During a session with the media in Austin a couple of days ago, I was able to get some great quotes from Jeff Van Gundy on a variety of topics.

This is the kind of unfiltered content you can expect to get with a modest paid membership to the new ClubYao this coming season. More information will be coming soon about memberships. Most of the proceeds will go to Yao’s favorite charities.

Question: What do you think of guard Kirk Snyder:

JVG: “He’s got some really good qualities, and yet, he has some things that he has to clean up and correct to find a niche for himself on a team for more than a single season.

“He has to harness his natural energy and intensity into productive intensity and being an assertive aggressive offensive player while still seeing the floor.

“Kirk is a very good finisher around the basket. Very strong. Good athleticism up to the basket. He finishes very well. Not a bad 3-point shooter. I think too many times he pulls up for an 18-foot jumper which is not really a shot they (the defense) mind giving up. His game should be built around free throws, at the basket, and a spot-up three.”

Question: Is this Rockets roster better than the team you had last season?

JVG: “I liked the team last year that we had — even at the end of the year — very much, when it comes to intangibles, as far as commitment, attitude, and chemistry. Those guys were outstanding, not good. Outstanding. All those areas. Where we fell short last year was basketball IQ at times and skill level. We didn’t shoot it well, and we made a lot of basketball IQ mistakes, and that is on me as much as it is on the team. The difference is I’m not sure where our team is going to go this year as far as commitment, attitude and chemistry. But if we can recreate the same things in those areas that we had last year, I certainly think we have better skill level and athletic talent this year.”

Question: Is the roster a little deeper to handle an injury to a key player?

JVG: “If McGrady and Yao go out…just name the top two off any team in the league. Terry-Nowitzki. Parker-Duncan. Just go on. Wade-O’Neal. You might win some, but you ain’t gonna win big. This isn’t just us. It’s not just our team. And yet, when one of them is out (McGrady or Yao)….We certainly should win more. We should have won more last year. We lost a lot of close games last year. We had some basketball IQ issues, decision-making late in games that cost us. I really thought we were positioned last year at 29-33 to make a run for that last playoff spot, then McGrady went out and we went 5-15.”

Question: Tracy calls Steve Novak the best shooter he has ever played with. What do you think of that statement?

JVG: “I think certainly he is a great shooter. He can get it off quick. His ability to put it on the floor will be based on his level of basketball IQ to over compensate for a lack of athletic ability, and how smart of a defender/rebounder he is at the other end so he doesn’t get overwhelmed by either power or quickness.”

Question: Will McGrady and Bonzi play with each other this season?

JVG: “Yeah, they will play together. I think with Bonzi, we’ll play a lot of small (ball). If you look at our team, certainly you can make the case that our smalls…we have more depth back there (in the backcourt). I think Bonzi, again, is very good in the basket area, and he’s a very good offensive rebounder. So we certainly have to get to his strength area in the paint. And to post up a guard like this, you’ve got to have enough perimeter shooting. If you don’t have perimeter shooting, the guard-post up thing is negated. That’s why when he was with (his previous team)…they have so many big shooters on the floor that the paint was open. We’ve got to try to recreate that with enough spacing and enough shooting.”

Question: Who do you do that with?

JVG: “If you look at our team, I would say you have to play a shooting 4-man (power forward). Like the Spurs…to me one of the most underrated acquisitions of the year has been (Matt) Bonner. I think that guy is very, very good. And if you’re going to put a guy on the floor with (Tim) Duncan and the penetration that they have, he’s going to be perfect, so you need to have a guy like that, and you need to have a point guard who can shoot, and you need to have a three (small forward) who can shoot.”

Question: Is that one of things this team will have to do – to shoot better?

JVG: “I don’t think it’s just our team. It’s probably most teams. Shooters are at a premium. That’s why I like John Lucas. He’s a midget. He’s got some other issues, but the guy can really shoot. And Novak has got issues, but he can really shoot. And (Scott) Padgett has some things he does well and not so well, but he can shoot. He’s good in that he can shoot and make quick decisions with the ball. And that’s why I like (Shane) Battier at the ‘four.’ I do. He doesn’t have issues. If you have issues with Battier, you have issues.”

Tim Duncan and the supposed diminishing emphasis on a low-post game in the NBA came up:

JVG: “Just tell them (the Spurs), ‘We don’t want him (Duncan) down there.’ People say post-up basketball is out. Then I’m watching…hmmm….Dallas-San Antonio (playoff series). Like 52 straight times in one game (they went to the low-post game)? Yeah, it’s amazing. People say, ‘Oh, he (Duncan) is looking for a bounce back year.’ Bounce back year? Are (they nuts)? He didn’t play as much because they were beating everybody’s ass by 30. So he’s sitting over there in the third quarter. Yeah. Okay. I just don’t understand. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is watching? (They say) he’s hobbled. My ass!

When JVG was told that Duncan didn’t hit the bank shot as well last year:

JVG: “That’s because he was so bored. Like, c’mon, like if I was him, (I would say), ‘I’m so damn good.’ I would be so bored kicking everyone’s ass. ‘Awww, jeez, I have to go out there again tonight and bust this guy’s ass?’ I know, seriously, the guy is ridiculous.”

“That was really a great comeback (by the Spurs in Game 7 of the Dallas-San Antonio series last year). And the play he (Duncan) made to (Manu) Ginobili was great. Ginobili. I love that guy. He’s got such balls. He just wound up and fired that thing” (on a big shot at the end of the game).

What about the play where Ginobili committed a foul on Nowitzki that ended up losing the game for the Spurs?

JVG: “That’s why he’s good. Your greatest strength is your greatest weakness.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 8th, 2006 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.