5 reasons Jeff Van Gundy isn’t a perfect fit for Houston Rockets
By John Buhler
1. Reaching into the past to problem solve rarely works
When organizations have their backs against the wall, they often panic and try to reach into the past to solve their problems. While it seems like an admirable action, yesterday’s problems aren’t today’s and these solutions from yesterday are now antiquated.
By hiring Van Gundy a decade after Alexander fired him as head coach, that would signal that the Rockets are desperate to cling on to the gold old days that frankly never were. Van Gundy’s Rockets teams were okay, but not on the level of what Rudy Tomjanovich had with the Hakeem Olajuwon-led group of the mid-1990s.
The best way for the Rockets to get out of the mental funk is to be mindful of the present. While the Rockets shouldn’t forget about the future, it’s not in the team’s best interest to dwell on past accomplishments from previous regimes.
Sometimes to get out of a rut, an organization may need to bring in a complete outsider that has no connection to the franchise to honestly assess the problems at hand. While time away from the Rockets could help Van Gundy get the team back on track, he’s still labeled as one of the Rockets’ own.
Nostalgia is a fun place to venture to from time to time, but it isn’t a state of mind to that is best equipped to win in the present. Houston is good enough to win multiple playoff series if the team has itself all together mentally.
A fresh, unbiased outside voice will probably be the best thing for the club going forward. It could be Van Gundy, but it also could yield a McHale type of mutiny if things continue to go awry with the Rockets.
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