Sorry, I don't mean to bust your bubble, but it's not going to happen with this young team. Rudy has no control over this team. If he can't get them to run his offense how do you expect them to improve
No bubble burst here.. So we just got all the pieces together and we have played 33 games and won 19 of them. Yet you think that this team is out of control and we can't run an offense.. well, when your team #4 in defense and #3 in rebounding , you can get away with little less offense as evident by our record. I see flashes every game with this team. If you cannot see the improvement than you must be a "glass is half empty " kind of person. We have almost eclipsed last years win total and we have not even got to the halfway point. All this while: Intergrating a rookie center who is from another country. A 20 year old starting PF 2 important players coming off of season ending injuries. A brand new offense with new players Hey! Come on and jump on board the Rockets bandwagon! Its blasting off to the playoffs....with or without fairweather fans who panic because we don't win every game. Sit back, kick your shoes off, and enjoy the ride....
My beefs 1. How does a team with Mobley, Griffin, Rice, Francis, Taylor, Ming become the 6th worst offensive team in the NBA. Does anyone know what 100 points in a game feels like, because I think we have seen it what 3 times this year. Dont give me injuries, and roster changes. We have no where near the injuries and players rotated out as the Kings and look at what they have manged to do. BTW. We barely scrape 90 points a game. Every team goes through roster changes every year...literally. How many years can we trump the "Injuries" ace, or the "Chemistry" ace. What was our excuse when we had 4 of the top 50 in a few years? 2. Our offensive game plan is still pretty pathetic. Its all top of the screen pick and roll with the roller almost never.......rolling. Every trip down the court. First it was: Dump it in every time down the court, then it was ISO everytime down the court, now its that phoney excuse for a motion offense we pretend to play.j 3. If we are such a young, offensive minded, quick team; why dont we ever fast break? Seriously...we should be running the older teams to death. 4. Mismatches. Small ball is forever banned. It sucked early, it sucked in the middle and it sucks now. For something that is absolutely ineffective...why do we run it so much? When we played the smallest team in the NBA (the Knicks) why did we go small against them? Made no sense, we played right into their weakness and were left scratching our heads as to what happened. 5. Rotations. No reason why Rice has earned so many minutes, and Nachbar cant get any. If Rice is going to suck on the offensive side, not rebound, and play pretty pathetic D...what else could Nachbar possibly do worse??? Why cant I ever see Mo Taylor have a good game one night, and more than 14 minutes the next night. What to take a guess why he cant get it going? Maybe he's still injured, but maybe he couldn't figure out why after lighting up Garnett and the Wolves he got a whopping 14 minutes the next night. More for Posey...simple...less for Rice, less for Mooch, its that easy. Francis and Mobley dont need to be 1,2 in minutes played in the NBA, or was it 2, 3? Those are some of my "COACHING" issues with this team.
If you are such a fan why are you already thinking of coaching replacements? Is Phil Jackson a bad coach? Is Pat Riley a bad coach? According to your theory they are.
Phil Jackson has won the Title 9 of the last 11 years he has coached. Call it talent our not...he's entitled to a bad start where his best player was out for a month. Riley hasnt missed the playoffs 3 straight years....ever in his career. For what I can remember. He also has several titles. He is entitled to a bad few years where he lost his best player.
tremendous post, dreamshake. i wish that post can be read by everybody and understood by everybody on this board, because it is all so true. unfortunately, too many people have it too firmly ingrained in their heads that rudy can do no wrong, and agree with all of his decisions for no other reason than.....the fact that rudy made the decisions, so, this phenomenal post is unfortunately going to fall on deaf ears. but, as a rockets fan who understands the game, and is willing to be critical, rather than just say that the decisions are correct because rudy knows better than us, i salute you. i couldn't have stated my sentiments any better. there is always room for more improvement. does a 19-14 record at this point upset us? no. even though that is a good record given everything the rockets have had to endure, should it be better? yes, but rudy is too damn stubborn, or too damn stupid to make changes. forget all of the other technicalities of coaching. substitution and minutes distribution-wise this season, rudy gets an "F". and, in that aspect, he has, in my opinion, cost us games, and i have a feeling will cost us a couple more in the future if he doesn't smarten up. and, by the way, Dennis2112, get a damn clue. everybody who wastes their time on this BBS are die-hard Rockets fans. you apparently don't understand what a bandwagon fan or a fairweather fan is, so don't throw those words around like you do. just because we offer criticism and changes that we would like to see the team make, rather that not offering much of an opinion and seeing everything the rockets do with rose-colored glasses like you do, doesn't make us "fairweather fans". fairweather fans are those who only watch the team and are fans of a team when they are winning. apparently, you don't understand that this board is for discussion, both approval and dissension, regarding the rockets. this board would suck if everybody agreed with every decision the rockets made, and nobody offered any critcism whatsoever.
I never said you were a fair weather fan nor did I single out anybody else. Why are so defensive? Are you feeling guilty about something??( or did I just hit the nail on the head) Anyhow, I never said that criticism was not warranted but to continue to wail like a schoolkid about the little things seems like a waste of time. Why not just enjoy the wins. There is always room for improvement but to call for Rudy's head after a 19-14 record is flat out silly. Discussion is fine but not when it borders on the ridiculous, well that just is not right. The Rockets are doing well considering all the changes that have come about over the last 2 years. You can give Rudy an "F" if you want but I would be more inclined to give him an "A" in rebuilding but a "C" in game coaching decisions. If you want to nitpick and whine about every little mistake the Rockets, Rudy, or whoever makes, well quite frankly, have at it. But , my friend, it is not I who needs to get a clue....try looking in the mirror.
The great Zen master is not crap without MJ or Shaq. Where were the Bulls in 94 and 95? Where were the Laker without Shaq, abelow 500 ballclub. Lets see the old Zen master take the Cavs to the title...oh wait they do not have 2 of the best players in the league..oh well. paging Magic..are you there?? No Magic = no titles funny how that happens....
Rudy had nothing to do with it. When Steve and Cuttino decides to pass the ball and play D, the Rockets win. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Yao needs more touches for the Rockets to be successful. However, I haven't seen Rudy draw up a play to get Yao and easy look by having the 1, 2, or 3 set a screen for him, which would allow him to get easy position in the post.
I've never said Rudy could do no wrong and that wasn't the initial thought of my post. I still think he should be given this season, with his guns fully loaded, to see what he can do with this team...and NOT just before the all-star break. Again, just a playoff appearance should be reward enough this season but I know that won't be enough for some of you. NEXT SEASON is when I start looking for real big things.
Well I guess the Lakers better get rid of Jackson real soon too then... Sure, he won some championships, but they're losing now, even more than the Rockets! Damn troll, that same argument (second paragraph I quoted) can and is said about the Rudy haters.
okay this should not even be a topic because... it is NOT rudy! it is the players! there was a recent interview where cuttino was frustrated and said "coach tells us to do one thing and we do another. we need to do what coach tells us. i dont understand whats going on" not exact words, but pretty close its not rudy, its the players...let them grow! lets see whos talking in 3 years or even IN THE PLAYOFFS. we can only get better it just takes time
Totally agree, thechangx, and I also competely agree with the thread starter. I think I might be a little blinded by my huge amounts of... fan-hood... but I really feel like the "be patient" arguments are true, and the people that say they're getting sick of those arguments can go to hell. They're just looking for something to b**** about. The honest truth is that the team is improving, and things are a lot rosier than they used to be.
Free, Dream&Fat hit the nail on the head. Why is a guy making $4M/Yr missing the Playoffs 3 straight years? Bad return on investment. A Rocket Lover wants team to make Playoffs this year. This is what I am. A Rudy Lover wants Rudy to have job until he retires, Playoffs be damned. That is what you and your buddies are. I've said from jump, no Playoffs, Rudy should be fired. I'm glad for "19"-14 mark. I hope the Rox make the Playoffs this year. I will kick off my shoes and enjoy the ride. Can you give a Playoff Pledge? We need as many Rudy Lovers to sign up.
Rudy this Rudy that: Let this be known, Rudy does not play the games! This team is young and inexperienced together. Yao is brand spanking new and is no doubt the key player with Francis, and this will take time to gel. We will make the playoffs this year. The bottom line is Championships are not won in the first quarter of the season. As long as we get to the playoffs this year, anything can happen. What does everyone expect, a championship this season? The Rockets are just now figuring out there identity(what it takes as a team to get the job done). Oh did I mention that we are 19-14?
I have noticed a play where Yao starts out high at the top of the 3 point line setting a pick and then immediately running to the low post where Rice feeds him the ball. Admittedly, i only saw it twice but i think it shows that Rudy is doing something to get Yao the ball.
I agree totally on every point and the entire reason is Rudy T. He's a one trick pony: essentially throw the ball into a superstar type player and let them make things happen. It worked great when Hakeem mastered it and was playing at the top of his game. It didn't work so great with SF, even when he's healthy. The reason we don't fastbreak so much is SF sucks at playmaking on the fast break, still. He's awesome as long as he doesn't get forced into passing the ball. I have friends who are nothing compared to high school players otherwise that are better at running a fastbreak. He seems to do all right on set plays that are not disrupted by the defense. Rudy's just stuck in his comfort zone, doing what's worked for him in the past.
Dennis2112 Paging Hakeem Olajuwon..are you there. I guess by your standards Rudy had nothing to do with their title runs since its pretty much accepted fact that Hakeem was the best player in the world at the time. Paging Barkley, Hakeem, Glyde are you there? Paging Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley are you there? What team had three better players than this?
Dream, Ease up! You are hurting them. Rudy had 3 Top 50 Players twice! No rings to show for it! Only coach in HISTORY TO DO IT!
Those Top 50 players you speak of weren't exactly in their prime. They had no point guard worth a damn. Francis came along and Dream b****ed that the ball should still come through him. You guys are great about leaving out the important information.
