Frankly, an explanation is due. My goodness, Rudy was too ill to coach (true) but he can travel overseas? I assume there is medical justification. We are entitled to be told. This is flat out ridiculous that the owner says what he does then dummies up. Rudy had his shocking press conference, a few words after the season ended but travels thousands of miles away from his doctors without any words? C'mon, communicate.
Well if he is going to Europe he better check out Maciej Lampe who is being compared to Dirk Nowizki. He is the same age as Darko Milicic but not to many people know him because Darko is overshaddowing him. Might be worth looking into. http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/maciejlampe.htm
you make it sound like he just ran away in the middle of the night and his doctors have no idea where he is or what's going on with his treatment. i'm sure all treatment factors were thoroughly discussed before he left. and as far as communication, what, do we need a press conference every time the coach is going somewhere to scout? since it made the radio obviously someone knows about it, that's pretty much good enough.
why on earth does Rudy have to tell the public the details about his treatment schedule and how the treatment is going??? His illness and treatment are an issue for him and his family, it is obvious it is progressing well enough for him to travel to europe, relax and check out a few players.
SmeggySmeg Why on earth, indeed. The public was told by Rudy that he was too ill to do his job and he reasonably, justifyably took time off to be treated properly. To get well to live his life fully. Then the owner says that the coach (and all other things basketball) is under review. Now, the coach who may or may not have passed the review (who knows, not even Berman, I guess) is well enough to travel six or more time zones over thousands of miles. I hope Rudy is well enough to be cleared 100%. Rasheed Wallace was fined $30,000 for not telling the media that 'both teams played hard' but the Rockets are able by any definition to keep quiet on the status of their coach and you both feel this is right?
why do you keep mentioning travel six or more time zones over thousands of miles, do you know anything about his illness, or health in general. He didn't have a terminal malignant rapidly spreading cancer. It will have no effect on his illness and treatment, plus they do have doctors, hospitals and treatment centres in Europe. this article from espn might be the announcement you are looking for, says he has several weeks of treatment to go and this was on the 16th of April. But damn maybe he will get fined for not announcing he was participating in the end of season review and looking at tapes of free-agents and foreign players, damn did he have to announce that he was going the gardening, walking the dog and going to church while he was not coaching???? HOUSTON -- Rudy Tomjanovich is tired of planting flowers and walking his dogs. He's ready to get back to his job coaching the Houston Rockets. Tomjanovich took a leave of absence from the team on March 26 to undergo treatments for bladder cancer. He still has several weeks of treatment remaining, but he said Thursday he's already looking toward next season. "My No. 1 goal is to get back,'' Tomjanovich said following a season-ending team meeting. "I've already been working on looking at tapes of free agents and foreign players and things like that.'' Tomjanovich was diagnosed on March 18 with transitional cell cancer on his bladder that doctors said would be treatable with medication. Tomjanovich said he's gotten no indication from owner Les Alexander that he won't return as coach even though the Rockets have missed the playoffs four straight years. "I've talked to Les a couple of times in the last couple of days,'' Tomjanovich said. "I've got a contract for two more years and I talk about scouting and he says, 'Yeah, go do that.' I'm not reading anything in to it. I'm going out and doing my job.'' Tomjanovich believes the Rockets are still going through the transition following the retirement of Hakeem Olajuwon and putting together another championship team to match those of 1994 and 1995. "A lot of times, new coaches get into these situations because they had all that fun and then they want to get out of Dodge,'' Tomjanovich said. "I didn't want to get out of Dodge. "I was willing to go through the pain and I knew that it would be painful and here we are.'' The Rockets improved by 15 victories over last season but they still missed the playoffs with a 43-39 record. "Once you get something sort of taken away from you, you get to focus on it,'' Tomjanovich said. "We've had some growth as a franchise on the floor but we've got a lot of work ahead.'' Tomjanovich said he'd tried to relax during his time away from the team that included plenty of walking his dogs. "I've done a lot of walking, walking the dogs, planting stuff in the years, driving Sophie (his wife) crazy and going to church,'' Tomjanovich said. Is his family ready for him to get back to work? "Yeah, especially the dogs,'' he said.
I am quite well versed and experienced in travel like that. I am also satisfactorily versed in other facets of this, like, for example, the two way responsibility between the public and public concerns. I am appalled at the Rockets' arrogance. It is reflected in their overall on and off court performance.
I have been pro Rudy forever, but if the Rockets don't make the playoffs next year, it's time for a change. As a fan, I expect the Rockets to make the playoffs next year. If they go a fifth consecutive year without the playoffs, I am going to be one pissed off m***** ******.
Xiki Leave Smegg alone - maybe he does not get it. Smegg How is it okay for Rudy to travel now and skip or change his treatment plans and he could not do it when we REALLY NEEDED him 5 weeks to the end of the season? I am still baffled! Is he desperate to prove something to his fans and employer? Methinks! I was sympathetic to this man's plight before now but I am begining to believe that there is a fundamenttal problem here other than his ineptness in the area of Xs and Os. If he thought it was necessary to call a press conference to tell us he will be leaving the team in order to focus on his treatment, I think it will be in order to inform all concerned other than the insiders why a surden change in plans (remember his doctor "advised" him to leave the team so that he can focus on the treatment AND NOT MISS ANY SCHEDULED 'DATES'). Heck we were all told that he WILL COMPLETE HIS TREATMENTS and follow up BIOPSY by the end of MAY before commencing his "Coaching" duties. So what changed Rudy?
Don't patronise me Fegboo!! Do you have any idea the difference in workload for a professional sports coach between the season and off season. During the season, the rockets have games every couple of days, often in different cities on consecutive days, shoot-arounds, trainings, pre-game, the game itself and then post-game and then get on a plane and it starts all over again. Now you add to this the stress, about just finding out you have a serious illness and bet your arse you going to drop whatever you are doing to get yourself better, especially when your team is just about to start 5 game road trip. So now, late April, his treatment is progressing well from the point of view of both the medical professionals and Rudy's (my guess is by now he has actually finished his treatments, if read the espn article). And now I would guess Rudy feels like he has a life to lead again and now has some control of his own life again. Do you know what a scouting trip involves???? Fly to Europe, stay in plush hotel, Watching games, watching tapes, talking to people involved with the players, take notes, maybe fly or drive to another euro city or country... etc etc, certainly something NOWHERE near as full-on and stressful as coaching an NBA team during the season.
Smegg I did not patronize you and I was not intending or trying to. Lets just agree to disagree on this issue for now at least. Oh by the way, what is sooo important about this Euro trip that will make his change his treatment plans (based on the initial information we were furnished)? Are we not the same ball club that wasted money to scout Mirsad Tucsan only to end up with an all star in our hands? If health is that paramont, why make this least important trip? Or does he not trust Larry Smith, who "has been doing a good job filling in" , to do a good scouting job? Common Rudy - what is your agenda?
Good point. How about a separate "Getriddyrudy" forum, and moving these threads out of game action/roster moves?
btw - I do hope Rudy gets well and gets a new perspective to do as well as he can. Yeah, I want him fired. But not dead. I don't enjoy the on-the- court-team-failure, either. Here's hoping he opens his mind and gets some good input from the best sources to turn in a great performance. I will still call him a pig-headed moron when he screws up - but best wishes anyway.
