Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Atqj...o&type=lgns<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Van Gundy out By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! SportsMay 6, 2007 Unless Jeff Van Gundy has a change of heart about wanting to continue as coach, he will not sign a contract extension and stay as with the Houston Rockets, league sources said. This has been a decision that Van Gundy has considered for months, something he has discussed at length with his wife, Kim, and his closest confidants. Van Gundy turned down a contract extension in February, an offer which came too late considering how little confidence the organization showed in him after the 2005-2006 season. After that 33-victory season in which his team was decimated by injuries, Van Gundy associates said he was taken aback by a volatile meeting with owner Les Alexander, who blamed him for poor attendance and a doom-and-gloom attitude that made it difficult to market the franchise. Van Gundy would've signed an extension then, but he was told to enter the final year of his contract. Once he delivered a 2006-2007 season that made him a top coach of the year candidate, more than one extension offer was made, but he told management to wait until season's end to discuss his future. The Rockets' season ended Saturday night in a Game 7 first-round loss to the Utah Jazz. Now, Van Gundy has all but decided to leave the job after four seasons. His family is comfortable in Houston, and sources said he has no interest in pursuing other coaching jobs and moving again. His future could include a return to TNT as a television analyst. Van Gundy has had some heartbreaking playoff losses with the Rockets, including Game 7 defeats to the Dallas Mavericks and Jazz in two of the past three seasons. Nevertheless, Tracy McGrady has played the best all-round basketball of his career under Van Gundy, and 7-foot-6 Yao Ming has made significant strides toward becoming one of the league's most dominant forces. Houston hasn't drafted well, nor have they signed significant free agents in his four years as coach. Still, Van Gundy resurrected Dikembe Mutombo and Juwan Howard for productive seasons, and found a way to maximize the limited potential of Chuck Hayes, an undrafted player, as his starting power forward. Daryl Morey, who takes over for Carroll Dawson as the Rockets' general manager this offseason, told Yahoo! Sports recently that he had hoped to re-sign Van Gundy, and said that he believed it worked in the Rockets' favor that Van Gundy had "the best talent he's had in his coaching career" with the Rockets. "He's the best coach that I've ever played for," McGrady said after the Game 7 loss. "I have a lot of respect for him. I hope he's back." Van Gundy would be a sought-after free agent, but he recently told Yahoo! Sports that his wife and oldest daughter, Mattie, do not want to move, and Van Gundy said he has no interesting uprooting his daughter when she's so happy with school and friends. Considering that Morey's background is in statistics (he's a former colleague of Bill James), it would make sense for the Rockets to include Van Gundy as a peer when it comes to player personnel, but Alexander hardly seems inclined to do so. In fact, the Houston owner has told friends in the league that he wishes the Rockets would play a much faster style, like the Phoenix Suns. With Yao as his franchise player, and one of the most un-athletic rosters in the Western Conference, it's hard to understand why a coach would try that with the Rockets. As it looks now, Alexander will get the chance to find his man.</div>Not extremely surprised. Now the Rockets have the tough job of finding a new coach to lead this talented team. Larry Brown comes to mind, and he has experience with great defense and coaching a superstar perimeter player (AI).
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! Bring Mike Fratello...hell defiently know how to turn that into a good team. they're perfect for each other(not to mention the Big Jake and Battier connect to him).
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! Yes, we finally got rid of that overhyped and overrated coach. His style fo play was not adequate for the roster we had. Hopefully we are able to find a coach that fits the system better
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! I knew this was coming and Im glad it finally came. Now the rockets can use their roster the way it was meant to be used and they can play their style of basketball
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! Van Gundy is a great coach. Once he's gone ya'll will miss him.
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! I think this was a good move letting Van Gundy walk. I really don't think he did such a great job coaching during the regular season this year, as much as having Mcgrady for a long time I see this year with the Rockets being the difference between a healthy Mcgrady all year compared to last year, as opposed to a great coaching job by Van Gundy. If Mcgrady had been hurt like last year, we would have seen the same thing as last year.
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! Here are some possible coaches...<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>OVER the span of about five hours Thursday, former Rockets guard and NBA coach John Lucas opened the gym doors to some familiar young NBA draft prospects.Among them were North Carolina guards Wayne Ellington and Tywon Lawson, LSU forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Texas A&M stars Joseph Jones and Acie Law, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-footer Chris Daniels.Young NBA up-and-comers like Boston's Gerald Green and Denver's J.R. Smith stopped by. So did Rockets point guard and Luke's namesake ? John Lucas III.Previously, Toronto's T.J. Ford, Memphis' Damon Stoudamire and Seattle's Chris Wilcox all have come to Lucas for grueling work, rehab training and Lucas' unique brand of unfiltered counsel.For example: Only one of these millionaires and future millionaires was thrown out of the gym Thursday for not quite living up to practice expectations. It was Lucas' son John III.So what does it all mean? Maybe nothing. But the Rockets appear on the verge of changing direction and parting ways with Jeff Van Gundy.Prevailing sentiment is that they will be looking for someone who can relate to young players, develop them, be a popular choice for fans and change the pace of the Rockets' attack.If or when the move is made, there will be no shortage of candidates to lead a team with a pair of bona fide superstars at its core and changes in attitude and approach the charge from owner Leslie Alexander.Most challenging is that every potential candidate seemingly out there has a big shortcoming.Someone like Lucas consistently brings out the best in young talent ? players like Vassilis Spanoulis, Steve Novak and Lucas III. He is extremely tough and demanding, but players inevitably like him. That's why NBA teams often send players to work with Lucas during offseasons or while rehabbing.</div><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni would enter the hiring pool with impeccable credentials as well and would have the added plus of experience with the fast-paced, entertaining style of the Suns. He has won a world championship (Philadelphia), learned under some highly regarded teachers and coaches (Pat Riley, Pete Newell, Mike Fratello and Mike D'Antoni). And he's a New York kid, like Alexander.But would you put a team this close to contending for rings, yet in need of help as far as personnel is concerned to become a run-and-fun team, into the unproven Iavaroni's hands?Then there's the obvious choices of proven commodities seemingly on Alexander's short list ? Larry Brown, Del Harris and Rick Adelman.They all have proven to be winners, with Brown and Adelman having taken teams to the NBA Finals.</div>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports...ez/4795039.htmlRick Carsile and Mario Elie is a popular candidate but if he(Mario) becomes an assistant for us under coaches like Larry Brown for a couple of years, he'd def. be great coach. More like Avery Johnson who coached under Don Nelson. Out of those candidates, I'd take either Larry Brown, Rick Adelman, Rick, and Iavoroni and those four are on the top of the Rocket's list.
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! I think that it was a good idea to get rid of VanGundy. Theya re taking a step to make that team able to get past the first round of the playoffs.
Re: Jeff Van Gundy out as Rockets coach! <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (austingriz @ May 6 2007, 11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Bring Mike Fratello...hell defiently know how to turn that into a good team. they're perfect for each other(not to mention the Big Jake and Battier connect to him).</div>thats what I was thinking when JVG got fired.I really wanted JVG to leave.he doesn't know how to coach an offense.
