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oops wrong forum...Kori can you please move this over to the NBA forum.
http://nba.sports.tom.com/2007-10-24/0424/84196854.html
Reporter Wang Meng reports from Houston
Just similar to the changes of dynasties in history, Jeff Van Gundy had turned to his last page on the closing chapter in the history of the Houston Rockets and had reluctantly left. Following him, the Houston Rockets’ history had opened a new chapter, just like turning over to a brand-new pure white page, welcoming the arrival of Rick Adelman.
The short and bald Jeff Van Gundy with a big forehead who likes to walk around his office without his shoes but with his socks only while working had now departed. In his 4-year tenure, Jeff Van Gundy worked like one of these laborious craftsmen who fits together tiles, bricks and mortar snugly but lack of originality or ideas. In 4 years, he constructed the Houston Rockets into a solid cement forest, no matter how ugly and steadfast but actually sturdy and reliable.
But the brick houses built by craftsmen actually could not be compared to magnificently decorated buildings by designers no matter how sturdy and reliable they were. Leslie Alexander wishes his own mansion to be of unconventional ideas that are with attracting outlooks that can attract eyeballs. In Rick Adelman, he found comfort and relief. This white-haired old man with a benign countenance, always wears a smile and laughing, is wise and humorous, and has an ability ~ the human relations ability, that Jeff Van Gundy never mastered; Rick Adelman knows how to handle human relations and his men under him are all willing and cheerfully working for him.
So in the initial three weeks, fresh winds were blowing throughout the Houston Rockets which said goodbye to those four years of the Jeff Van Gundy era. And the curtain of a new Rick Adelman era officially unveils.
Very often, the manner how a person speaks can decide how persuasive and convincing he can be, particularly so if he has to deal with a group of pretty tough and strong-character players. Very often yelling, bellowing and shouting will not work and only brought negative effects. For the majority of time, for this group of adults, all they need are pieces of advice or reminders, and not endless scolding or cursing.
Jeff Van Gundy is famous for his big glottis and loud voice; simultaneously he is also famous for being mean and unkind. His disposition tends to be too extreme; he likes to taunt as well as he is always expression-less. And almost every time when he reviewed the play tapes together with his players, some of the Rockets would just wish they were not there; he would in front of every other players pointed out the mistakes of particular players from the play tape, and continued bragging for long hours. While he might enjoy doing so, the hearts of his players started to change and became cold.
Rick Adelman on the other hand seemed he could not speak very loud. Even when he stands in the spacious training court, his decibel does not get much higher. Tracy McGrady said: “Rick never roars.” Yao Ming pointed his finger to his bad left ear, with his head leaning forward, said: “Hey, coach, can you speak louder? I have only an ear that can hear you well.” Whenever Rick Adelman is briefing his players about on-the-fly tactical rearrangement for the players at the court side, Yao Ming just hopes that his neck can extend much more longer such that he can be closer to Rick Adelman that he can hear and learn about his instructions much better.
Rick Adelman not only has a very low voice; you seldom see him very angry. One day, Deke Mutombo remembered incorrectly about the time for team practice; the team practice had started at 10:30 am, and he did not arrive onto the training court until 11:00am. Uncle Mutombo did not know what kind of fine or penalty awaited him, while all of his team mates were already making fun of him: “Fine him. At least US$ 1,000.” Rick Adelman just smiled and chuckled and did not say a word. When the team practice/scrimmage completed, all the players just encircled around their head coach according to their convention to listen to what Rick had to say about their performance. Rick Adelman said: “I commanded you all for some good performance in today’s practice. We will take a break and rest tomorrow. Hey, Deke. Make sure you don’t come in again tomorrow at 11:00 am, as it will be a rest day tomorrow.” Everyone looked at an embarrassed Mutombo and burst out laughing heartily.
When he has a brick of inappropriate size and shape, Jeff Van Gundy will start to use his hammer and chisel to try to cut and shape the brick to fit into his house. But for Rick Adelman, he will just put that brick aside, holds his chin and ponders how he can put together bricks of different size and shape together for his mansion. Rick Adelman seldom uses his hammer and chisel. He is good at juggling together a jigsaw.
So on a rainy day 4 years ago, when Jeff Van Gundy came to Houston with his big black umbrella, he also brought along with him an entire repertoire of his offense and defense tactic, and each of his player eventually received that very thick and big tactical handbook. If you could not become the bolts and screws of his systems, then what awaited you was the hard and cold bench. Bostjan Nachbar and Vassilis Spanoulis knew this taste much too well; they were compelled to learn to do something they don’t like, and unlearn something they excel at. And as a consequence, some of those talents were wasted and they were left with not much choices but to leave and escape the tyranny of Jeff Van Gundy. For Vassilis Spanoulis, he even lost his interest in NBA thoroughly.
Nobody knew what is there in Rick Adelman’s suitcase; but at least up till this moment, it seemed everyone is living comfortably. One basketball and two baskets, Rick Adelman seems to have given his players complete freedom to create their own offense opportunity. (While his players are playing on the court,) Rick Adelman will just stroll along the court side, often lowers his head and jots down notes onto a small notepad; he is designing a specific role for each of his players. Luther Head said: “I feel very comfortable.” Deke Mutombo said: “I am very comfortable.” Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady also felt the same way. So in Rick Adelman’s systems, everyone seems to be feeling very comfortable.
Rick Adelman has this very small notepad that he takes out once for a while and writes on it. Jeff Van Gundy also has a very small notepad with him too; he was often seen lowering his head and scribbling onto his notepad with very small and dense notes.
So no-nonsense severity and complete freedom has its pros and cons respectively. Rick Adelman has brought along personal freedom that you rarely found in the Jeff Van Gundy era. While laughter increases in the players changing room, some air of laziness and sloppiness also starts to disseminate (within the players changing room).
In the past 4 years, before every compe ion, Jeff Van Gundy would walk into the players changing room, and started to sketch and scribble onto the white board detail tactical arrangements; and while doing this, regardless of the number of coaching staff and players in the room, it was complete and absolute silence. But now, this is the work of the assistant coaches, and the players changing room is so noisy and lively; every of the players are busily on their own personal stuff; some are on their mobile phones; some are chit-chatting among themselves; and some are busily fetching game tickets for their friends and relatives. In the Jeff Van Gundy era, no one dared to do so. Jeff Van Gundy demanded the players changing room to be completely silent before every compe ion. And during those time also very few players chose to stay in the players changing room. Some would choose to stay in the clinic; some would go to pray; some would go straight to the court to start their pregame shootout practice. Very often only 2 players would choose to stay in the room quietly reviewing their personal stats sheets: Yao Ming and Luther Head.
Now in the Rick Adelman era, the lives of the players are sometimes just too free and easy; In the first preseason game with the New Orleans/Oklahoma Hornets, in the 4th quarter, Rick Adelman walked up to Steve Francis to ask him to get prepared to play; Steve Francis shook his head, and said: “I don’t want to play; let’s give the opportunity to the young lads.” If it is still the Jeff Van Gundy era, Steve Francis probably won’t have any other chance to play from that moment onward. During one of the team practices, Tracy McGray got exhausted; he winked to Chuck Hayes and then he just walked off to take a break to rest. If Jeff Van Gundy is still around, perhaps the exhausted Tracy McGrady, while gasping for breath, would have to stay on court to persist in his training.
Also those extra fat and the plump waistline of Jackie Butler. If it is still the Jeff Van Gundy era, in those 4 years, Jackie Butler would not have been permitted to participate in the team practice; he would have to be left on his own riding on the biking machine (in order to trim down his weight); Bonzi Wells knew this too well. But now, every player still has the opportunity to play, including (the out-of-form-and-shape) Jackie Butler, jogging slowly and leisurely back and forth on the court.
So for the new Rick Adelman era, it seems as if there are only big principle but no room for small discipline.
Jeff Van Gundy likes hands-on management to have everything under his control; Rick Adelman, on the other hand, likes to fold his arms, lies comfortably on his head coach chair and delegates to let his coaching staff to do their stuff.
And when Jeff Van Gundy was on the training court, all his coaching staff were there on the court side; every one was with a small notepad, and everyone, lowering his head, imitating Jeff Van Gundy, was busily jotting down onto his notepad notes/observations about the players. And Jeff Van Gundy just bellowed and howled on the court; he would never let his coaching staff to help; he would work industriously to review the video tapes of the games, perform research about the compe ion, sketch out his game plan and tactics. He would lead his coaching staff team to do all the above.
Rick Adelman does not act like this. During the team practice, he let his assistant coaches to handle almost every matter. Very often, it is his assistant coaches that stand out to explain to the players the tactical arrangements. And in the pre-game team practices in the morning of every of the game day, it is again the assistant coaches that stand out to introduce and explain the tactics and game plans of the opponents; and Rick Adelman is only there to supplement on what the assistant coaches have to say. And when the assistant coaches have finished the briefing, Rick Adelman will just add and supplement some reminders or instructions. Rick Adelman is just like someone flying a kite; he is pulling the string; he decide when to tighten or loosen the string of the kite; he is directing his group of assistants.
But this kind of hands-off and laissez-faire training and management also have its problems. Even though the players are given a lot of freedom, and they are very happy about it, sometimes the players also find it hard to adapt. Suddenly, they find that they have to do a lot of decisions on their own. It is just like a small kid with his own crayons, standing in front of a big drawing canvas, and he does not know for a while where he should start to draw. Previously, Jeff Van Gundy had already laid down all the details and ground rules, and he just passed to his players for the execution. Now, the players discover in a lot of the cases, it is left for them to decide on their own how to execute and complete their assignment.
Post remarks:
The Rick Adelman era starts to take shape in the first 3 weeks. This will be a total and thorough transformation of the Houston Rockets that Jeff Van Gundy built. So behind and upon the solid and concrete cement wall/foundation that Jeff Van Gundy so laboriously built like a coolie, what type of a luxury designer house will the eventual Houston Rockets looks like? No one really knows.
Jeff Van Gundy had left, and returned to work as a sports commentator for TNT, but he had left his finger and foot prints through his laborious work all over the body of the Houston Rockets. And while he is commenting on future Houston Rockets compe ions, he will still discover that all his hard work and foundation he so laboriously laid down for the Rockets in the past will still be helping this team profoundly: Yao Ming will still be demolishing his opponents from all 4 directions as before down at the low post, Tracy McGrady will still be dishing out assists after assists to his team mates as if the balls have eyes grown on them, and Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes and Luther Head will still be playing no-nonsense and never-say-die defense, chasing down their opponents like mad dogs.
So Jeff Van Gundy, who has already gone into the history book, will smile, while looking on to see how Rick Adelman will write the new story script for the Houston Rockets history book. Where and how far can the Houston Rockets, now with so much freedom, fly? Just the same as we are, Jeff Van Gundy will be a faithful reader of this story.
oops wrong forum...Kori can you please move this over to the NBA forum.
Is this translated?
Edit: And so it is.
Yes the Chinese love JVG LOL
Very Flattering "The short and bald Jeff Van Gundy with a big forehead"
Great article. Not the least of which is the different ways a (presumably) Chinese sportswriter views things, and the unique turns of phrase he uses.
I don't see it as JVG bashing. I think it's an accurate and fair assessment of the differences in styles. And he rightly points out the potential problems with Adelman's style.
I 'd like to read an article from this guy about the Spurs and Pop.
I like JVG announcing games on ESPN. Him and Mike Breen make a good team I think.
My goodness, that's the longest article I've ever seen posted to Spurstalk.
LOL If the Spurs sign a Chinese player I am sure you can read all the articles translated from China that you want.
Nice article.
Been there, done that.
And our Chinese player has a ring.
LOL Menke Bateer doesn't count
FYI ~ One of those where are they now moments. Here's Menke's current situation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengke_Bateer
After being waived by the New York Knicks in September 2004, he played for the Huntsville Flight of the National Basketball Development League for a while. He rejoined the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association in mid-February 2005, a couple of weeks before the end of the 2004–2005 regular season, and was named MVP of the 2005 CBA All-star Game (played at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs). He continued to play for the team in the 2005–2006 season.
At 6' 11" and over 300 lbs, he was considered one of the stronger centers in the NBA. He is also an accomplished passer, and dished out 6 assists in one NBA game. It is his lack of speed that greatly limits his chances in the fast-tempoed NBA.
The trio of 7' 1" Wang Zhizhi, 7' 6" Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer were known as the "Walking Great Wall" of the Chinese national basketball team.
After carrying his Beijing Ducks team to a franchise-best CBA North Division le while averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, Mengke Bateer failed to receive the CBA MVP due to an archaic rule forbidding suspended players from any awards. In mid-season, Mengke Bateer received the heaviest fine in CBA history for arguing with a referee and sat out two games as a result. At the end, nobody received the CBA MVP trophy and the CBA stated they would consider changing the rule.
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