I don't understand all the assistant coach bashing. The Rox played sub par all season long; I don't think you can logically blame all that on Larry Smith. Larry Smith wasn't the one who signed Kato and Moochie to ridiculus contracts, he didn't pass up Richard Jefferson in the draft, nor was he the one who okayed the Kenny Thomas trade. Rudy T was directly involved in all those debacles, not to mention allowing his stupid guards to play like morons. I like Rudy as a coach, believe it or not, but quit looking for scape goats and put the blame where it belongs.
Heypartner Don't you think that Francis' statement was contradictory, ironic and shallow? If he decides not to come back if Rudy is fired doesn't he think that he choices are void your contract and stay at home or forces a trade to another team where not only the coach and system will be new but the City, Home, tax, Home arena, weather, fans, possibly all his team mates, GM, trainer, hang outs, power dancers, leverage, etc will all be the different? Anyway it is not really a shock he said that - Francis though a good man is indeed an intellectually challenged person. Francis.......you are not Kobe and not even Starbury. Hush.
For those of you in love with Van Gundy, you'll get a taste of ugly Pat Riley ball soon. I don't think JVG is the right coach for this team. Rudy T. is a good coach, otherwise he won't last this long in this league. As much as I don't think Rudy T. is a good fit for this team, unless he choose to step down, I don't think he will be fired. IF Rudy T. decide to step down due to his health reason, what about hiring Mike Fratello? I think he will be a good fit for the Rockets. Fratello has proved his offensive coaching ability when he was coaching the Hawks in the later 1980's, and the Caves in the later 1980's. Later, he becme well known as a defensive guru with the Cavs when that team had a batch of CBA's. He coached big man Brad Daughty(sp?), Larry Nance at their respective prime, that Cavs's team would have won the title if not because of my Bulls! Plus, Fratello is very displined, which is what this team really need.
No. I consider them coach loyalty and identical to Patrick Ewing telling people to shut up about Van Gundy, when Ewing said, "if he goes, I go." Besides, how is it contradictory? If management forces a head coach change on him, he has no choice but have a new coach...so leaving becomes a matter of not wanting to play for that management anymore.
Hey, if Francis wants out, let him out. That's what I say. He's just trying to pull a loyalty thing like Michael Jordan did when Phil Jackson left Chicago. Only difference is, Francis + Rudy haven't accomplished anything except 4 lottery seasons in a row. Yo, Steve, deflate your head for a minute and realize that you haven't proven anything yet. All-Star games are meaningless. Get the Rockets deep into the post season, THEN you can start making demands like this. Until then, shut your trap and keep playin' ball.
Basically the real problem is that we have a bunch of players that suck. Mobley, Moochie, Griffin, Collier, Tito Maddox, Nachbar, Hawkins, Glen Rice (OK, he's not that bad but he's old and slow), etc... Hell, the only three consistent NBA level players on this team right now are Francis, Yao, and Mo Taylor. Cato is showing some signs as a backup. So, our choices are: 1. Get some better players and get rid of all the sucky players mentioned above, or.... 2. Keep Griffin and Nachbar (due to potential) and trade all of the other stiffs or just don't resign them. They are barely NBA level talent at this point, in my opinion.
Guys, take it easy! remember M.J said he wouldn't play for a coach other Phil, now he's been playing under Collins for two years. and Steve Fransis is not even M.J. right?
Rudy won't die and shame on you for saying that. Here's whats gonna happen this off season. 1. Rudy makes a comeback. 2. We trade one of our soft power forwards... in return getting a more physical powerforward or point guard. 3. Via free agency, sign veteran point guard or powerforward (which ever we can't get via trade ) 4. Move Steve to the 2 guard... his height will be a slight problem, but his quickness will make up for it. 5. Pray that Yao doesn't get SARS this summer. 6. Cuttino will refuse to be a bench warmer, and will have to be traded too... hopefully for someone who can hit the outside J. 7. Rockets make playoffs in 2004. 8. Rockets make it to the finals in 2005. And yes... being young is an excuse! So what Steve is 26... that's still young. Could you carry an NBA franchise on your shoulders at that age?!? Doubt it!
Try Tim Duncan. In fairness, I think what they mean by "young team" is that the group has not been together for very long. But "age" of the players is used instead as well. Remember, Magic Johnson became the leader at 20 (Rookie). Age is not an excuse. Knowlege IS! Or lack thereof.
Are you being serious? How old are you? This has to be the most rediculous statement I have read on this BBS.
You don't think Hakeem had passing skills? Hakeem was one of the best passing big men of his day. How many times did we see him hit the open shooter for a 3? The offense you are describing is just a variation of the old offense. You want 2 cutters instead of one cutter and 2 or 3 spot up shooters. Fine. I don't disagree with that at all. My point was we need a post up offense that puts the ball in Ming's hands to make decisions with, the same way that we put the ball in Hakeem's hands and let him make decisions with it. I don't quite agree that Francis and Mobley need double screens. What needs to happen is the screener needs to learn how to really set the screen and Francis and Mobley need to learn how to rub the defender off into the screen. That doesn't happen now. The big men set half screens, they don't get up on the defender and force the defender around the screen, and Francis and Mobley take off before the big men can get set. If they figure out how to use those screens right, this offense right now would be a lot better, but when they don't they aren't able to get a good open roll from the big man, and the defender is still half draped on them when they make a move, and the defender is in perfect position to fade off to the shooter if they dish out. That is why Utah is so good. They make the screens work! And this team definitely needs a DEFENSIVE coach. Francis is way too talented, way too quick to be playing off his man 5-8 feet and getting lit up night after night after night. Van Gundy may not be the answer offensively. I cringe at the thought of watching "Riley ball" for the whole season. But somebody with some defensive coaching skills needs to help these guys and make them play on that end for 40+ minutes. If we had just had that this season, we would've won 50. But I watched too many games where there was no defensive pressure or intensity until there was 11 seconds left in the game, and we wind up losing by less than 5 points. If this team never gets it defensively, we can have the best offensive ever (eg ALex English and the Denver Nuggets) but if we can't stop anybody, we ain't goin nowhere. J.R. Bremer??? Remember him lighting us up. Whose man was that anyway? Every point guard we played against torched us at one point or the other. You know why? Because Francis was hanging out in the paint, trying to get his rebounds............while the jumpers rained down, swish. Francis' rebounds are kinda like Eddie's blocked shots. They're nice but at what price. A blocked shot is not worth 3 dunks and a foul because you left your man wide open because you are going weak side trying to get the block. Make your blocks against your man, one on one, and pick your opportunities when your man is in bad position to help on the weakside. Don't leave your man wide open under the bucket so you can go for a block. A rebound is not worth 3 3-point shots because you are playing off your man and letting him have wide open 3's. That is the kind of selfish play that has to stop. Let's not even talk about Rice and Taylor on the defensive end. The word useless comes to mind. Moochie too for that matter. I can't think of one single player in this league that Moochie can stick with. We have a core of 4 defenders on this team, guys that really hustle on the defensive end and play with some intelligence there. Ming, Cato, Hawkins, and Posey. That's it. The rest just defend when they feel like it or when the game is on the line. It's too late then. You gotta defend from the tip. We also need to bring back some of that championship era defense, you know, get up on the guards and force them to their weak hand side, force them down low where they can mess around with Ming and hopefully Eddie if he ain't tokin weed. Don't let the opposing teams guards shoot 16-22 foot jumpers uncontested all night long.
My apologies to TMo. I forgot to include him in my list of defenders. I guess it was because he played so few minutes and most of them at cleanup time that his contribution got overlooked. From what I saw, TMo really did hustle on the defensive end and made defense a priority, not an afterthought. It is unfortunate that players like him and Hawk got passed over and so few minutes because we were concentrating on getting our "offensive studs" off.
It is little wonder that the Rockets are not going to the playoffs again because they don't think that there is anything wrong. Why is it that everyone outside the Rockets can see it but them? Thank goodness that Les is seeming to come around.
Maybe I'm wrong, but wasn't Musselman the first coach of the Timberwolves? *checking nba.com* OIC. Bill Musselman, the old Twolves coach, was his dad. This guy is Eric Musselman. An NBA.com quote: tres cool. Dave.
Hakeem learned that skill -- more a system based pass, rather than an actual "passing skill" -- after Rudy came to the team. In 1993 Hakeem was just learning to trust his teammates. Hakeem never had a natural passing skill like Kareem Abul-Jabbar, Arvydas Sabonis, or Bill Walton. Those guys had natural passing skill as rookies. Like Yao. Hakeem did not.
