mattao313 wrote:Eh I like SVG, I think the injuries screwed him more that himself being a bad coach we had a playoff team but Reggie getting hurt derailed both seasons.
Van Gundy was a horrendous coach. He'd do something until it stopped working, then continue to do it forever while the team lost. He did that constantly in seasons three and four. He was the reason this team did not make the playoffs both seasons.
Jackson's injuries weren't the problem. In 2016-2017 SVG played Jackson while injured, even though Jackson was in no shape to play NBA basketball. He didn't only play Jackson---he also made him the starter and the primary offensive option. Jackson was arguably the worst big-minute player in the entire league. Van Gundy gave him 50 games at starter anyway. Harris, the only good shooter on the team, was kicked to the bench and stayed there.
The next season, it was SVG's obsession with Avery Bradley. The guy wasn't fit to be any sort of primary option, but SVG made him that before Jackson's injury and then gave him even more opportunity afterward. Bradley was horrible. So was SVG's offense. He kept pushing Bradley and made no changes to the offense. Harris was still the best scorer and still never got priority.
Oh, and need I mention Drummond post-ups? The obsession with hand-offs? Mid-range shots? Letting low-efficiency chuckers bomb away to their hearts' content? Idiotic double teams, traps, and a maniacal focus on the paint on defense?
Van Gundy was all about the "What I want," not the "What I've got." He was horrible. Just horrible.
Our team is much better than what we had before he came.
This team has a first-round ceiling. SVG was not a good GM, even before the Griffin trade. Most of the good trades were the work of Jeff Bower, who did all of the GM work during the season. Van Gundy only operated in the offseason, during which he doled out awful contracts to Marjanovic, Leuer, and Galloway, and blew it on three straight first-round picks. Besides, beating out the Pistons rosters from the late Dumars days isn't a big accomplishment.