All we need is Barbosa or a player like him. That would completely remake the look and feel of the Houston Rockets. Our greatest weakness is that we lack speed.
Some good points said in there. Jeff Van Gundy is indeed a good and smart guy, but perhaps he needs be more open-minded to the idea of playing good offense. Playing basket ball has a lot to do with energy. You play stingy defense, you burn a lot of energy. You play good offense, you conserve energy. You play poor offense, you might lose energy from sheer frustration, dullness or even hopelessness. That might be the case for the Rockets in this series. Ever since game one, you realize how hard it is for the Rockets to score. Now it's getting worse. The strategy for game 5 is to get the offense going, not defense, not mental toughness, not poise.
He is sitting on the bench and scored 4 points in 3 minutes last night and had a nifty between the legs bounce pass to set up a trailing J-Ho for a 3 point play. But our coach failed to develop him this year.......... DD
You mean JVG can only play players other coaches have developed? You trying to say he cannot develope his own players? One thing I want to say MAN! I know Yao's low post game has improve but We *really* could use the old high post game he had . .. the passing WHAT THE @#$% HAPPEN TO YAO'S PASSING ABILITY he use to be able to thread needles!! Rocket RIver
Totally agree with the point that the coach should inspire and motivate the players. That's exactly what Phil Jackson did. A lot of people say Phil is overrated. They say he wins 9 rings because of Jordan, Kobe and Shaq. Nobody ever thinks that if Phil hadn't been their coach, there might never the MJ, Kobe and Shaq we know of. They might just be great players without a ring. They say Kobe can have multiple 50 plus point games. But that doesn't happen until Phil returned to L.A. again. Look at how the Lakers are playing the Suns now. They can't win the series, but they're taking a shot. Kobe and scrubs can give some trouble to the mighty Suns...Phil Jackson plays great offense. Phil Jackson preaches good defense. That makes a great coach. If P.J. is available sometime down the road, could he be wooed to coach the Rockets? JVC is certainly a very good coach. But for now, he's the Bruce Bowen of coaching while Phil Jackson is the all-star.
IMHO, JVG is glued to his system, so much so that he hinders other aspects of players abilities to make them system players. If they do things or have talents that are outside of his system, they will not play, or get a chance to utilize those talents while playing for JVG. Examples would be: 1. Rafer is a much better open court player than he is a half court player, but under JVG he is almost all half court and his play has suffered because of it, Career lows keep happening every single year. 2. Tmac also would benefit from early offense and getting up and down the floor more, now Yao certainly slows things down but why not run when Yao goes to the bench? 3. Yao's high post game has dissappeared. Yao is a fully capable 15 foot from the basket shooter, why not put him there occasionally as a way to mix it up and have him hit cutters on the baseline on back screens. 5. Boki had started to develop and play in his 2nd year (44% 3pt shots for Rocks) and got into an argument with JVG who put him in the deep freeze and then threw him into a trade to get him out of town, now Boki has found his confidence and is EXACTLY the type of slashing/3pt shooting player that the Rockets need. 6. V-Span is a creative player, one who is high risk and high reward. Yes he has an issue with turnovers, but the more he plays and gets used to the NBA game and his teamates the better his passing would become. And one thing this team really needs is another penetrating player when team take the ball out of Tmac's hands. 7. Bonzi - Bonzi has skills, but is NOT a 3pt shooter, and his skills did not fit into the JVG system......but a good coach finds a way to utilize EVERY mismatch on his roster, and I for one would liked to have seen Bonzi posting up on Fisher or Williams.....but I also knew that with JVG it was not going to happen. 8. Zone defense - man come on....run a zone every now and then to cover up for Yao and our slow perimeter foot speed...stop the penetration. JVG is simply too rigid, and uninspiring, he will tell it like he sees it, but he fails to see that he is as big a problem as his players. JVG is too predictable on offense and defense, and unless he has major mismatches in his favor, his system will always fall short. It is the players.......NOT the system. DD
This may be true. But is it the coach's responsibility to let his star players know they are taking bad shoots? Pjax has the spine to stand up Kobe and tell Kobe to adjust his game. All JVG has done in three seasons is trying to cuddle T-Mac to save his job. JVG never has a word on T-Mac both on-court and off-court. So T-Mac is always the same old T-Mac.
Yeah, it drives me nuts that JVG is tough on everyone but Tmac....and Tmac is the one that needs it the most. Could he fold? Sure.....but he just might finally respond. DD
Thanks DaDakota- very good analysis-excellent This is the defining synthesis of JVG issues - how he utilizes his players and lacks innovation - adaptation, or adjustment to opposing team's efforts. The Rockets have not fully utilized the resources they have. JVG must be one of the poorest motivators in coaching. these guys do not look prepared or motivated-psyched. What does he say to the players in the locker room at half time last nite- --we'll never know because every one of those players fear the dog house, His handling of Bonzi, V-Span, And Boki are a train wreck in management. At at bargain - it is inexcusable that Bonzi's season was wasted. I realize much of the lack of adjustment is on Bonzi- but did this coach even really try to utilize him?????? Does the coach not have a greater responsibility than the player to define his place in the system??? Does the coach's role include reaching out to the player and helping him adjust to the coach's system? I really do not blame Spanoulis for being frustrated-was there any effort to utilize him?????? Was he even partially utilized? That money and roster spot was wasted because of some vindication executed by Van Gundy IMHO. As far as Boki goes- He could have been a fast breaking slasher type to "mix things up" if nothing else. We are not fully utilizing Yao - nuff said. He is truly special and we are wasting his full complement of talent. We are lucky he is on our team-he is not so lucky to be on ours. NBA coaches can read JVG like a book- Where has our defense gone??????????????
The stupidity of this comment AMAZES me. I mean, what the hell has Rick Carlisle accomplished over Van Gundy? If you want to fire the coach, get an UPGRADE. Why go backwards?? Stupid.
Sorry Sir- I just do not understand the brilliant strategy of not utilizing talent and filling the dog house up with people you do not know what to do with. How do we know Spanoulis would be turnover prone if we have not played him enough to know????? Why not mix up the offense just a little????.. Before the JVG zealots pile on - do not hyperventilate- I am a Rockets team fan first-I support the guy- I am just so frustrated at this point in the series. It looks like these players are on their own and searching for direction. Where is our defense???? We could not stop anything last nite. Please - What happened at the half- we were behind 5 points- could we please take T-Mac to the wood shed and motivate him to take it to the rim???? What happened at the half that made everyone come out flat?? This is a legitimate question..... Come on Sam- I'm loyal to the Rockets-but what happened- we collapsed. Utah laughed at us man!!!!!!
Some Coaches have their teams coming out of half ready to Take on the world others Have their teams coming out at half time looking like Beaten Dogs Rocket River
Wow. I commend you on taking my side comment to some other level I never knew existed. I also commend you for your lack of insight on anything other than being amazed by a comment that neither said I wanted Carlisle nor he was any better than Van Gundy. But if you must take the low road, I'll let you see how "stupid" it is to think Carlisle is a "downgrade". 2001-2002: 50-32 with the Pistons 2002-2003: 50-32 with the Pistons 2003-2004: 61-21 with the Pacers 2002 Coach of the Year 2002-2003: Eastern Conference Finals 2003-2004: Eastern Conference Finals The last year that he had any semblance of a healthy and sane squad was the 61-win team. The year after that was The Brawl. And we all know how it all went downhill after that but somehow they still managed to hang onto a 6th-seed in the East while Artest and co. were suspended for much of the season. Now tell me again, how is it stupid? And who would be your upgrade? Rick Adelman? Larry Brown? Adelman would be a better fit if we actually had any offensive weapons outside of Tracy and Yao. You can't run a Princeton offense like the one he ran in Sacramento without players that can shoot and are disciplined in cutting and moving without the ball. Larry Brown...I, suffice to say, don't need to say anything about him. All in all, everyone here wants a more offensive minded coach but do not want to lose our strong suit--defense. Hate to break it to everyone, but Adelman isn't exactly a supporter of stifling defense. Carlisle is the closest available coach out there who stresses defense but shows that he's more flexible on the offensive side than Van Gundy has. I will be waiting for a more thorough rebuttal.
what happened to battier in this serious? it seems like the focus is more on harpring than anything :/
