career" years (Cato and Anderson) did so simply because they got more minutes for the first time. None of these guys ever progressed in their time under Rudy, which is what developing players (and thus this thread) is all about.
Van Gundy has to prove that his eyesight is normal, he has very limited vision and very impatient on preparing for the future. The win in Denver due to his over blown win now crap cost us Brandon Roy and Yao went down with foot broken later on. His favoritism on ready to contribute but old and washed up players like Mark Jackson, Charlie Ward, Rick Brunson, Moochie Norris, Vin Baker, Charles Oakley and so on shows zero consideration for the future. He will play those players until they burn out but young guys like John Lucas III played well for the Rockets then was let go. Now they have to compete reportedly with four teams for his service. He plays rookies but the rookies need to show him that they can play like vets before given time to develop in real games, and playing time is nothing consistent compared to the old warts like David Wesley who can suck for 5 games and still get his normal minutes. Contrary to what JVG claims, it's not the best players who get the minutes, it's the proven old dogs get the minutes. There is no future in JVG's dictionary, only past and now.
Good grief is right, and you didnt address my points. The team needs a coach who will allow them to be somewhat creative and call more than 3 plays. BTW, Phil said he wanted to come here to coach Yao before he signed in LA and they ignored him and gave JVG that extension.
