MacBeth, step away from the thesaurus. It does not make you come across as more intelligent. A well constructed sentence with basic words can illustrate the point quite effectively.
Sadly, the words are mine own. I can see how you'd make that assumption, but I'm not in need of any affirmation; not for my intelligence, at any rate. Like many people, I have a few different external voices, and the one I use at any given time is usually dependant upon what I have been reading or watching moct recently. I will make sure to consult you next time before trying to express myself in a genuine fashion, as clearly you would know more about what the real me sounds like than I would.
But Larry Brown is Larry Brown. My point is Larry Brown can't get along with his players, not that Steve can't get along with his coach. Larry Brown would have been the one causing problems, IMO. Steve proved this past year he can get along with tough coaces.
!?!?!? Can't get along with his players? So you blame the blackeye on the face as much as the fist? Iverson has been a problem for every coach in the league, and Brown handled him as well, emphasized his strengths and tempered his weaknnesses as well as anyone could have. Yeah, there were still problems; Iverson is Iverson. Iverson had problems all year long with this coach too. SO did the coach before Brown. But who got the most out of him, and who did Iverson spend most of this year telling reporters was the coach who he wished he could always play for? Right, Larry Brown.
Well, maybe you are right. I just got the impression that Iverson and Brown were 2 big ego's going at it all the time, and that Brown was almost as much to blame as Iverson in all the drama. Maybe it was 100% Iverson's fault, but can you be sure? It sure seems like there haven't been any major flareups with Iverson since Brown left. Secondly, I think Brown would have been MUCH less patient with the team. Brown wants trades to happen if things aren't going well, and he is always on the verge of quitting. If Brown came and forced some bad trades and then quit, that would leave us in a very bad position as a franchise. I like where we are with JVG- we went a whole season with no major moves and we now know exactly where everyone stands. There isn't any turmoil or drama or wondering who is going to coach our team.
Er...there was the little incident about Iverson refusing to play for a game because he was going to be coming off the becnh, and later saying he should be traded....
Okay, but the question still is- does Brown make things worse? We know he has a big ego and quits and calls for trades. Let's imagine Brown in Houston- would we have had a lot more drama? Would he be on the verge of quitting? Would he have traded Cat or Steve in the middle of the year? I think all those things are what makes Brown a scary choice.
Larry Brown has done nothing to earn the title 'best in the biz'. If you look at his history, this becomes apparent. If he's the best in the biz, why did he only win 4 more games in Detroit, despite the addition of Rasheed Wallace, and get passed by Indiana, who LOST Brad Miller from the previous year?
When you have a 50 win season last year, its hard to improve on top of that. Detroit is playing a lot better this season, and its hard to show it through their record, because there record was already good. I wouldn't say "best in the biz," but he is one of the best. Him and PJ are probably the 2 most respected coaches in the league.
It just seriously slays me when people criticize grammar and misspell it as grammer. I live for this kind of stuff. It lights up my life. MacBeth: Money is the official reason we lost out on Brown. I think that's just a symptom though. I think the Rockets (and mostly Les) made the mistake of playing interviewer rather than interviewee. I think they spent too much time playing hardball with him, asking him to prove he was the right man for the job when they should have been trying to convince him they were the right team for him. It's an honest mistake -- Les had never had to hire a coach before -- but Brown was the class of the league in terms of unsigned coaches. It was no surprise he went somewhere where they really wanted him and jumped at the chance to get him, rather than putting him through a rigorous process. Also, what makes you say you wish we had a better shot at Carlisle? It's my understanding we weren't interested in him. Why, I have no idea and I thought it was totally insane at the time, but he was never even on a list of coaches we considered while Doc Rivers and Paul Silas were -- even though it was pretty easy to tell we weren't really interested in them. Carlisle didn't even seem to make the polite list and I'm almost sure he never came down for an interview. Do you know something I don't?
Oh, p.s., I'm happy enough with JVG. Of the ones under consideration, he was my second choice after Brown (even while it baffled me we apparently never contacted Carlisle), and I haven't been disappointed in him.
What would a Dunleavy Rockets team have looked like? Hmm... Looser offensively but still with Cato and Yao starting, they'd be beasts in the paint and that was half of our defensive clout . They'd just have to rotate quick enough so they don't foul out their big guys and we'd be as good defensively. Still, whatever, Brown passed and maybe wisely but screw him. JVG was just the highest profile guy and he had trouble meshing the guys offensively. He's still the guy right now though. Couldn't have done better.
Not a direct quote, and I don't have a link, but when the Pistons came to Houston to play the Rockets, Larry Brown was interviewed as part of the radio pre game show. Anybody remember it? The question of coaching the Rockets came us and Brown said, It was not the right situation for me. They are to young and to far away. Gang, he went to Detroit because theya re a half step away from being in the championship, with or without Brown. Brown is an old man (still a great coach) but apparently he did not want to rebuild a lottery team. He has doen that plenty, he wants a championship. See Gary Payton and Karl Malone, two of our favorite whores. They never consided Houston, not because of money or how we wooded them, but becaus we did not have what they want. Same for Brown, but he is to classy to just blurt it out. We did not have the situation that Brown was looking for. I get so tired of hearing people say we strung him along, or Les is to cheap. Brown did not want a rebuilding situation. Brown is a great coach, and I wish he was the coach opf the Rockets. But he was not interested and it was not going to happen. And don't even make fun of my grammer, it is just a wast of bandwith.
Not a direct quote and I don't have a link but when Rudy was fired he was interviewed and said he'd stepped down. Anybody remember that? Pat, interviews aren't gospel. If they were Rudy would be scouting for us and he probably would have made it to one out of the 43 games played in the new arena. Do you think Brown had to come here for interviews and negotiations to figure out what state the Rockets were in? Do you think he just wanted the free trip to luxurious Houston, Texas and knew all along he wasn't taking the job? That interview was meaningless. He was putting a good face on old news. Detroit wanted Brown badly enough to fire Carlisle and call Brown immediately to offer him whatever he wanted. They made it clear to him they wanted him and would do what it took to get him. Meanwhile the Rockets were saying well, we're not sure, let us think about it for a while. Having seen that go down, it surprised me that Les didn't do the exact same thing with Carlisle the second he came available. But, then again, after the way Les dealt with Rudy nothing's shocking.
Well it's possible that Larry Brown strongly considered it, but in the end decided that Detroit was better was because they were closer to winning it all. No, he didn't have to interview to figure that out, but he could have interviewed as part of his decision making process. Hell, maybe he was using the Rockets to get more money out of Detroit, where he wanted to be all along.
Maybe he considered the Rockets when he had no other offers. Once an appropriate on came along, he bolted.