Quote:
Originally posted by <b>Ming Bling</b>!
I was seriously considering bumping your thread after tonights game. I know you normally like to back coaches but what is your defense of JVG in this case?
|
The reason people are blaming Van Gundy is pretty simple. When there are high expectations for a team, and they don't live up to them, the coach is the first guy to take the blame. I'm not on the fire JVG bandwagon because I expected the Rockets to be this bad all along.
I think the criticisms of Van Gundy are uninformed, because the Rockets don't have the personnel to play the way his critics want them to play. In order to be a good fastbreak team, you need to have big men who can grab rebounds and make quick outlet passes. The Rockets can't do that, because they are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. They can't afford to send their guards running the other way as soon as someone takes a shot, because if they did, they'd get outrebounded even worse than they are right now.
Offensively, it's not surprising that they're struggling and turning the ball over a lot, that's what happens when you have so little depth that the defense can collapse around your scorers. Same reason Richard Jefferson is leading the NBA in turnovers.
Van Gundy realizes that this team doesn't have much talent, and he knows the best way to win with a bad team is to limit the number of possessions and hope you get lucky. The people who blame Van Gundy don't understand just how awful this supporting cast is (and of course, that Tracy McGrady isn't as great as advertised) and I still say that once Van Gundy is gone, the Rockets will get even worse.
It's all Carroll Dawson's fault for giving out those horrible contracts to guys like Shandon Anderson, Maurice Taylor, and Moochie Norris. If he hadn't done that, this team's supporting cast wouldn't be so pathetic.