Half the defense double the offense. -MDA They should have paid him enough to comeback. Everyone has a price.
I wanna say it's just about family, but a guy with no rings retiring from THIS team at THIS point tells me it must be something else. If I had to guess: either he doesn't believe OR he is not cool with MDA.
Or he doesnt like the lack of respect shown to defense by the Rockets off-season moves. Like you said, he would not have done this if this team was looking golden. But he knows this is a sinking ship defensively, and is jumping off early.
This isn’t good at all. The late notice really limits what we can do. I’m sure we will hear about how great Roy will do with the defense and I don’t buy it at all. I know he had discussed retirement as early as last season but I would expect he would let them know earlier. The short comments from MDA tell me he isn’t concerned or that he is really unhappy how this shook loose and isn’t going to comment much. We added the Olsen kid but I don’t think he is known for defense. Really concerned with how everything has played out. Didn’t keep Ariza or Moute for financial reasons. Couldn’t move Anderson so took back two garbage players and now lost the defensive coach.
That's my suspicion. Maybe not respect, but not giving him what he told them he needs. "I can't work with this."
Key point right there. This might be a surprise to us but not to D'Antoni, in which case he has probably implemented or prepared a backup plan.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...k-retiring-65-was-architect-franchise-defense On the cusp of the opening of training camp, Houston Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik -- architect of the franchise's No. 6-ranked defense -- is retiring, league sources told ESPN. Bzdelik, 65, informed coach Mike D'Antoni and general manager Daryl Morey of his decision on Sunday. Bzdelik has been considering retirement throughout the summer, and there are no health issues that dictated the decision, sources said. Bzdelik's defense evolved into one of the NBA's best units last season, moving up significantly statistically in the consecutive seasons that he oversaw it. Rockets assistant Roy Rogers is expected to assume a bulk of the defensive responsibilities, but he'll have help on staff. Houston had the NBA's best regular-season record and reached a Game 7 before losing to Golden State in the Western Conference finals last season. Bzdelik started in the NBA 30 years ago as a scout, eventually working for Pat Riley with the New York Knicks and becoming head coach of the Denver Nuggets from 2002 to 2004. He was a college head coach with Air Force, Colorado and Wake Forest.
Doesn't have to be about how he gets along with the other coaches. If could be health- or family-related, or both. Maybe some new situation with his wife or a kid/grandkid requires his time and attention right now. It's unfortunate, but without more info I don't feel comfortable saying it was a dick move to do this at the last second. Finding a quality defensive coach won't be difficult, because this is the NBA and this is where lots of quality coaches would love to be. Finding one who has a similar philosophy and uses similar schemes, on the other hand, won't be easy. And switching to an altogether new defense after the success we had last year scares the hell out of me.
Well, Nuggets did fire Bzdelik as head coach shortly into Melo's second season, largely for internal friction, which included wanting to suspend Melo for refusing to re-enter a game, but mgmt negated it.
