[YahooSports]Rockets Most Disappointing Team

docgundy · Jan 4, 2008

Very good and interesting read. Once again, another JVG backer.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...fivedisappointments010308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The NBA's five most disappointing teams
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
January 3, 2008

Adrian Wojnarowski
Yahoo! Sports

More than anyone, Houston Rockets owner Les Alexander believed Jeff Van Gundy was holding back his basketball team. Alexander berated his ex-coach for playing too deliberately on offense and costing him customers. Why, the owner lamented, can’t we play like the Phoenix Suns?

As it turns out, Van Gundy wasn’t holding the Rockets back.

He was holding them together.

After Alexander dropped Van Gundy for Rick Adelman, new general manager Daryl Morey had sold people on the Rockets as a serious challenger for the Western Conference championship. He traded for Argentine forward Luis Scola, signed Steve Francis and activated Bonzi Wells. There was a growing belief that he had constructed a roster to benefit Adelman’s accomplished offensive mind.

Yes, the Rockets insisted, the handcuffs were gone. Now, the Rockets could let loose.

And how’s that going?

They discovered the truth about this team’s limitations. From Tracy McGrady’s mental and physical fragility to an absence of athleticism, they were a flawed power. They’re devoid of an identity, stuck between what they were with Van Gundy and what they’ll never be with Adelman.

For this, the Rockets (15-17, 10th in Western Conference) deserve to be declared the season’s biggest disappointment. There are worse teams in Yahoo! Sports top five, but none had Houston’s expectations. They can use McGrady’s knee injury as a excuse, but they’ve played better without him this past week. Bad enough that they’re worse defensively, but they’ve also struggled on the offensive end. Yao Ming is down to 21.4 points a game, from 25 a season ago. He’s under 50 percent shooting for the first time in his career, too.

Without great defensive players, Van Gundy managed to make the Rockets one of the league’s best defensive teams. With Yao out for 34 games with a broken leg, with McGrady in and out of the lineup with his usual ailments, with the monumentally limited Chuck Hayes starting at power forward, with a suspect bench, the Rockets still won 52 games in the Western Conference.

After initially believing that he wanted to resign out of frustration with Alexander at the end of last season, Van Gundy made the mistake of waiting too long to change his mind. Morey was considered a supporter, but those in the owner’s ear, including out-going GM Carroll Dawson, sources said, worked to validate the owner’s belief that the roster’s talent was far better than it is. Finally, Alexander believed, the Rockets could advance out of the first round of the playoffs.

Now, they’ll fight to make them.

For Van Gundy, Houston’s struggles have only made his candidacy on the free-agent market that much more appealing. The best guess on his next job? Philadelphia. Yet, Van Gundy can be choosy.

As it turns out, he wasn’t holding the Rockets back. Van Gundy was holding them together.
Click to expand...

Clutch · Jan 4, 2008

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=140324

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[YahooSports]Rockets Most Disappointing Team

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