jvg has nearly finished his job as "the cleaner" one more trade to go before the real coach takes over.
I think JVG was the right choice. He just doesn't have the right players that fit into his system yet, and he doesn't have the players that do fit into his system playing on cue the way he would like. He has a different approach than what Rudy took, but lets face it. Rudy had a laid back approach that I know a lot of people on this board grew tired of. JVG is the exact opposite; something that again alot of people on this board were looking forward to. It's hard to start asking now whether he was the right choice or not when I know a lot of people on this board were excited to see him as the Rockets headcoach. I think it's too early to judge him seeing as how he hasn't even completed a full season with this team yet with these guys. I'll give him this season and the offseason to start making some moves that would fit into his system the best, and save my judgement til next season is over, and see where our record lies then.
So it is pretty obvious JVG thinks "taking Yao out of his comfort zone" will have a positive effect on his performance - a management technique. Unfortunately, JVG has misunderstood something here, whatever little book on psychology he might have read - because he completely fails to understand the cultural issues involved. Yao is smarter than JVG would be able to understand. Being an ******* to Yao is not going to improve his performance. JVG better change his ways soon.
Would that be why Van Gundy runs the sideline swinging his arms, trying to get them to push the ball up..... he is trying to get this to happen
Indeed. "I will DEMAND that we run." You guys remember that? One of the first thing JVG said when he came aboard. It's not the system, it's the players. By now we can reach two conclusions: 1. Much of the blame that was placed on Rudy was unfair. His offense probably wasn't the street ball mess it looked like. Francis and Cuttino just did whatever they pleased and Rudy just wasn't the kind of guy to call them out. The offense won't work until these guys understand the true meaning of discipline. Didn't with Rudy. Won't with JVG. Won't with any other coach other. 2. Steve Francis is not a PG. Never was, never will be. He won't be able to run an offense. It's not just a matter of wanting to. He just isn't very good at it. The guy screws up almost every fastbreak. And don't tell me that it's because he is busy rebounding, as Kidd rebounds by himself and instantly runs the fastbreak. It's a beauty to see. How do you run when your PG has no clue to what running is about? You simply don't. 3. Steve's strenghts took us as far as they could in the past years. Unfortunately, Steve is a poor man's Allen Iverson, and that wasn't and won't be enough to get us to the playoffs. When he played to his strenghts, we barely made it twice. No one will argue that we would have been swept in the first round. Now, he is being asked to play differently, but for what he doing for us, Eric Snow for less than half the max would do a lot better than him. The solution? Trade Francis. Kidd, McGrady, Marion, Brand, J. O'Neal are players would like to see here. 4. JVG's handling of Yao is still on wait and see status. I'm really not sure what to make of it. He might seem tough, but if Yao is left to himself, I'm not sure he will bring himself to dish out the punishment he has to. It just isn't in his personality. Perhaps making him even more frustrated will eventually work. 5. The defensive effort has been outstanding. Notice that players usually don't care about defense. It doesn't show in the box scores. That shows that the players are responding to their coach, at least to what's within their abilities to do so. 6. Cato, Mo T and Cuttino are playing well. JJ, though his shooting is still slowly coming around, too. We are still a trade or two short of the team we need. If we can get the right PG and PF for Francis and others in a trade, this team could be very dangerous. Cuttino and Cato should be stay, as Yao should, obviously. JVG has my support for the time being.
Ouch. It really shows that I was half asleep when I wrote this post. The lack of the edit function really hurts. Sorry for the mistakes guys! I guess you can barely get what I meant, lol.
Sounds like an excellent analysis to me. I hope Francis will come around and I hope that whatever the heck JVG is trying to do with Yao Ming will work. I just don't like Yao Ming being treated like that, but if the future shows that it worked...
I guess that is kind of the point to me should he not ADAPT his system to his players? I think GREAT coaches adapt a system to the players Good coachs have a system If u have a team that has obvious strengths why play against them? Did Pat Riley FORCE a 6'9 Magic Johnson to play down low? Rocket River
I am still willing to give JVG some more time before I decide whether I think he was the right/wrong choice for the team. Regardless of the coach, I think the one thing that could really benefit this team, and was mentioned above by Sage and GATER, is cutting down on the turnovers! Those are just killing us. We are giving away WAY too many FGAs for the other team. I think turnovers has been our biggest problem all year long.
Over the summer I preffered Dunleavy to JVG. At this point, I think it is too early to judge JVG fully. It doesn't look great now, but things can change...I hope they get better.
Yeah I like that Rudy gave the hot handed player the green light and let SF attack the basket, but I also like JVG defensive style approach to the game. Too bad we can't have a middle ground. Sure they are winning more games but it hard to watch. Ugly Ball!
that is kind of the reason most folx upset to this point. . .we are NOT winning more games we are right about the same Rocket River
And you think scoring 65 points a game is pretty? At least I got to see some great alley oops last year. On that note, I also have to Ewing's ugly mug on the sideline this year. Argh
Les needs to put the guys in a room, and tell them that they've had two exactly opposite coaches, and the results haven't varied. They know they have enough scoring talent, and he should show them. Then he should ask THEM "What would YOU do if you were me?" If they don't get it together soon, it's time to shake this team up in a big way, we might as well give JVG a chance to earn his 4-yr contract with players of HIS choice. IMO, we trade MoT, Cato, Francis, and Mobley. Package Mobley with a big man, then Francis with a big man, get one All Star and one semi star in return. Let our own role players fill the rest of the voids.
I think Gundy learned his offensive plan from watching Hoosiers. "I want to see you pass the ball FOUR times before every shot! What, you don't wanna listen? Get your butt over here and sit with me then!" "Coach, you need one more guy out there." "My team's on the floor."
