I'm not thrilled with Van Gundy myself. However, if, in his first season, he pulls out 46 wins versus 45 wins last season, that's pretty damn good. This is his first year as coach. I will only judge him once he molds this roster with a major trade. So far, with the personnel he has and the fact that it's his first season, he's doing fine. I wouldn't say he's doing great, since he just can't find a way to implement Steve into the offense, but he's good. Rudy wasn't the right coach for this team. JVG has forced this team to take responsibility and mature. Rudy would be the perfect coach for us in a season or two though.
This summer will be crucial for CD's future with the Rockets. If he does the right things and put the right pieces together to improve the team he will stay. Otherwise he'll be gone sometie during next year. His track record hasn't exactly been spotless.
If CD were to be fired, Le$ would be a serious hypocrite. When a coach gets fired, it's because the team underachieved. The team is not doing anything more this year than marginal improvement that is gained through natural maturation. Therefore the coach must be at fault again.
CD should have been canned for a younger executive years ago. I would love to see Hakeem running this team from the front office. He would be an awesome negotiator: PLAYER X's AGENT: So you don't think he's worth the max? DREAM: Believe IT!!! FOCKASS!
Why not? When Griffin was drafted, there was ample knowledge that he was a potential headcase and might have severe character issues. The fights with his teammates, the messed up family life, all the warning signs were there. I thought it was a good move at the time too, but you can't say that we got blindsided by what happened. One of the reasons why he fell in the draft was because he was rumored to be a shady character...turns out that was true.
Rudy T had more influence over building the team than Rudy so it wouldn't be hypocritical. Excellent point Sam. I get tired of hearing that Rudy couldn't have predicted that Eddie was a head case when he was know for his head casisity while still in High School.
Isn't Rudy's contract done after this season? The assumption (or at least my assumption) has been that Rudy T would go find another coaching gig this offseason. If so, he wouldn't have a Rockets contract next season. Do you know for sure?
Well, in 2001, we did not have Yao and we were desperately searching for another young all-star player to play with Francis. We made a trade to top seven and selected EG who was regarded as the top pick before the draft. EG fell in the draft because Krause wanted to have to baby twin towers (BTW, it failed miserably).The top four were three HS and one Euro. 99% of clutch fans were extremely happy when the trade was made.
Eddie Griffin fell way past Chicago, and it wasn't just because of Jerry Krause, it was partially because he had a weird passive agressive thing going on checkered past off the court by beating up his college & high school teammates and showed no emotion on it. Again, the fact that he was at one point regarded as the top player should have clued people in. NJ probably scouted him better than any other player, considering that he played in the meadowlands. That should have been yet another clue there. Of course I remember being happy after the trade....but then again, I didn't really pay much attention to the warning signs, since I didn't scout him personally and it wasn't my job to determine whether or not he was worth 3 picks, etc. Rod Thorn did and thought the better of it. (though he later tried to have his cake and eat it too- that didn't really work out) Carroll Dawson didn't. Either way, the rockets made a mistake that was not unforeseeable at the time it was made. Somebody should have been held accountable for that.
Doesn't matter, it was still worth it. Also I like how this thread was supposed to be about CD but you took another chance to bash Rudy. Again. Is there anything that isn't Rudy's fault, in your opinion?
CD has made many mistakes no doubt. But I think a lot of people are just blinded by the frustration of the Rockets problems and do not give due credit to the GM. The fat contracts given to Moochie, Cato, Taylor etc. are done in the era of overpaying. Look around the league and see how many overpaid players. They are all signed in those years. Yes, he was wrong in signing those contracts. But that was the "market" at that time. The drafts in recent years are indeed bad. The most glaring one is, of course, the Eddie Griffin trade. It has been rehashed for so many times I'm not gonna repeat. But we got Mobley in the second round. We got Francis. Where did the credit go for those moves? And we got Yao. Yes getting the pick was pure luck. But to use the pick to get Yao was a gutsy move, imo. Look back at the time and you'll see how many doubters (yes, including myself) there were about picking Yao with the #1. And you'll also see how many red tapes they went through to get him, and yet they still stuck to the gun. Then look at the roster we have this year compared to last year. We are clearly a better team talentwise. Whose credit is that to bring in better players and getting rid of bad players? I mean, CD got rid of Moochie. That in itself should worth a Hall of Fame spot! j/k
JV - 100% sure? No. 95%? Absolutely. IIRC, RT signed a 5 year deal in 1997 and got a 4 year extension in March of 2000. The prior contract did not end until after the 2000-2001 season. Therefore, the last extension went until the end of the 2004-05 season. The following link doesn't say much...only that Rudy was under contract until ' 05. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/1944426 The best I could find quickly. But remember when the Rockets made their one stab at Larry Brown? The initial offer was in the $5m-$7m range and Detroit upped the ante to $10m. The Rockets never counter-offered because they owed RT $10m. That's pretty vivid to me because (at the time) I really thought they went on the cheap and made multiple posts to that effect.
You basically have a team that has no concept of closing out games, that is content with "just good enough." I believe Van Gumby mentioned much of this in today's Chron. While I am disappointed in how the team has performed, I think it exposes the flaws in the roster that has been put together. CD will not leave. Les will instruct him that something must be done; so CD's attachment to the current players won't be strong enough to risk his job.
