IF van grumpy stops playing with his lineup all the time and consistently and clearly gives each player their given roles..maybe the players won't look so lost and stiff in the court. Yea Yao is annoyingly inconsistent ..who knows if he's tired but the main problem comes from van grumpy. I don't understand why he plays the whole lineup (if you didn't notice) every game and he gives spoon 1 minute in the game and in some games he gives howard 20 minutes and other games only a couple of minutes..what's the reasoning in doing that? Today he played 3 point scrubs. I mean how is a team gonna adjust to having 3 point guards. My criticism is that jvg should stop being a <strike>slut</strike> and show some faith in not only the core players but give consistent minutes to juwan, mo, bostjan, motombo and padgett and spoon, etc. Make up his mind alraedy in how many minutes each player will get..it's not preseason anymore...By doing this we'll have more consistent numbers from these players BECAUSE they'll obviously gain more confidence and they'll know what is expected every time and what to bring to the game+how much minutes they're given. In conclusion, another thing is that jvg should stop giving minutes to those who don't fit in this team such as charlie ward since we've already got a replacement in barrett..and also must i reiterate stop being a <strike>slut</strike> or we'll replace him with Phil Jackson if the owner was smart enough. I'll just leave it at that because as ineffective as his attacking and defensive plays are, it's too complicated to be discussed about. Even if we discussed it he would be too stubborn(new yorker) to change his style. I'd rather talk about a new coach *ahem* Phil jackson. He'll show some discipline for yao's positioning having worked with shaq daddy <font color="red"><font size="-2">I know you're frustrated, and so am I, but refrain from using profanity.</font></font>
I agree totally with your first part. Van Gundy has not yet developed a good rotation and I think that he should hurry up. Obviously right now his mix-and-match strategy isn't working. Giving Padgett 20 minutes sure gave us a spark, but who can guarantee that Juwan Howard wouldn't have had a better performance had he played Padgett's minutes? Regarding coaching changes, I'd still stress patience. This team has been playing together for just two months and reasonably still need time to mesh. Besides, we haven't been able to get Yao in top shape yet and Sura has yet to come back. And it's not like we already have Phil Jackson waiting in the wings; we haven't even made any plans of firing Van Gundy and no one is even saying that Jackson wants to come to Houston. He's retired for all I know.
BRING ON PHIL.....BRING ON PHIL......BRING ON PHIL!!!! Look Mr. Van Dummy this isn't the 1999 eastern conference where the majority of the teams sucked....this is a highly competitive western conference where you have to score over 75 points to win a game.......as much as I hate phil jackson (and I really hate him) I'd rather have him coaching this team instead of Mr. Van Dummy!!!
Where did this rumor about Phil Jackson come from? Is there even a link that discusses Phil Jackson wanting to come out of retirement? Van Gundy's definitely a problem though. He gives inconsistent minutes to players that need them, and gives too much minutes to players that are inconsistent like Charlie Ward. I saw just wait until Sura comes back for a few games, then make some trading/maybe firing Van Gundy if things don't get much better.
I don't mind the experimenting with rotations. Early in the season, with a new team, that's bound to happen. You usually want the rotations to be set by the second half of the season, and hopefully that'll be the case. I've always like Padgett, and I hope Van Gundy starts playing him more. He's sort of like Ryan Bowen, except he's a better rebounder and he has an offensive game. Howard is a nice guy, he has a good attitude, but right now his play his substandard. Maybe Van Gundy recognizes this and he'll play Padgett more. We're still going to get killed on the boards, but maybe it won't be as bad. And we don't need a coaching change at this point. Phil Jackson would never coach this team (he requires at least 2 guaranteed Hall of Famers on any of his teams, and preferably a third). Our main problem right now is skill and intensity of the players.
I definitely think that Ewing should be fired to get Jabbar, and Phil Jackson should be sought after to become the head coach. Though, i wouldn't mind van gundy being specialist defensive coach. Assuming they can get along. I think i read an article that Jabbar WANTED to come and coach Yao, but Van Gundy rejected him.
Geez, already thinking about tossing Van Gundy? First I read Yao trade requests, then guys blaming T-Mac...and now everyone is talking about JVG being thrown out the door. This is the reason why the Hornets can't win...because everyone is pointing fingers. Guys, it's early in the season...talk trade rumors and coaching changes, if necessary, around late December or January.
The Phil rumors are just wishful thinking, I would love to have Phil coach the rockets, the triangle offense is just what the rockets need.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chineseafro:</div><div class="quote_post">The Phil rumors are just wishful thinking, I would love to have Phil coach the rockets, the triangle offense is just what the rockets need.</div> Well...possibly, but that's if you're willing to wait a few years to get Yao and McGrady adjusted to the triangle. Plus, I'm not so sure Yao Ming is tough enough just yet...he needs to bulk up and get mean. Then he'd be a force to deal with. Plus, Phil only coached the team. Tex Winter was the one that applied the triangle. If it wasn't for Winter, Phil would've had a tougher time getting Kobe/Shaq to adjust to it.
IMO, the Rockets main problem is the coaching philosophy. JVG is a defensive coach, but who on his team can even be considered a good defensive player? TMac has always been known as a lazy defender. Mo Taylor plays no defense. Deke is past his prime as a defender and Yao is slow. So how can you have a team that is supposedly a grind-it-out defensive team without having a single defensive stopper? They are a ball-control, 1/2 court team which does not play to TMac's open court strength.
Jim Jackson right now is our stopper. However, when Sura gets back, we'll have to lockdown guys on our team.
christmas is coming i hope santa gives suraprising gifts. What annoys me is that JVG KNOWS our problems from DAY 1 that he arrived and yet he doesn't know how to solve them. He's a bad problem solver which makes him a bad coach. He knows our weaknesses but can't make us improve. He knows Tmac is the only guy in our team who can slash and drive in, but yet tmac isn't instructed to drive MORE and draw fouls (he should get as much freethrows as KObe 10-20). We see the majority of tmac's shots off doing jumpers from 3 pt range or close to it..what a waste of athleticism..we have nachbar and jj to shoot them...He knows rockets have a 7'6 giant and that they haven't given him the ball as often in the low post and yet his plays for yao are still inconsistent and i don't know what they do in practice but yao doesn't know what he's doin in the defensive and offensive end of the court where he doesn't position himself defensively and post up to get easy baskets. Our whole team can't grab our own defensive rebounds..where's our fundamentals coach..first thing to do is to BOX out..we hav the size..it's not like we're as small as the knicks ..i bet the knicks are getting more rebounding done than us; which means there's somthing wrong with our defensive positioning rather than the lack of skills in rebounding..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drm2dnk:</div><div class="quote_post">Our whole team can't grab our own defensive rebounds..where's our fundamentals coach..first thing to do is to BOX out..we hav the size..it's not like we're as small as the knicks ..i bet the knicks are getting more rebounding done than us; which means there's somthing wrong with our defensive positioning rather than the lack of skills in rebounding..</div> I think our defensive philosophy is a big part of our lack of rebounding. On high screen and rolls, Yao steps out to double on the ball handler, which draws him away from the basket and really softens up our inside defense. If the other team gets a shot off quickly, they a very good opportunity for an offensive rebound since our power forwards are even worse than Yao at rebounding. I understand the reasoning behind trying to trap the ball-handler, but maybe JVG should mix up the strategy a bit so we're not ALWAYS doing that.
Can people stop calling Jeff Van Gundy Van Grumpy or Van Dummy? It makes you sound like 2 year olds. Alright Im done
Its not Yao's fault. Yao is still adjusting . The blame should go on Tracy McGrady, every where he has gone, he has been a cancer.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting YaoMing03-04:</div><div class="quote_post">Its not Yao's fault. Yao is still adjusting . The blame should go on Tracy McGrady, every where he has gone, he has been a cancer.</div> If you actually look at the numbers, the Rockets have played worse with Yao on the court, and they've played better with McGrady on the court overall this season. Neither players has played up well this year, but Yao has clearly been the greater dissapointment. Stop giving that lame "Yao is still adjusting" excuse. He's been in the league for two fulls seasons. He isn't a rookie anymore. That excuse doesn't apply. Yao has played like crap. Yao knows it. The Rockets coaching staff knows it. And fans who've watched most of the Rockets games this year know it. Here are some numbers for you to ponder. In 274 minutes with Yao and McGrady on the floor, the Rockets have outscored opponents 518 to 502. On a per-48 minutes scale, that would be Rockets outscoring 90.7 to 87.9 (+2.8 points). And in 191 minutes with only Yao and no McGrady, the Rockets gets outscored 378 to 321, or 95.0 to 81.2 per 48 minutes (-13.8 points). Obviously, the Rockets have played terribly with only Yao on the floor and no McGrady. One would expect the Rockets would also play poorly with only McGrady and not Yao. And they do, but not nearly as bad: in 253 minutes the Rockets get outscored 473 to 452, or 89.7 to 85.8 per 48 min (-3.9 points). And when McGrady plays with Mutombo on the floor instead of Yao, the Rockets actually outscore opponents 86.4 to 79.8 per 48 minutes (+6.6). That is, the combination of McGrady and Mutombo plays much better than the combination of McGrady and Yao so far this season. Mutombo has actually proven to be more effective on the court than Yao. If this trend continues (I truly hope it doesn't), that will be reason enough to give Mutombo more minutes or even start him over Yao.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chineseafro:</div><div class="quote_post">Can people stop calling Jeff Van Gundy Van Grumpy or Van Dummy? It makes you sound like 2 year olds. Alright Im done</div> I thought Van Grumpy was kind of funny. The name fits.
Can people stop calling Jeff Van Gundy Van Grumpy or Van Dummy? It makes you sound like 2 year olds. Alright Im done ^^^quote van dummy Alright I'm done
If JVG can only realise his strategies suck, then maybe he can move on and find new ones. He's so thick in the head. And why did he decline Jabbar to be on the coaching staff? Is he that obsessed with his old Knicks to keep Ewing, whose style obviously doesn't fit in with Yao's???
