JVG and CD set up this team as a WIN NOW TEAM with a championship as its goal. Win Now Senario Failed to produce the required result. Now is the time for a different approach........A change of Coach and improved Roster is the answer.
Would they be doing the same thing if the team folded in Yao's abscence, just like they did with T-mac's last year? Would they all get another pass and pray to god for better health next year? You say it was a WIN NOW team... tell me how a team should have a prayer of winning now when they miss one star for 32 games, and have a disjointed surrounding cast with zero athleticism. Also, how do they improve the roster? How do they move unmovable guys? How do they acquire talent by trading their scrubs? All of this is easier said than done... Morey better know what the **** he's doing, or else this team is screwed with or without JVG. Oh, and btw, it will be fun to see a MIT stat geek, who's never built a team before, try to paint a masterpiece using the fingerpaint we've got here... all because Les is enamored by the "next best thing" of moneyball in the NBA. Hell, the same people advising him on this are probably the same people who told him to fire Calvin Murphy, and invest in milkshop.com (a company that sells designer clothes to freaking babies).
Maybe we need to objectively evaluate the period where Yao missed 30+ games and be less of a revisionist. The reasons the Rockets were 20-12 without Yao are: 1) TMac was clearly a vastly different player from the one we saw in the early season, thanks to the "witch" Doc in Waco; 2) Deke found fountain of youth; 3) Juwan played like a man possessed. Even so, the miracle was not sustainable, as in last 8 games of the Yao-less period, the Rockets were only 3-5, losing to such scrub teams as Boston and Atlanta. If JVG were a coaching genius, Yao would not have to come back that soon and could afford more time to recover. JVG ruined the future of this team by not developing role players and a deeper bench and by enforcing a predictably rigid offensive scheme that relies overly on the individual plays of the two stars who are not 100% physically. The damage can only be reversed by sending Gundy's ass back to New York, or whatever NBA franchise he wishes to destroy.
Two main ways to get better. Trades and drafts. Coaching helps and it looks like we will get I assume an overall better coach. JVG though arrogant etc. does have his strengths. Nick, Yao, McGrady and Battier to a lesser extent are moveable. These guys are not scrubs, that is why they can acquire talent by trading them. Our drafts have not aside from Yao been that good. We have done two good trades. Clearly the T Mac trade was very good. The Battier trade was good, but perhaps not as good as many of us thought, after we initially hated the f***out of it. I was there at the Toyota Center booing like the rest of you all. I liked the Battier trade, but am now wondering about it. Certainly an OK trade. The 26th pick won't do it unless we get lucky. I and others have proposed trading T Mac, whose value should be fairly high as his back is looking better than we thought several months ago. Battier's value will never get higher. Yao's value is likely lower than it should be. HOld on to Yao. Of course to make a killer trade requires luck, too. Coaching changes require some luck, but given JVG's overall picture, I think we don't need great luck to do better.
You say you want to objectively evaluate things, then you attribute all their success to witch doctors and fountains of youth? I understand that the players manning up was the reason why they sustained themselves... and I credit JVG with SOME of the mindset that was instilled for them to do so. Also, if we're going to give credit simply to the players for playing well in that stretch, why don't they get the blame when they don't play well? Why does the coach get all the blame for that? Fine... if getting rid of JVG magically produces future superstars (like V-span and Novak), go for it. If it magically cures our star players from chronic and acute injuries, so be it. If it magically produces a GM that's able to acquire talent on the same level as the other contenders in the west (who all go 7-8 deep), so be it. My whole point is that our team buying into the WIN NOW mindset is a big reason why they were in the position they were in (which will ultimately result in somebody losing their job).
You say they're moveable, then you say to not trade Yao. Which one is it? Also, Yao has the most value... even if its not as high as it was before the broken leg. I'm not saying I'm for trading any of them... I'm just saying it will be impossible to completely "rebuild" this team out of the "win-now" roster to something more viable without moving a piece of value.
I have seen so many posts like this: When the team wins, the credit goes to players; and when the team loses, the coach should take all the flame. Yeah, it is just that easy!
I think Yao is the one to keep, especiially what I consider his temporarily relatively low value. Also I still think his health is better than T Mac's.
That's fine. I still don't think he can carry a team on his own, and needs major help... and if T-mac can't give it, I don't see them getting enough value for Tracy that could possibly give it.
BIG ELEVEN Please note that many Rockets fans are not just upset with the coach, they are also upset with the Rockets Management who agreed to let JVG have this WIN NOW Scenario and the managements selection of players in the drafts of many years and the many trade mistakes they have made. These together with the way the wool has been deceptively pulled over our eyes, season after season, convincing us that they have put together great teams - time after time the management sells us a box of tricks and according to an article on this very Forum they are considering to attempt to do it once again. All this deception and failure on the part of the Management, the team and JVG ultimately must fall at the feet of Les Alexander. Les is the only one who can bring about change and improvement. If he truly believes it is warranted
For me, the win now rant was a farce. We needed assets. I felt that adding Battier would mean little to nothing in the bottomline compared to say adding Rudy or even Roy. It is a poor choice imho because we made the move with poor logic on our side. The way the NBA and the game was going last year and this one going forward assets and building blocks was the key especially considering how fragile Tracy was/is. I am afraid that we made a big mistake but I am not sure how far it will hurt. I am somewhat glad CD is on his way out for he must share in this blame. We were not any closer to the main thing with the draft day trade than we were before it - that much seemed obvious to me. Finishing 4th, 5th, or 8th matters very little if the bottomline is not reached. Give me JVG's head on a platter. Good bye CD.
This is exactly what I've been thinking. JVG is magical in getting a mediocre team play good. He is also capable of getting a good team to play...well... good. But he is unable to get a good team to play great. And I don't know what he could do if he were given a great team. My hunch is, with JVG as the coach, the team will always be an above average team, but never an elite team.
Our best 3 players are all perennial first round losers. This team needs a winner coach badly. Larry Brown is a proven winner.
Larry Brown would be my first pick, followed by Rick Adelman but either will do for me. A proven winner is something that must be looked upon when deciding the new head coach but just as important is how good they are offensively as a coach. The Rox don't need another defensive coach because they had one of the best last season with JVG and from my point of view, most of the players should of learnt how to play defense under JVG and all they need is a coach to come in and show alot more on the offensive end.
Good assessment. I don't understand why he isn't in college. With his style he could do some serious damage. He'd easily overtake overrated guys like Billy Donovan, Bill Self, and yes... Coach K in prestige. He just needs someone to recruit for him, Im guessing Charlie Ward.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4795041.html Eagerly awaiting Morey's first major move.
I don't understand all the love for Larry Brown. The guy is such an egomaniacal control freak that he makes JVG look like Don Nelson. You think Van Gundy runs a tight rotation to "win now," Larry Brown's scorched earth version of "win now" leaves teams crippled for years after he leaves. The guy is the polar opposite of amicable.
