Van Gundy on 610 NOW !!!

I have been listening. I think I missed a big portion of it. I hope this will be in the Audio Vault.

 

Good info FAOS! Just wish we knew about this sooner. It would have been great if McGrady's name came up to get JVG's feelings towards him. JVG is never going to talk about a Francis for McGrady trade publicly but just getting some thoughts from JVG about McGrady in general would have been nice. Would be a nice public way of saying he would be wanted here.

 

Small part I listened to on the way to work, he talked about turnovers. He said the team needs to work to reduce them, that occassionally a team like the 2003 Spurs succeeds being a high turnover team, but it's rare. He said that it's tough to reduce turnovers without changing personnell, that some players are just turnover prone. Said he wasn't concerned so much about Steve's turnovers, because he's setting people up and making plays, but about the turnovers in the rest of the lineup.

One fault he highlighted was entry passes to the post. He noted that too many were batted away or not received cleanly, and that was a fault of both the post man and the passer. John or Lance mentioned that it looked so easy making entry passes when Horry did it, and Van Gundy said that part of the reason was that Horry was a tall SF, making it easy to pass over the top instead of trying to pass around the defender. He said those Rocket teams had height at the 2 with Drexler and the 3 with Horry, making those passes easier, and that's something the Rockets lack right now.

 

I think a lot of you guys would be surprised to hear how much he likes Steve. He said they played dodge ball a couple of days after the superbowl incident to let out frustration.

Also, after the interview the hosts of show were saying that he really gave the impression that if one of the guards were traded, it would Mobley. Especially the comments about the turnovers, that he wasn't concerned about Steve's. And he was asked if the team was a tweak away from being a contender or do they need some more substantial changes. Van Gundy said he would be lying if he said the team was tweak away so we should expect changes.

 

I thought he had an interesting response to the question about turnovers. He basically said something to the effect of "well, some players are just turnover prone and there's nothing you can do to change it".

I also was a little surprised to hear him mention Cat's offseason fitness. I always thought Cat was a gym rat during the offseason. I guess not.

I thought he was spot on about Yao being too unselfish. He said sometimes Yao would score on 2 consectutive posessions and on the 3rd one he would look to pass first and get his teamates involved. He said he needs to keep shooting if he has a mismatch. Screw the teammates.

 

Good messages overall to the team. I especially like the one to MoT...Rebound more, and get in great shape this offseason.

I'm surprised about his message to Cat about working harder on his off nights - and, directing personnel changes and TOs at Mobley.

Also, the message to Boki is very promissing...it's his final chance to work himself into the rotation...The playing time is Boki's to lose...

 

Faos, they never asked about TMac, I guess they knew they weren't going to get anything meaningful out of JVG's mouth on this topic.

Just a couple of correction on your summary (well, at least I heard it/ remembered it differently):
On Cat - JVG didn't say "Isolation game hurt him." He said Cat's ISO game was greatly limited by the zone defense. Lance said "Yeah, but ISO is so boring anyway" JVG replied "Yes it is, but it was effective."
On Steve - JVG tried to make him to become more of a catch and shoot player, but he is not.

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Here are some of the things I remembered by JVG:

* Steve got more blame for loses and less praises for wins.

* Yao was the opposite, he got less blame for loses and more praise for wins.

* Relationship between himself & Steve were over dramatized. The bad feeling was only there for a couple of days. JVG went and made a joke about how a few days afterward, he and Steve had a Dodgeball game to take out their fustration.

* He said he likes Steve and thinks he is a really good kid who love people and has a big heart.

* Don't believe the "It's Yao or Steve team concept".

* Yao is a perfect teammate because he doesn't need to be the #1 guy on the team.

* When asked about Steve's passing skills. JVG said "Yes, Steve turns over quite a bit, but the problem is not him. The problem is the rest of the team turn over too much. Yao turns over too much and the entry pass to the low post is often a bad one. It is partially the passer's fault and partially Yao's fault."

* Commented that people complain that Steve shot too much and when he passes, people complained about his TO. Lance then said "But his Assit-to-TO ratio are not good". JVG replied "You can not just look at his Assist #s, he make good passes that doesn't lead to immediate shots, it's his passes that leads to the 2nd or 3rd pass that led to the basket. Lance: "What about his poor shooting % this year?" JVG: "It's because he tries to be more of a passer and getting his teamates involved."

* Asked if "the TO problem can be corrected or need personal changes", JVG said "requires personal changes".

* When pressed about "Are we a team that requires a little tweak or some major changes to contend". He hesitated and originally made a comment along the line of "Well, we need to see what changes other teams make", then ended with "Looking at the top 4 teams in our conference, we need more than a tweak".

* Steve will not move to the 2, he is not a catch & shoot guy. JVG tried to make him into one but it's not his game/strength. Steve is already short as a PG, he won't be able to cover other SG if moved to 2. Would love to see Steve ahead on fast breaks with a PG feeding him the ball, but would not use the 2 PG strategy on a consistent basis.

On other players (not gonna repeat what Faos already said):
On Yao - was happy with the improvement of his defense. Yao is too passive and too nice. He will score 2 or 3 straight shot and feels like he need to pass to another player. JVG wants him to continue shooting his shots when he has it going.

On Cat - nothing more than what Faos already said. Except I was very surprised as well on the working hard on off day thing.

On MoT - wants him to be a better rebounder but does not expect to see much improvement.

On Spoon - a great trade by CD. Improved as he lost some weight. Need to lose some more weight

On JJ - a great addition. Could not have asked more from him.

On Boki - Need to improve his pull-up & shoot and be able to switch hand on his drives to the basket (made a funny comment about his drive shot, called it "that statue of liberty shot where he always get blocked". Defense got better through out the year, hence, got minutes late in the season. Good size at the 3 with length, can be a good defender in this league. Important off-season for him, but have confidence in him. Strength is not a big issue with Boki.

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Other comments by JVG:

Thinks LA can come back and win. (Damn you if true, JVG!)
Thinks Malone will be the difference, just like in our series.
Didn't see any fueding between Shaq & Kobe on court.

 

I'm convinced that JVG reads this board...

 

He actually said this? He doesn't expect to see much improvement? WOW!!!

 

Thanks guys, I just missed him on the radio.

The best thing about Jeff Van Gundy is that he never beats around the bush. Love that honesty.

 

JVG: "Steve, if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."
SF3: "What?"
CLANK!
SF3: "OWWWW!"

 

Thanks alot for the followup!

 

Somehow, I like JVG better in the offseason. Gives him a chance to let his crankiness wear off.

 

Wear down, not out. Get real, the man is a crank case. But a heckuva coach.

(PS Would neurotic Brown have this Rox team still playing???)