When Rudy and Carroll Dawson made the deal for Pippen, the same off season we signed Shanderson for 2.2 mil - free agent. It seemed at the time that they were moving toward a running game. We had always played the half court - tight control of the ball style previously... After Pippen melted down and betrayed us, we continued the aquisition of mobile players with Steve Francis. We already had Cuttino Mobely, another potential running fast player, so it looks like they wanted this type of fast team. I recall Rudy praising Bostjan Nachbar's mobility - Euro style running game. I know we never had this type of team with Dream or Barkley, but is a mobile running shooting team what Rudy really was playing toward, but could never really put together?? I am a Rudy fan - not critical. I can appreciate how hard it is to become an effective running team without killing yourself with turnovers. Did Francis' lack of control -turnover prone tendency defeat this?? I was wondering what you guys thought. I expect Van Gundy to continue with a 1/2 court style to maintain control and limit turnovers....
Clyde Drexler would also fit into the running game, but was gone before Pippen or Steve came along. Drafting Nachbar seems to support the effort...
First of all, Shandon came the year AFTER Pippen left... (Pippen came in 98-99... that was the lockout year, so there was only games in 99; Shandon played in 99-00). Second of all, the only young "runners" we had with Pippen were two rookies named Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobely (and nobody knew that Mobes would develop like he did), so its hard to say that "running" is what Rudy and Carrol had in mind with Scottie. After 99 ended poorly, you could tell that Rudy and Carrol wanted this team to become younger, by whatever means neccessary... I don't think they cared if it would lead to a uptempo game (even though the normal trend if younger players = run more). Thus, they signed Shandon, and traded for Steve Francis all before Scottie made his trade demand. Had that team stayed together (Shandon, Steve, Scottie, Cuttino), I would have expected much more fast breaks, and I do believe it would have added a few years to Pippen's career. Alas, he was traded, and we got "stuck" with Cato, Walt Williams, and Carlos Rogers... and that definitely led to the darkest times of the modern-day Rockets.
August 27, 1999- Rockets aquired rights to Steve Francis September 29, 1999 Signed Shandon Anderson October 2, 1999 traded Scottie Pippen Pippen and Francis were on the same team for 37 days in the off season. Shandon Anderson and Pippen were on the same team for 3 days during the off season. I agree that had they stayed together - they would have been a running team. Pippen melted down before October 2, 1999. If he had stayed?..... My purpose in starting this pointless thread was to pose the question : Did Rudy want the team to become a fast breaking - running team??? Or was this just a blind aquisition of youth without a plan?? Rudy was a scout for years- something was on his mind....
My point is that Rudy and CD made multiple deals for runners-fast players with legs. There was some thought put into this.... Why did this not work out do you think?? Rudy had the support of the owner.... CD would have gone along with anything Rudy and the owner wanted... Rudy was and is a good coach and knew the game well.
you will get your answer on rudy's strategy if you follow the roster moves the lakers make this, and next offseason.
