Who would you prefer: Jeff Van Gundy or Larry Brown?

JVG all the way.

Larry Brown seems like he's exactly what we don't want here.. some coach who let's his star player run amok on the floor and off. Granted AI deserves his long leash.. but please.. we need a hardassed coach like Jeff.

 

Yeah, Larry Brown was afraid to clash with Iverson.

 

Hard to go wrong here. Van Gundy and Brown are both great teachers, which is what the Rockets need. The Rockets often times run around like chickens with their heades cut off. Both of them would instill some discipline that we desparately need. Both of them are also very emotional, but I think Brown is more prone to meltdowns that could possibly distract the team. And his age should be a consideration as well if we're thinking about a long term hire here. He's approaching Hubie Brown territory.

One other thing differentiator is the players that the 2 have coached. Van Gundy, going back to his days as an assistant to Riley, had a big man as a focal point of his teams with Ewing and to a lesser degree, Marcus Camby. He always had steady, unspectacular players as his PGs (Mark Jackson, Ward, Childs). He could do very well with Yao.

Larry Brown has coached all sorts of players, but based on how he has improved Iverson's game, i'd love to see what he could do with Francis, who like Iverson is an explosive guard with both strong scoring and passing abilities. All this is not to say that Van Gundy couldn't help Steve's game and Brown couldn't help Yao improve because both are great coaches. It just means that past experience should be worth something.

All that said, I think Van Gundy's the guy. I like his age, his upbeat attitude, teaching ability, unexpected sense of humor, and brains. He gets the most out of his players. And seeing how this will soon by Yao's team, his experience in developing a team around a big man is a definite plus.

 

Jeff Van Gundy.

Sure, he quit on the Knicks. But the Knicks' organization is screwed up. Gigantic head-case contracts. A donut team, no one taller than 6'8". Going nowhere fast.

I don't agree that the Rockets wouldn't improve under a different coach. Parting with Rudy also severs those ties he has with certain players (Mobley, his adopted son; EG, who might be good one day but is now only on the roster because neither RT nor CD would give up on the guy they wasted three #1 picks for....well, maybe not wasted, depending on whom we trade him for).

Parting with Rudy also gets us past (hopefully), "We're the youngest team in the league" and "If we were in the East, we'd be in the playoffs."

Larry Brown is 65 years old and constantly trades players, every year another desperation move.

 

Since you posted the same thing in another thread, I'll do the same:

The Spurs were 21-61 in Brown's first year. The next year they got Robinson and went 56-26. So basically Robinson was completely responsible for that turnaround. The next year they went 55-27 and lost in the first round. Brown left SA when they were 21-17 in his 4th season. So here you have his track record with an extremely talented, mobile big man.

In his only full season with the Clips, they went 41-41. This was with talent such as Danny Manning, Ron Harper, and Loy Vaught, all playing at their peak.

His team just lost to the Pistons this year, despite a huge talent advantage.

Brown is severely overrated.

 

how about coach Ms. Yao

 

you forgot to put his honda civic in

 

While i agree that what you say about Brown is true, what in JVG's rather short coaching experience leads you to conclude that he is a long haul kind of guy?

 

Larry Brown by a landslide over JVG. I would also prefer Dunleavey or Silas over JVG. What about Del Harris?

 

i like JVG for his hard-nosed defense. Rockets could be one of the premier teams in the NBA with the right coaching.

 

Brown does have almost legendary wanderlust....That said, he has been at Philly now for about as long as anyone in the NBA has been with their current teams. It is a concern, though.

Having said that, we are talking about one of the better coaches in basketball history, and probably the best all around coach in the NBA today. If there is any chance we could get him, we should go after it with all three hands. Coaches are usually teachers or motivators; offensive thinkers or defensive gurus; good with younger players or more of a veteran's coach....Larry Brown is all of the above. He is a fantastic coach, and the only weakness he has, his wanderlust, is the only reason there is any way he's available at all.


Jeff Van Gundy is a very good defensive coach who has never demonstrated any ability to run an effective offense other than that which feeds off of the defense, has never really developed any younger players, and also has staying power questions, despite having a much shorter career than Brown.


This isn't even close.

 

Can you say "Downtown Larry Brown." It does have a nice ring to it.

 

Van Gundy OR BROWN ???

My preference is Lary Brown .

 

You should have started a poll.

I like Brown too.

Don't know how we can get him though.

 

LARRY BROWN definitely.

Just someone please tell me how we could get him.

Larry Brown is a genius. He is great. He knows how to utilize players.

And if we do Hottodities trade with Miami.......we could be like Snow and Iverson with Ford and Francis. Larry Brown is great with that.

And he knows how to use big men.

JVG would be nice too.

 

I can't stand Larry Brown.

He doesn't have the proper mentality or mindset that we need. I will never forget when he was coaching the Clippers about 10 years ago and they played the Rockets in the first round. They were down in the series and he was being interviewed and he basically admitted that he felt his team would get beat in the next game by the Rockets.

That stuck with me all this time. Thats something you just dont do. You should always have the mentality that your team should win that next game.

 

Larry Brown thinks practice is fundimental

Iverson, during one of his post game interviews was questioned about missing practice.

Iverson responded by saying, we talking about "pwactice man". It's not a game it's "pwactice man".

 

Iverson does not have a speach impediment. He may say some stupid things but don't stereo type him

 

How am I stereotyping him? Geeeeeez. I just thought it was funny how he said "Pwactice" during that one interview and the fact that he was down playing the importance of practice...

I would suggest, you enjoy a long walk outside and stare at the bees and the tree and enjoy the rest of your day And when you feel better, then start posting again...

 

Couldn't get ahold of EG to score so I didn't feel like taking a stroll. I did let my dogs loose, they ate one of the noisey Kidds in the neighborhood, I feel better now.

I have never heard Iverson say Pwactice, his pronouced his R's very well in the press conferance about the the practice comments by Brown. He may have been over emphasizing them but wasn't mispronouncing them. Had you been bagging on his opinion of practice without the implied ebonics i'd have been cool with it. Save the phonetics please.

Nothing personal was intended by it. This is probably the result of a very touchy friend being over sensitive and it rubbing off on me... sorry.