rudy is the man. I love rudy. the rest of you can go jump off a bridge.

chievous minniefield -

I'm wondering if you are a friend of Bill's? If so, then we have crossed paths before. However, whether we know each other or not, I vehemently disagree with your lack of middle ground on other's opinions of Rudy!!

Yes, Rudy coached our first two Pro-Championship teams in Houston!! But, a guy named Dream had a LOT to do with making him look good as a coach. I submit that Larry Brown, Pat Riley, and several other good Coaches in this league probably could have done the same given the quality of the opponents during 93-95.

It's now 2002/03 and Rudy is not demonstrating that he can deal effectively with the ego's of S.F. and Cat. If you are the person that I think you are, then you like Rudy because he's a player's coach, and not because his skill as a coach is "all that!!!"

So, for now, take a powder, buy a vowel, and find your own bridge

 

Not that I'm a Rudy apologist, but...

Larry Brown - lost to RudyT and the Rockets in '92-'93 playoffs first round.

Pat Riley - lost to RudyT and the Rockets '93-'94 playoffs Finals (obviously).

"Give the quality of opponents in 93-95", they could have done the same, but they didn't. Rudy and the Rockets did.

I guess I'll declare my loyalty to Rudy at this point, but I do agree that he definitely could use a wise assistant coach to help with the OFFENSE (not D as some have suggested).

 

All good things must come to an end.

Really, I think if Rudy makes the playoffs and wins a series, he definitly deserves to keep his job, but the guy has got to exert some control over Francis. I totally agree with the people who said we are the most unprepared team after timeouts. How many teams do you see that need a two points to tie a game at the end with a few seconds left, call timeout, resume play and not get a shot off. This is becoming a Rockets trademark and it reflects directly on Rudy T's control of his guards. That being said, that is the only problem I have with Rudy.

 

Never under estimate the power of a 2 game winning streak (Lakers beat the Catterless Raptors last night).

 

Even better!!!

A two-game winning streak!...against the Nuggets and Raptors. The Nuggest don't have anybody who can score...the Raptors don't have Vince Carter. They are sad. Shaq vs. that guy with messed up teeth? He's smaller than Eddie Griffin.

So if you say championships don't mean anything...Rudy has 2. Phil Jackson has too many. So should they fire Phil Jackson for losing this season?

 

Well, Fegwu, I appreciate that!

When I first started here, I was one of the biggest Rudy "apologists" around.

However, I get tired of seeing the Rockets do the same stupid things over and over again. Some of that is the players fault, but some of it are the rotations of Rudy's which leave a lot to be desired.

I have a college degree in mathematics (as hard as that is to believe for some people here, lol) and as a result, it annoys me to see the same mistakes occur over and over again. I guess I feel it is just not logical that those things would happen.

Also, I have to question how much Rudy disciplines some of the players. It seems some have more leeway than others.

If the Rockets could cut down on some of the same old mistakes and Rudy gets tougher with some of the guys who need it than you will never hear another peep out of me regarding this issue.

Now, Fegwu, I hope this doesn't change your opinion about me, but I have to be honest about my feelings on this.

 

Manny
Your inputs are always thoughtful and honest in my opinion. Do not change for anyone even if your opinion is unpopular. Just be yourself even if it means setting anyone straight.

We share similar sentiments about the frustration of living with dumb mistakes and head-scratching decision making we see in our team from the head coach to the players. It did not start this season. I don't ask for much - Just win and lose as a team. I will always love my Rockets (and I try to appreciate their inputs both past and present) but that does not mean I will become an apologist and find an explanation for everything.

I sincerely hope things get CONSISTENTLY better. This is the season of judgement for many on this team.

Let me use this opportunity to wish the Houston Rockets and Clutch BBS member a happy and healthy new year 2003.

 

F e g w u, I agree with you totally. But your moniker just makes me little uncomfortable because it becomes very difficult to write your moniker in any message. You know what I mean!

 

1) We didn't draft Steve Francis. Most Rockets fans know that.
2) Accomplishments? Rudy got us 2 championships.

 

I'll overlook your sophomoric attempts at supporting your weak "argument" by blasting me. Anyone with any sense knows you're just a whiny poster that cries with no merit to your argument.

So I'll ask you this. Let's assume Rudy sucks. Who are some of the candidates you want to replace him? You obviously must have some people in mind. Let's hear some names.

 

Um. . . I seem to remember we forced TWO overtime by calling a play that had Francis hitting a game tying shot. I agree that Rudy needs more discipline with his players. But a coach's ability to control over players (especially star players) is overrated.

And I don't get how people blame the coach for the players' inability to make open shots as they did in the Knicks game.

 

He should'a made them practice more!

And and... it shouldn't matter that the starting center and co-franchise is a 22-y/o rookie that didn't go to camp, or that the starting SF and second PF were out all of last year and the SF had not played much with this team before anyway, or that our starting PF is a 20 y/o, our franchise player is a whopping 25 years.

Uh...how many years has this team been together?

The Rudy naysayers sound 'green' to me. To think that you just throw a bunch of young players together, tinker with it some more and some more, then expect it to be beating veteran teams regularly is just ridiculous. Experimentation by the coach is part of the growth process, but when things don't work, you just hammer the coach. When it does work, I don't hear the accolades. I think that's just weak.

Do you really think that team's rebuild overnight? That there is any coach out there that can take a bunch of talented young guns and make them into a successful team overnight?

You will find the same whining at every other team that has to go through a rebuilding process. We should just be thankful that it is a rebuilding process that has unlimited potential, and not just another eternally mediocre team that so many other cities get stuck with. We have young talent, the coaches, and the back-office that builds champions.

I wish we all could just enjoy the growth of this team. It is improving, and already has the potential to go on an extended win streak. We are a play-off team again.

 

All hail Rudy!!!

 

And here you see why Cohen is a good poster...

Explained why all of you "Fire Rudy" knee jerkers need to chill out with your shrillish screams of "RT sux!" after something doesn't work right.

He laid it all out in an easy to understand and logical fashion for you...but I'm sure you will just blow him off as a Rudy-apologist.

It's really a shame, you people are too blinded by your hatred of RT to see logic.

 

Coaches get too much credit and too much blame in pro basketball. That's a universally accepted and self evident truth.

In pro hoops, it's the GM that builds champs. In the NBA, the team with the best players wins championships the vast majority of the time. That has been true for decades.

Rudy the GM has done a superb job. Ask yourself, what team would decline to trade rosters with us? I know - we have had our bryce drews and merkad turkshan (and dammit we could have had Rashard Lewis), but overall, Rudy has done remarkably well in assembling talent.

As for Rudy the Coach, let's be honest . . . It's Francis' fault that he cant stop playing streetball. It's Francis' fault that his use of his abundant energy is too often directionless and ineffective. It's Cat's fault that he doesn't have more sense than to jack up stupid shots. Bottom line, our players are still learning how to win and hopefully will learn one day. They still have a ways to go.

Rudy has a number of ways that he could facilitate that process, and he has chosen the "player's coach" method. Some of us (myself included) would prefer to have him pull Francis or Mobley when they're playing like idiots, to teach them a lesson. It's like parents deciding whether to spank kids or not. Maybe it would work. maybe not.

Bottom line: let's not get too excited with the coaching issue. The talent is good enough to get us into the playoffs. If we don't, it's because our players didn't do the job and didn't improve enough.

The talent may be good enough to be championship caliber. Time and development will tell. But let's not talk about coaching this much, not in the NBA at least.

You just don't reason with millionaires in shorts.

 

Reilydog, you make some very valid points with your post. I agree with most of what you're saying. However, as a fan, it becomes very difficult to support Rudy due to the fact that the same little problems seem to pop up game after game.

How hard is it to make Moochie not hold onto the ball for 10 seconds before forcing up a bad shot? How hard is it to run plays for Ming (or any one) in the low post 15-20 times per game?

The Rockets are guilty of making the same little mistakes over and over again, and this is where I think the majority of Rudy "haters" have their beef.

If the outside shot is not falling, then go down low for some "easy" high percentage shots. I don't see this happening on a consistent basis. It's the simple things that Rudy is not making happen, and the lack of effort to cure the little intangibles that frustrate most of us.

We are an above .500 team, but the all the fans want to see is steady improvement and consistency. Until that happens, Rudy is going to catch some fire.

We all love the Rockets; we all want to see them win it all. We all want what's best for the team in our own minds.

I have a certain amount of respect for Rudy for sticking by his guns, but I think he needs just as much adjustment as the rest of the squad. It’s a different NBA than it was 8 years ago, and Rudy seems slow to realize this fact. Hopefully he’ll prove all of us haters wrong in the near future. That’s what I hope for anyway.

 

1. He took a bunch of CBA rejects and college players to a bronze medal in the world championships.

2. He coached a bunch of superstars to a gold medal in the Olympics.

3. After winning championships with a vet team , he completely rebuilt this team on the fly through drafts, trades, and free agent signings. ( no coach in recent history has done this or even attempted to do it...not Phil Jackson, not Pat Riley). Now all this team needs is time to develop together.

4. He coached a team ( of very young players) to a 45 win season to set the record for most ever to miss the playoffs.

5. He somehow managed to get one of the top players in 3 out of the last 4 drafts.

 

Dude, if you are talking about the Miami game, we shouldn't have even been in that position. Do you think that Phil Jackson didn't have any control over Shaq and Kobe the last three years? How many rings did they have before he got there? And if you want to bring up the Miami game, what happened at the end of the Clippers game in L.A. Its tit for tat.

 

lucky, you make it sound like Rudy is out there on the court. I've heard him say in multiple interviews that he wants to run the offense through Yao, but if SF and Cat want to run something else, well guess what, they'll run something else. All the things you mention, Moochie holding the ball, little mistakes, etc., are things that Rudy can try to drill into the team, but once they're out there on the court, all Rudy can do is throw his hands up when they don't do what he says. This is a common occurance on every NBA team. What do you expect when you tell a 20 year old making millions what to do?

And I don't know if it was you, but someone mentioned Phil Jackson 'bringing' titles to LA...please! Do you really think it was coincidence that Kobe's game matured just before Phil decided to 'rescue' LA? He saw the talent there and knew he could just release the reins and watch the titles roll in. Have you ever watched this guy coach? He just sits there...amazing coaching ability! Guess what, give me Michael and Scottie or Shaq and Kobe, and I'll give you 3 titles too.

Actually, I kind of feel sorry for Rudy. He has all these great ideas and stays up all night figuring out new plays. And then he'll teach the play in practice until everyone has it down so by gametime it should be 2nd nature, right? Wrong. The play is called, and Cat throws up a fadaway 25 footer airball, and Rudy is left standing there, eyes just glazed over, wondering what's going on...but it's still his fault, right?