Maybe JVG meant it in a more 'you know you're better than that' kind of way. Instead of the 'stop sucking' kind of way. Does anyone know what I mean?
I would think its always meant as constructive critcizism. Coaches don't want to demean or belittle their players as this effects confidence.
I would agree with this. For all the criticisms of Van Gundy that he is too negative in the media when it comes to the team, it's interesting to hear players say he's their favorite coach they've ever played for like Barry and T-Mac have said. If the guys who are the recipient of the criticisms by Van Gundy still love the guy, it should be a non-issue by the fans.
I agree 100% Yup those founding fathers of ours sure were a bunch of Hippies with their All Men are Created Equal stuff.....God what idiots
He rarely criticizes individual players, mainly the team as a whole. I've played for coaches that were constantly negative and even if I knew it was directed at me, it did affect how I felt about that coach.
Just to let you know. My remarks were taken out of context. I see nothing wrong with a coach trying to lite a fire under his players. Heck, you expect it. My question was "Why does Van Gundy treat every player he doesnt like as if they are second rate people?" And he does. Just askV-span or Bonzi or Motay, or Crazy Eddie, just name the player he doesnt really support.
Hmm, I think players who are not JVG's pets will attest (privately/anonymously) otherwise. Now imagine you are in VSpan's shoes.
JVG actually seems like the nicest of a lot of the better NBA coaches, maybe that's why he's not considered great yet. He's not an *******. Have you heard the stories of Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, and Avery Johnson!?!? Greg Popovich chews his players the F*CK out when they do something wrong, and it's not even on the court. He doesn't even glance at them when he benches them but they all say he chews them out hard in the lockerroom. He yells at them right to their face. Of course he likes his boys, but if they screw up, he'll get on them about it. It's not cause he hates them, it's because it's his job to motivate and to get these players to play at a level that is best of the best. His players don't get sad and mopy when he cusses them out, they are mature adults and they've gone through this before they find a way around the adversity. Also, he treats TD no differently, he yells at him just the same. Avery Johnson was so pissed with his team's performance against the Bulls (their only loss in a while) that he burned the game tape in front of them. Can you imagine sweet little JVG doing something like that? Also, even when the Mavericks are up by 20 at the half, if they let it slip the last 30 seconds and let the other team score 5, HE WILL SCREAM LIKE NO OTHER his team says. Pat Riley used to tear sh*t up in the lockerroom. Kicking, smacking, smashing, etc. I don't know if JVG does any of that stuff, he seems too nice, but all those coaches are great coaches. So telling Bonzi that if he wants to play he has to show him he can is NOTHING to me with my perception of NBA coaches.
Like who? It's fun to speculate on that, but other than V-Span, who's pretty much a joke at this point (I was T-Mac in Greece!), what player or former has come out publicly against JVG? At the very least, his negativity isn't a detriment to the team. I doubt we've lost potential free agents or players have left because of JVG.
That a good point, all the JVG haters always talk about how all the negative stuff really affects the player and blah blah blah but I've yet to hear any actual comments come from any former players saying that he was impossible to deal with, hell even SF3 gave him props after he was traded.
The difference is that all those coaches you mentioned would chew out ANY player. JVG will not chew out Tmac to save his life.....not once. Consistency is not his thing. DD
I think he treats everyone pretty much the same way, except when there's a story behind it and the media brings it up, followed by the BBSers bringing it up to argue a point. Yao used to get criticized a lot too, but there's no indication that JVG "doesn't like him." I truly feel that a lot of this started from the media's portrayal in order to write their stories and then totally get blown out of proportions by people here.
He did last season when everybody was injured and Tracy looked to be distracted and unfocused around December and kept taking time off for unspecified personal problems. He made a bunch of comments about how it was important to keep focus and how winning when things were going well is easy, but the true measure of a player was winning when things were not ideal. It was pretty clear that this was addressed to McGrady. I'm sure there's a thread about it somewhere.
if his biggest fault is not chewing out t-mac than i'm fine with that. i also don't see how that shows lack of consistency. you can't coach every player the same and tracy from my perspective doesn't seem like a player who would respond well to being chewed out.
I agree, people react differently to "constructive" criticism. Some respond well to harsh comments while others may not and may require a different approach to get them motivated (like my wife ). When it comes to dealing with your "true" superstar /franchise players, the coach must be careful in how they voice their criticism because it could come down to either their job or the franchise player's job and most time the coach is made a scapegoat in this type of conflicts.
I mean he does imply, if not come right out and say it, that TMac does not play with the same energy every game. He definitely has said right to TMac, "when you play with energy, the whole teams." "He needs to be a penetrator" "Do you feel it [wrt an energetic practice vs a 'bad practice']." TMac has also said, "That's just JVG being JVG [wrt to his critique of TMac]" it's obvious to me that JVG can be critical of TMac and pushes him. But they have a great relationship, so TMac doesn't take it personally. I just really don't get it how anyone could think JVG is "old school" and calls out his players as some mind game. JVG has no ego at all, imo. JVG does not play mind games. Very siimilar to Rudy in his player mgmt style, imo. He is not the cheerleader that Rudy is, but we can say Rudy was a little too positive, as well. to me, it's obvious he is a straight shooter with his players. JVG strikes me as the last person to play mind games. Jackson, Brown, Sloan play mind games. And as far as old school mgmt methods, Popovich and Avery are much more tyrannts than JVG.
