What if Sloan, D'Antonio, or Avery coached the Rockets

If D'Antonio was our coach, we would probably have to trade Yao for a athletic center.

 

One thing is certain: regardless of who coaches this team, there would still be a group of people opposed to his being head-coach, and these people would start anti-Sloan/Johnson/D'Antoni threads at every opportunity.

 

Slightly off-topic...but when you click on a person's name, why is there a quick-link to "add to buddy list" but not one for "add to ignore list"?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

What if there were no stupid threads in the GARM?

Oh well, wishful thinking. Funny how he declares that 20%-3-pt-shooting Spanoulis would get more playing time under D'Antoni.

 

Sloan:

Our defense would be the same, however, our offense would uprade by getting Yao easy posts in the low block. Remember when Stockton set picks for Malone and usually picked up at least 1 or 2 charges on the other teams 4. Tmac would come off clean picks wide open

i dont think the defense would be the same, good but not as good. Also, i dont understand why yao would get easier post ups.


w/ d'antoni....lottery.


Avery

Would at least try Vspan and teach luther to stop turning it over or sit on the bench. His strategy is better than JVG when it comes to creating mismatches. JVG never creates a significant mismatch for Dirk who plays no D and can't check my son.

i dont know how you can say the billy would get a shot with certainty. Also, i dont think his strategy is what makes him good at creating mismatches...its his team.

what kind of mismatch do you create with dirk and this team? If rockets make a change where dirk has to guard tmac or yao, then they would just reach into their bench of tricks and counter.

 

people often critisizing JVG's offense, but truth is, when u have 2 superstars, you really dont need fancy, comlicated offense. comlicated offense are for the teams with no talent, so they can get a open shot off. when u have players like Yao and Tracy, u wanna run them off multiple screens? what's the point of that when they can get any shot off anywhere

 

V-Mac wouldn't sniff the floor with D'Antoni as coach here.

 

Dirk had to learn to shoot the ball. Specifically, he had to learn to start his shot from behind his head and release it above. That's why he's so good -- he's 7' tall, and every jump shot he takes is virtually uncontested (or he draws a foul). People simply can't reach him. And since Dirk doesn't spend a heck of a lot of time with the ball (Devin Harris, Jason Terry and Josh Howard typically do the lion's share of ball movement), you can't put a short, fast player on him to try to get steals. Dirk CAN drive to the hoop, but that is the point at which he's most vulnerable. The problem is that if you try to put someone small and quick to create a mismatch against Dirk, you leave someone else with a mismatch in their favor. Look at it like this:

Harris/Rafer - Rafer is locked by process of elimination.
Terry/T-Mac - Needs to be someone quick to keep up with Terry and stop him at the perimeter. Could switch with Battier but nothing more than that.
Howard/Battier - Needed to keep Howard from scoring in the paint. Has to draw charge.
Nowitzki/JHo - Slow and can't guard 1, 2, 3. Needs to be in position to grab rebounds.
Dampier/Deke - Deke has to shut down the paint and grab rebounds. Too slow for 1, 2, 3, 4.

I love JVG. There's a reason he's pretty much the unanimous Coach of the Year. He works with what he has. Remember that the mavs just have too many weapons. Their payroll is also the size of Houston + KG. You don't think that JVG could wipe the FLOOR with them with that?

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D'Antoni would probably trade Yao; I agree with that one. He'd need to get a better PG. Rafer's streetball skills may be good, but D'Antoni is not very successful with Barbosa (who we can all PROBABLY agree is better than Rafer). T-Mac would stay. Battier would be trade fodder to get a couple of 3-shooters. Billy would NOT play. NOT. NOT. He would try to develop him, but he'd develop Novak first. Suns win over scrub teams with high margins of victory; D'Antoni ball would give our scrubs about the same amount of time as JVG does. D'Antoni likes the 3. Big Jake and JHo would've been traded. Bonzi would be gone. With the trades available this season, the Rockets would've looked like this: AI, Snyder, T-Mac, Novak, Bynum.

And AJ would play pretty much the same a JVG. He's the type that works with whatever tools he's got. He likes a defensive, halfcourt game, so Yao, Deke, and JHo would play relatively the same. He likes jump-shooters, so Battier, Head, and T-Mac would play relatively the same. AJ is a great coach, yes, but he's nothing new and different.

 

I personally think D'Antoni is an overrated coach

 

What makes you think our defense would be the same? Utah isn't a great defensive team. They foul WAY too much. That's Sloan's style. Very different defensive philosophy.

 

What if JVG had the duo of T-Mac and Yao and some of the players from the Mavs, Jazz or Suns?

Why is it always the question of changing the coach?

 

All three teams have more talents than Rox. Sloan hasn't been able to get Utah to playoffs until Boozer is healthy and Williams is becoming a star.
Everybody says Phil Jackson is so great since he got 9 rings, but Lakers are behind Rox now without superior talants.
Every coach has strength and weakness. I don't see why those guys can do much better with Rox than JVG.

 

i actually think d'antoni is a little over rate. the suns have good talent and better depth then the rockets but its clear that they will likely lose if nash is out. nash is what makes that team so good, d'antoni kinda got lucky...right place at the right time. he's still a good coach but not as good as people make hiim out to be. they tend to lose without one of their three stars, nash, granted he's the mvp (and righfully so). but they still have two stars and cant win. we have been winning with only one star and a lesser supporting cast. so in terms of coaching, it may be that jvg does the better job than d'antoni.

 

who is d antonio?

 

DAntonio would be the only coach that would make a diffrence because his running style opens up the floor type of coaching. Then again it all depends when he would have taken over the team. If its in the last couple years with Rafer yes Rafer would have been able to showcase his talents but also he wouldn't be the only one running on the fast breaks which is the real problem with this team. But if he had the job when Van Gundy came the Rockets would have been a totally been a diffrent team we would probaly still have Francis and Mobley and they would have showcase thier talents.

 

I have said this before and will continue to say it:

The only coach that can make this team better in any way is Phil Jackson/Tex Winter. JVG has done any excellent job considering all the injuries and rosters changes he has had to put up with. Only reason Phil Jackson/Tex Winter would do any better is because of that damn triangle offense. Yao/T-Mac/Battier are perfect for the triangle b/c T-Mac already is our primary ball handler and Yao our dominate low-post player. So that leave Shane, Rafer and Head open for the 3 bombs!

 

I was just going to say ... the Jazz are actually one of the poorer defenses in the league this season in spite of their good record. The notion that Sloan's defense would be anything remotely close to JVG's is downright laughable.

 

I know the Suns are accredited to running, but the staple of their offense is the pick and roll first of all.

With that, this years Rockets team shoots just enough threes to be #2 to PHX in 3 point shot attempts, so I don't think that would be a problem either.

Yao and Mcgrady can run the pick and roll very effectively, and I do believe both Sloan and D'Antoni could make that duo work just fine.

I'd see Yao getting more looks in the high post more like Kurt Thomas would rather than being Amare-esque. Can't argue that at all.

I believe Avery would get the most out of his players making the right adjustments and creating with mismatches. He'd surely use Bonzi in the post much more than he is with this team.

Either way, I'm certain any of those guys could eek out 35 wins after coaching the team for 5 years.