since that was my post I might as well reply to the ideal 4 spot: Basically JVG said that someone who can rebound, play help side defense and is mobile enough to react of the ball on defense and athletic PFs and can PASS and MOVE in the offense are key. As well as playing of of Yao's double teams. He talked about offense and someone who can take it to the hoop also. I honestly can't remember all the little details, but I can guarantee you he sounded very unsatisfied with our guys. Earlier in the show he said you can't change a person's personality on the court referring to Yao, but I think he also means he can't change the PF's on our team. I think the funny thing is that neither Taylor nor Howard had more than 1 and a half traits he spoke of which was like 7 or so. Put Spoon in their and you might have 4-5 with all three total I think we need to use a little stem-cell cloning of Bill Russell. My guess is a Nene type who is aggressive.
cmon edc, you know you want to rip it like you did Rudy's show. If for nothing else than to extend your dislike of VG.
Nope. Had zero inclination to listen, much less record it. Besides, the sheer presence of the waveforms from his voice would probably corrupt my HD with his evil Van Gundy mojo
Jev5555 .. I can tell exactly why Houstonians dislike JVG so much. For the most part, they are women like yourself, that don't like overachieving guys from New York that tell the fans like it is in basketball. He doesn't sugarcoat anything, nor does he care if fair-weather fans like yourself hate him for being honest. People like yourself don't play basketball, because if you had, you would fully understand that a team that trades not only three of their best starters last year, but also SEVEN other players as well, can't gel after only two games. There's nothing wrong with the basketball team we have now, there's something wrong with your basketball knowledge. If you can't take a two-game losing streak to start the season, get back to crocheting and making blouses to alleviate your stress levels. Or perhaps rekindling your passion for barbie. Sincerely, A true Houston Rocket fan
LOL!!! Too Funny! I think you said what many of us TRUE fans have wanted to express lately. It is just obvious that alot of these fair-weather fans think that the NBA runs like what happens on thier PS2.
Then how can a team with almost an all new team and 5 new starters look a hell of a lot better and actually win a game while scoring atleast 90 points? I understand that it takes a bit to gell, but the team they got on the floor right now isn't even in the same book.
Which team are you refering to? The Magics? Some teams can gel quickly than other, it doesn't mean that they are better in this early of a season. They beat the defenseless Bucs who collapsed at the end of the season last year and the Magics were opening at home. C'mon people, take out your thinking cap... a little basketball knowdge will prevent you from asking such questions.
Yeah, the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat are having a hell of tough time trying to gel. The weakest thing about this gelling excuse is that according to all you posters who supposedly know soooooooo much more Bball than the rest of us told us how smart our team is now. Shouldn’t our smarter team be gelling faster than those low Bball IQ having idiots we shipped to Orlando? Don’t come with that weak stuff.
I caught most of the JVG show. He said that Cato's skillset complimented Yao very well last year at pf. He said the ideal 4 needed to be a tough rebounder, good help defender, and physical presence inside. And also quick enough to get back in transition defense. It's funny, but as I listened to him run down the list of qualifications of the ideal 4, I couldn't think of even 1 thing named that Mo', or JH does well. But pretty much everything he named was a strength of KC. He didn't talk much on the O part of the 4. He said that Yao(because of his size) has a hard time playing pick and roll, and transition defense, and always will. He said Yao needs to make them pay on the other end to make up for that. When asked about Yao's subpar play the first 2 games he said that Yao knew he had stumbled badly out of the gate, but he(JVG) had no worries, and knows Yao will come back, and play much better. A caller asked him if he thought Yao was stronger than last year. He didn't really give a definitive yes, or no(iirc). But he did make a comment about there being weight room strength, and game/functional strength. He also said that Yao gets off balance a lot, and that he would like to see him go up, and attack the basket, rather than bowling into defenders. I'm not sure if the attack the basket part is the exact wording he used.(can't remember exactly-sorry) But the up rather than into part were exact words. One interesting part was when a caller was asking him about the hi/lo pick-and-roll with Yao, and T-Mac. He was saying that it gives T-Mac potential driving lanes to the basket, and that if they double him high it leaves Yao open. But he also said that even if Yao's not open enough for a pass rolling to the hole that a quick pass out(I'm guessing to the baseline man), and then another quick pass back in should give Yao the ball with very deep inside position. He also added that the inside game is hard to get down just right. That very often you just have a second where the player is open, and you need to not only make the pass at the correct time, but that it needs to be accurate as well(not too high/low). I'm sure Yao's lack of strong hands also adds to the degree of dificulty somewhat. He talked about how we have a lack of team speed overall, and that when you have that the players have to play with awareness, desire, and smarts, helping each other out(rotations). He added that's something(s) he hasn't seen from the team yet, and will have to work on. Talked about having to give up a lot to get a player like T-Mac. Gave Steve props, saying that he didn't play nearly as badly last year as people think, and that he has as good a combination of speed, strength, and quickness as just about anyone in the league. I think he even added skill in there too but can't recall exactly so I'll leave that one out. lol When asked about how doing the show came about(since he's never done one before) he said that Les asked him to, and since he didn't have any problem with doing it, he figured he'd try it out. I'm glad they're allowing call-in questions from the fans. That's about all I can remember offhand.
Van Gundy has been very gracious to Steve and I think Steve has handled things as well as expected. Steve basically concedes his skills weren’t right for the Rockets going forward.
Given JVG's comments on the ideal 4, I wouldn't be surprised if we make a trade for Kurt Thomas sometime this year. Not sure what New York would want, but I'd gladly trade JH or Mo for KT simply because it restores balance to the PF slot.
PGabriel.. once again please refer back to basketball 101. You want to compare the Rockets starting five with the Orlando Magic starting five .. OK lets do this. Steve Francis Charlie Ward Cuttino Mobley Jim Jackson Grant Hill Tracy McGrady Dwight Howard Maurice Taylor Kelvin Cato Yao Ming We have Jim Jackson, Maurice Taylor and Yao Ming playing together for a grand total of one year. Yao and Maurice have played for two years together. Steve, Cuttino and Kelvin have been playing together for how many years? Can you think of a better TEAM player than Grant Hill? Dwight Howard is probably the most coachable player coming out this year, especially with his parental upbringing and background. So Orlando isn't so much a bad team as you think. Oh yeah they have just a tad bit of talent to go along with their names. Now to support the Rockets I love. Charlie Ward is playing big time minutes at the point this year. He hasn't done this in at least a year. Tracy hasn't found his niche in two games. He did find his niche in the third game though. Meanwhile, we lost to the defending champion Detroit Pistons in a very close game ON THE ROAD! We also lost ON THE ROAD to Toronto, who by the way, beat the Detroit Pistons tonight. Its embarrassing to have fans like this in Houston. Already crying two games into the season.
