I don't like Van Gundy's offense very much, but think about it: we have 2 players thatwill score in any system easily. Ming and Francis will always get their 20ppg. I love the way Van gundy and Riley turn players like MoT, Griffin, Rice, and Moochie into real hard workers. If our defense is one of the best in the league (which it will be if we're coached by Van Gundy and have Ming towering in the middle), then I think the offense will come anyway.
Stubborn? Yes I would rather have that,thats a cood sign for being a competetor.(he does take good critic) Simplistic?Yes again!! The best way is the easiest way for a YOUNG team. Chain-smoking alcoholic? Rudy doesn't drink no more!! It is a honor to have a person like rudy who has been through so much and has always been loyal to our Team coach our Kids and be a model for them. The only person that would ever fire Rudy would be Rudy himself and as you said,he is Stubborn and has something to prove and he will.I have faith in him!!!
If Rudy T is the coach next year, the Rockets will not, and can not make the playoffs. Im sorry I love the man but, as long as he pubs himself as a quote unquote player's coach you can forget about it.The Rockets need a coach that's not afraid to get in there faces, and tell them when there doing something stupid. If Phil Jackson can tell the best player on earth, wich is Kobe Bryant that is acting selfish out on the court and he needs to get his teammates, more involved, then why can't Rudy.
you're missing my point. i don't mean to bash rudy with that comment. my point is that you can focus on a person's negatives and make them look like they are incompetent, unqualified, etc. but, in order to look at a person fairly, you need to assess all of their qualities - including the good. the poster i responded to tried to dismiss van gundy by referring only to him liking vegas and "quitting" on his team. the same could be done for rudy, riley, phil jackson, sloan, etc. but it isn't very fair. that's all i was trying to get across, codell....
OK, this is a sports board so I must revisit and reply - First off, as you may have guessed, as a diehard Houston Rockets fan I'm elated that JVG is the new coach. His coaching style is that of discipline, defense, not so much increasing possessions or shortening games, but rather just making sure his team gets more possessions than the opponents. I think this will be a key element towards the growth of this young and inexperienced team - they're going to learn how to value each and every possession and to maximize their mismatches and advantages - both defensively and offensively. Defense- Houston's defense is going to be good 95% of the season as opposed to 40% effective in the first half of the season and 30% in the second half. We're going to be in the top five in points allowed, FG% defense and 3 point FG% defense. We'll be mediocre in forcing turnovers, but improved and my assertion is that we'll be in the top 5-7 in blocks as well as well. Most of these numbers are incremental improvements to this year and most of them can be achieved simply through effort and having consistent pressure on your players to keep defensive intensity. Clearly, C Dawson and the Rockets braintrust had this in mind when considering Van Gundy. Offense - I'm not sure our offense is going to be great (not sure about the improvement in points), but I'm banking on Steve and Cat to shoot a much higher % and turn the ball over much less, as the games shorten. Yao is going to get a ton more touches too or Les Alexander should run the the entire organization out of town. I think JVG is simply going to make small adjustments like having the guards make good post entry passes where Yao can operate. He stressed this over and over again in post game interviews with Knicks - "we got the ball where Patrick could maneuver late in the ball games...we made sure we ran our offense through Patrick in the 4th quarter...etx..." What Glen Rice said about how Rudy T was very insightful. How he would just let his players figure out how to do things and JVG will tell and show them how (to throw the ball to Yao). This is a young team - Hell, Steve's only played 1 year of Juco, 1 year of ACC ball and 2.5 years of the NBA - and never sniffed the playoffs. These guys need to be educated. Patrick- Hakeem's gotta feel slighted, but hey, welcome to the big city, big fella. There's a broadway show in town, and the main characters are invited. Ewing brings veteran player leadership from a player's perspective - I think he'll be a good influence without having to have to sign Caldwell Jones or Kevin Willis to rot on the bench and be your token veteran influence. Patrick's been to the finals and he also knows what it means to work in practice and the offseason - if nothing else, maybe he'll teach Eddie Griffin how to drop step and play a little of that famed G-town defense and rebounding.
The big thing for me is defense too. Our offense. . . honestly any offense will be SOMEWHAT effective but Defense will be better I hope Van Gundy shows them how to 'cheat' on defense some be a bit more risky . .. play the passing lanes. I think if posey, stevie and cat in the lanes. . . we could be a nice stealing team Rocket River
Transamerica...your posts are too freaking long. But they must be good. Must be interesting to read if someone has nothing else to do. Anyways...I like how you say that Van Gundy exposes matchup whatevers in the low post. Every game for us.....we should have the advantage with Yao Ming. And Van Gundy will be in Houston. He shall belong!
