Martin: Please Post the INSIDER info on JVG - Trouble in Houston

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Can Van Gundy help Rockets avoid disaster?

Welcome back to the NBA, Jeff Van Gundy.

It was a little less than two years ago that Van Gundy took a walk after practice, came back awhile later, and suddenly and unexpectedly resigned as the head coach of the Knicks.

He cited fatigue, discouragement and a lack of passion for the job in his resignation speech. Just below the surface, you knew that Van Gundy kept looking at his aging, declining Knicks team and wondered to himself, why bother?

Fast forward to this weekend, when Van Gundy had to indefinitely suspend one of his best young players, Eddie Griffin. It was the last in a long series of indignities in Rockets camp that has to have VG asking himself yet again -- is anything worth this?

Why bother? Weren't the Rockets that hip, up-and-coming team with a young all-star point guard and center? Weren't they the team that was just one step away from being a real playoff contender? Wasn't Van Gundy's tough approach supposed to be the perfect medicine for what ailed this soft, but talented team?

While I'm a firm believer that the preseason means nothing (see Around the League), if this were NASA, the engineers would be screaming "Abort!" right about now.

What's Houston's problem?

Start with injuries that have kept key players like Cuttino Mobley, Eric Piatkowski, Maurice Taylor and Adrian Griffin on the bench this preseason.

Mobley is expected back today, but the loss of four key players has hindered Van Gundy's ability to put in his new offense.

"It is important," Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. "We need to have our guys back so we can figure out our rotation and how we're going to play. So that's important."

Next, put a dash of tired Yao Ming, who was worn ragged by the Chinese National Team this summer. False news reports out of China this summer breathlessly reported that Yao was suffering from some sort of fatigue syndrome. That's bogus. But he is exhausted and the Rockets are genuinely nervous about how their star center is going to hold up this year.

Throw in an AWOL Griffin, who skipped the game on Wednesday and then didn't show up for practice Thursday morning either.

The Rockets are trying to play down Griffin's absence, claiming that he'll be back with the team soon enough.

"We're going to see this as a very short-term blip on the radar and get Eddie back as soon as he's ready to conform to what he is expected to do, which starts with showing up to work every day, on time, ready to play and perform well," Van Gundy said.

However, he didn't show up to camp in shape and struggled when he was with the team. Something else is going on. This weekend, the Philadelphia Inquirer (Griffin's from Philly) claimed that Griffin was considering quitting basketball.

"All anyone cares about right now is that Eddie is all right so he can play," a Griffin confidant told the Inquirer. "He wants to quit playing basketball. He doesn't want to play anymore. He's just drained by all the responsibilities in his life and he can't take it anymore. Some, you just know he'll get past. There's too much to lose. But that doesn't mean he isn't going through some tough times right now."

If Griffin really did pack it up this season (physically or mentally) the Rockets will really struggle in the paint. With Taylor out and Griffin on vacation, the team would be forced to play Yao more minutes and pair him alongside Kelvin Cato in the frontcourt.

Cato? Here's all the proof that you need that Van Gundy is losing his mind.

"I keep talking about this -- when you're surrounding Yao and Steve, all you need are tough, smart, hard-working professional players who know who they are. They're not confused," Van Gundy told the Chronicle. "So he (Cato) is not going to jack up perimeter shots. He's going to shoot a high percentage, he's going to rebound, he's going to know coverages, and he's a very smart player."

Then to top it off, Van Gundy is already butting heads with star point guard Steve Francis about the team's new inside-outside offense. Van Gundy wants Yao to be the team's first option in the paint. Van Gundy's experience, from his days with Patrick Ewing, is that big centers get higher percentage shots than shot-happy point guards.

"Steve offensively, right now, is trying to hit the home run every time down," Van Gundy said. "Steve is sometimes so great he can hit a home run. To shake somebody and take on another guy and take tough shots . . . the game's got to be easier. We're not playing team offense the right way. Blown play after play, assignment after assignment."

"We're not adapting to change. There are a few pockets of resistance."

Francis' experience, forged in the infamous Kelvin Cato era, is that you never, ever give the big guy the ball.

"I've been playing the same way for five years," Francis said. "The part of me going one-on-one when the shot clock is going down, that's what I've got to do. I'm not going to throw the ball to a 7-foot guy on the three-point line if I can do something at the end of the shot clock."

Van Gundy also wants Francis to step up and set the tone on the team. Every coach needs a star player who buys into the offense and sells his teammates on it. Of course, Yao's on board. But Van Gundy needs Francis to set the example to get the others to follow.

"It wrenches my gut to say that right now we don't play hard," he said. "Until we do - and that's the foundation for every good team: giving an honest day's effort every night and being unselfish - we're going to struggle."

Francis's response?

"Whatever," he said. "As a team, we just have to get on the same page. We're straight. We're cool."

Cool? If I'm Carroll Dawson, I'm making sure that Van Gundy doesn't go on another one of those soul searching walks after practice this week. If VG does, I'm not sure he'll like what he finds.

So now Chad Ford matters?

If this is all true, so what? It makes sense! People do not accept change easily, it is a fact of life. Don't forget that for the 5 years Francis has been doing this and where did it get him? Winning solves all problems. THe other problems are injury and immaturity, they will work themselves out. Houston, when healthy, has a good team. Francis will learn or he will be out. That is how the NBA works. Ainge came in and dumped Walker right?

At the end, the record will show what is being done there.
Like I said, JVG did well here. HE HAS YET TO PROVE HIMSELF ELSEWHERE. UNTIL THEN, HE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GOOD COACH IN ONE CITY. GUYS LIKE BROWN, PARCELLS, RILEY, JACKSON have done it in more than one place. They are on the next level or two.



All this hearsay is just that.

i am not his biggest fan. as a matter of fact, i thought he should have left before the season started when he resigned. but jeff can flat out coach. people are not giving him enough credit. did he walk out on the team two years ago? maybe. but that does not mean he is a weak coach. he has been with the knicks organization as a coach for eight years. is it his fault that he is burned out? he took so called hot heads like spree and lj and made it work. he outcoached his mentor and sometimes outcoached phil jackson by figuring out the triangle and how to defend it with jordan. he is a defensive expert. offensively, he is challenged but effective. you do not get to the finals with a battered squad without some coaching ability. franchise will adjust. that is what great players do. he will see what works. i can not believe he is complaining when jeff is making his life so much eisier. having yao create will elliviate double teams for both cat and franchise so they will have their opportunities. van gundy will not walk. this team is a coach's dream. he just have to install his philosophy into their heads. then they will win.

Posted by GoNyGoNyGo:

So now Chad Ford matters?

If this is all true, so what? It makes sense! People do not accept change easily, it is a fact of life. Don't forget that for the 5 years Francis has been doing this and where did it get him? Winning solves all problems. THe other problems are injury and immaturity, they will work themselves out. Houston, when healthy, has a good team. Francis will learn or he will be out. That is how the NBA works. Ainge came in and dumped Walker right?

At the end, the record will show what is being done there.
Like I said, JVG did well here. HE HAS YET TO PROVE HIMSELF ELSEWHERE. UNTIL THEN, HE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GOOD COACH IN ONE CITY. GUYS LIKE BROWN, PARCELLS, RILEY, JACKSON have done it in more than one place. They are on the next level or two.



All this hearsay is just that.

exactly gony. JVG is still a good coach, all this goes to show is how lazy and spoiled these players are. Francis is a fantastic player but he has no business questioning how JVG has done things. Where has Francis style of play led his team, I know it has given him endorsement deals and good personal stats, but the rockets stink.... And yet playa will use this article to discredit JVG. Playa must be smoking that same stuff Eddie Griffin is smoking..

Van Gundy is a great defensive coach, a mediocre offensive coach and a great leader who, by force of will and hard work, gets players, spoiled and overpaid or not, to work harder than they would for most any other coach. He'll get his team in Houston to work for him. Their defense will be great w/ Yao patrolling the lane.

Part of the process of changing attitudes is banging some heads. If I'm a Rocket fan, I'm glad he's taking on Franchise and Griffen publicly. I'd be worried if things were going too smoothly. Get it out of the way early.

The Rockets won't score as many points as they have in prior years, but they'll win more games and will be playing come play-off time.

2 Days and i have had enough already. You are a stubborn person.

Yes, JVG should be an assistant that is why he is getting paid $16M over the next 4 years! Unbelievable. Even if he fooled all of us fans, how did he fool everyone in Houston? They had to interview him right? Rudy T gave his blessing I am sure. He is not a stupid man, is he? (2 rings!) Carrol Dawson who built 2 champion teams must be a fool, to hire this guy. Imagine they want to put a team on the floor that plays hard, is disiplined, plays good T and boring but unselfish and good enough offense! Can you imagine that Houston, who had to find a new coach because of Rudy T's unfortunate health condition, picked a guy who made the playoffs every year as a coach, Only losing once in the first round, a finals appearance and a leader of quality players such as Ewing, LJ, Oak, Starks, Spree etc....none of which have EVER said a bad word about him NEVER! Why go there? I guess they are just not as smart you, playa! Now do you feel better? You are smarter than everyone in NY and HOuston!

While I was not happy about JVG walking out in mid season and never liked his offensive rotations or substitutions certain other things must be acknowledged. His teams were always in the playoffs, he never had a team that wasn't flawed, got them to a finals with a center in street clothes, left one team not three (ala Parcells. Always had players going to the mat for him and had offers from at least 2 teams and declined interviews from several others but some of you have far greater knowledge than most of the GMs in the league. You don't like or want him as coach fine but at least credit the man for what he is-a great defensive coach, hard worker and team leader.

Didn't you read earlier, his kissed players butts then said they bought into his system. I never said gundy didn't win games, I never said he wasn't succesful in NY, what I am saying is it was all done with a veteran rosters who had enough pride and savvy to win. LJ OAK Mason Ewing, Starks, Camby, sprewell and don't forget Houston(who saved this great coach's job in Miamiplayoff series lol) He won't duplicate that feat in Houston he will get EXPOSED for being challenged as a "TRUE" head coach in the western conference.

He sure did sage, but my point was he did it with veteran rosters. If you notice in Houston he has many young players so this will be the ultimate challenge for him. I didn't write the insider I just agree with it!

So what is it then? He was a kiss-ass? Like I have said before so what? You say kiss ass, I say smart coach. ALL coaches need support from a star player, otherwise they are toast. Notice he is not ripping Franics, but kissing his ASs. Why ? He knows that is the best chance for the team to accept his guidelines. Actually he is not a kiss ass, because a kiss ass would not push his agenda by nurturing a star player. A kiss ass, would be like Grady Little, and let his star player dictate everything.

This is senseless. Just get off of it aready. Talk to me about how JVG is doing at the end of the year.