no kidding. when people start pointing to stro, wells and gay as a reason jvg is a bad coach they just lose any credibility to having any basketball sense. the jury is still out on gay, but stro and bonzi? natural born losers.
i usually can't stand negative knee jerk threads, but the OP has a point. he described the Rockets spot on. In game 7, i'm longing for some accuracy as far as the shooting goes...we need to shoot like we did vs. philadelphia earlier this year...! heh...i just want to shoot myself every time yao gets the ball and either 1) loses it, 2) gets called for the offensive foul, 3) throws up a awful shot. it's just frustrating beyond anything.
Adelman again... Couldn't even make the finals with a linup of Bibby, Peja, Webber, Divac and Christie
This is a Championship Caliber Team It is just playing heartlessly and soullessly It is being coached Heartlessly and soullesly This team has no spirit. . no heart. . no Soul Rocket River I am severely disappointed
i think your statement that this is the championship caliber team is false. it has potential, but it isnt NOW. the players have played with heart, just not brains. being coached heartless? give it a rest. if there is one person that i know has his heart and mind in the game, its him
The original post starting this thread contains like the top three things I watch for when looking to identify a lack of credibility as a rockets fan, or even a knowledgeable basketball fan. Worst thread I have seen yet.
I dont think u can put heartless and championship team in the same sentence.....championship talent, yes, championship team.....NO I think we're in deeper trouble than Dallas right now (if we lose).......They just ran into their cryptonite, but us.....we have more questions, from Yao, TMAC, and JVG.......
it's not that JVG is a bad coach, or that the players are poor. the problem is a fundamental mismatch of talent to scheme. The offense is based on dumping the ball into the post, and then, if yao has poor position, kicking it back out to spot up three-point shooters. however, no one on the rockets can throw a decent entry pass. skip and head are particularly poor, with passes thrown to yao's waist, where they're easily deflected, instead of taking advantage of his height. When Yao does kick it outside, none of his shooters is consistent enough to take advantage of their open looks. when the system works, when the shooters are knocking them down, the rockets win. but when it doesn't, which is all too often, it's just painful to watch... ...and at the end of games, a run down yao has trouble establishing position, getting any sort of lift- why his he setting picks out by the three point line? this is a pick 'n roll unlike any i've ever seen. after the pick, the man with the ball, usually t-mac dribbles diagonally away from the basket, out towards half-court, with two men on him, while yao turns his back on the ball and struggles to reestablish position for a pass the other guy couldn't throw, even if he were looking in that direction. the play makes zero sense, puts both players, and the ball, out of position. the whole thing is baffling. what i wouldn't give to see the rockets run the triangle, or the spur's offense, or for that matter, the jazz offense, all designed to get cutters easy baskets- something that happens perhaps once a half for this rockets team.
This is not a championship team. Far from it. 2 stars and a bunch of unreliable role players is not enough. Neither Tmac or Yao are on par with Kobe and Shaq in their prime. NOT EVEN CLOSE. I would also say the Lakers role players did better. Didn't they have Horny and Fisher? I think both are better than our role players. I'm sorry but Battier IS disappearing in the playoffs. One good offensive game is not enough. He gets the looks but it's not falling. His defense is not exactlly super either. His one-on-one defense is suspect because he's not quick enough to stay with the fast players. He is excellent in team defense, I give him that. And Yao is not 1/2 the player Shaq was (unless he at the FT line!). Shaq would absolutely finish a play close to the basket. There is no doubt in anyone's mind when he gets the ball close in. Yao, it's a crap shoot right now. TO?, bad shot? (I'm getting to the point where a made shoot is a surprise now). It's sad really. Tmac, too many jumpers and not becoming the Man. So, if the Rockets lose game 7, then it's time for a major change and JVG knows it. He won't come back even if Les gives him a contract.
i agree except for the kobe part. kobe and tmac are basically the same player...its that shaq makes the huge difference. Plus, they had great role players that are known for big playoff performances (fisher/horry). you are on with the last sentence. I think jvg will quit if the rockets lose. i dont like it b/c i do like what he has built but he is the type of guy that will own up and be man enough to put the blame on himself, even though i still think its the players losing this game..not coaching
For those of you criticizing the Rocket's bland offense, ie, dropping it in to Yao and waiting for the double or Yao scoring it himself if the double is slow or doesn't come. I ask you this, what else can we run with Yao at center? He is too slow to successfully run a pick and roll offense because some other defneder from the weakside will always be able to drop in to stop him on the roll. Fact is if Yao does not dominate the post this team struggles, he has to make teams pay for not doubling him in order to open things up for the rest of the team. He also has to make good passes out of the post to the open shooters who have to make shots. The Jazz have defended our other means of attacking teams really well and that is the pick and roll with Tracy and Chuck or Juwon, Mehmet did an especially good job of jumping out to stop Tracy coming off the pick. The Jazz have flat out outplayed the Rockets all series long, our wins were much closer than any of the losses. I'm still waiting for examples of how JVG should have better coached the team, I wouldn't mind some zone on D to shield Yao's slowness of foot against the Jazz jump shooting center and athletic 4. But on offense I do not see any adjustment that can be made with our personnal that would be as successfull as what we have done all year, fact is our player are not making shots/decisions that they should be making in this series. I believe we are seeing and if we advance, I think we will continue to see that the NBA has become a league where the only position you can afford to have a pure role player is at the 5. The old dump it down offense that the 94-95 Rockets, the Knicks from the same years and the more recent Lakers ran just will not get it done anymore and to me that is the biggest drawback with having your center being so one dimensionaly dominant. Teams are going to run Yao to death in a long series will be able to wear him down. All throughout the playoffs this season the teams that are winning are doing it with centers who don't do much other than rebound, we are trying to do the exact opposite and we have not looked good doing it. In seasons past once the playoffs rolled around it was the half court teams that began to assert their dominance but because of rule changes, no touching on the perimeter allowing players free reign to drive the lane into a slow footed center and it is a text book recipe for disaster. I do not see a team with Yao as it's leader ever being successful in this NBA. I hope I am wrong and Yao can find his dominance but I do not have high hopes for this.
yeah this thread is really original...why don't you merge it with the otyher 5,000 I hate JVG threads...thsi is ridiculous....JVG did a hell of a job this year and stupid A$$ comments like these aren't going to change it....he was a candidate for coahc of the year for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!
I hear Larry Brown wants to coach again. He's greater than what we have in every category. This current half a coach hasn't won jack in 5 years and still has supporters on his jockstrap like a baby on nipples.
I look at JVG . . and then I think . .. Does he Coach Players UP, Down or just coach them Examples: Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson - Sloan Coached these guys up They were not as good as they appeared in Utah Tracy McGrady - he was much better than he looked in Toronto His Coach to an extent Coached him down Where is JVG in this mix? His It is what it Is mentality means someone comes to this team . . they are X he says they are X and doesn't try to make them better they are what they are and that is it He gets it in his mind . . They are this .. or they are that HE came to Houston and Said YAO WILL BE THIS there is no other options . .YAO WILL BE WHAT HE WANTS HIM TO BE and He will not entertain any other Ideas to the contrary I don't think he coaches down but I definately don't think he Coaches up Rocket River
Larry Brown!?! Good luck with that, people would be begging for JVG if Brown ever coached the Rockets, Brown brings even more of everything people hate about JVG to the nth degree
Avery isn't a bad coach, but Nelson outcoached Avery. You can't just blame players, coachs play a very big role. If you think coach is not so important, why do we need a good coach? Why do we need a coach?
For as terrible as Stromile was in a rox uni, he still averaged more points, rebounded almost as well, blocked more shots, had a semblence of an offensive game in putbacks, dunks, some low post presence, fumbled away just as many passes as, Chuck Hayes. And he could at least finish a play, which Hayes its a crap shoot. 1/3 chance he'll fumble the pass, 1/3 chance he'll blow the open layup, 1/3 chance he'll make the open layup. For all Stro's deficiencies, Chuck (once you take off your homer glasses) Hayes has the same ones, if not more. At least he could bring some weak side help shot blocking. If JVG doesnt come out and just dump on percieved "problem" players as soon as they get their rox uni's maybe our team would of been better. Stro, last year had a wonderful stretch in the middle of the season where it looked as if he was going to break the shackles of Gundyism. Just to turn and then get 8 mins one game and 0 the following. Bonzi, just needed to be incorporated. Slowly, at first, just make him feel like part of the team. Instead he got dumped on the bench. Warranted or not, he WAS an important key to this season. YOU find a way to motivate him, obviously JVG struggles in this department. How can JL3 get minutes in this series, yet Kirk Snyder continues to rot on the pine. You cant tell me JL3 is the better player. JVG just doesnt get it. Its about team, and winning before personal messages of "my way". Find a way to get it done. Look at all our players acquisitions, and FA's over the last few years. Its been downright ugly whats been going on in Houston.
Van Gundy has one reluctant, unathletic star center, and one passive, head case super star and a bunch of scrubs. He has coached the scrubs into somewhat of a supporting cast. And he has tried to get the superstar to impose his will with violence while massaging that fragile psyche. He has worked hard to get the clumsy star with the sweet shot and the fumble hands to learn to take advantage of his strengths close to the basket JVG has had to cover for his lack of foot speed on defense. That star center is slow and mechanical who has a great shooting touch and tremendous height and work ethic. We have an athletic small forward who has as much talent as anyone but lacks the toughness mentally. We have scrubs. At this point TMac steps up or he doesn't - that will be the game 7 story.
That is painful OUCH! Neither of them are What Chuckie Brown Was / . [old skool homer glasses] Rocket River
