Its way to early to make this kind of judgement. On the ohter hand, Rudy will always be on the hook for Mo Taylor, Moochie, Cato, etc.
I'm a huge Rudy fan still, the next team he coaches will be my second favorite team, hands down. I started this for objective opinions on this regime vs. the last. Athough I realize it is early in the season, it's never too early to ask. BTW Thanks for clearing that up.
Juan, I know what you mean. When I said Rudy was fired because of his coaching, I didn't mean that Les thought Rudy had done a bad job. I meant he was fired as the coach, not as the personnel decision man. I've always been a strong Rudy supporter. But there were times when I wondered if Rudy had lost the ability to get THIS PARTICULAR TEAM to do what he wanted them to do. While I didn't agree, I thought changing the coach was understandable. Sometimes a change of style would bring good result. So far, however, I don't see any improvement in terms of players doing what the coach wants.
I love Rudy and I love JVG as coaches Rudy was perfect for Dream, but I don't think he could get this group to the playoffs; Rudy is perfect for a team of veterans. JVG has already improved our overall defense, especially in the first 3 periods. We are lacking (as JVG points out) defensive toughness in the 4th qtr. JVG has also pointed out we do not play smart, about 100 times. I translate this that we still make some very poor decisions in the play execution and it is obvious we foul up alot of fast breaks and lay up opportunities. The shot selection is not as bad as last year, but the decision making is horrible at times during crunch time. Rudy is gone and he was great. No need to say "they were wrong for moving Rudy". The time had come. Be glad we got a very good coach to replace him.
Good post, AB. I don't consider Rudy to ever have been on the hook. Rudy was the franchise, and nothing will take that away. I didn't agree with the firing at the time. But I can accept it now, because I recognize that no coach stays forever in the NBA, and the time comes when a new voice is needed. Players quit listening to a coach after awhile. So if you can't fire the team, then it was worth a shot to see if a Van Gundy can implement a tight ship that this crew needs. It is still too early to see if even VG can redirect this ship, or if we need to blow this team up and rebuild.
AB, Two problems... Rudy's inability to run a sophisticated offense. Francis's inability to run the PG position. And the resulst of this "year" are NOT the same.
Is Rudy off the hook? As long as the players Rudy brought in litter our roster, he will never be off the hook.
As long as the team continues to play like crap. Then yeah, he is off the hook. It's the players. Good luck Rudy.
You people please give ME a break. This team was hardly all Rudy's doing, and any who thinks that is an idiot. If you don't think that the owner and the GM had a say, and that the coach carries the most weight, then you are screwed in the head. I'm not saying that he didn't have any say, but laying all the problems of the franchise at his feet is just an easy cop out.
I think you're overracting, Rudy got a lot of credit for guys like Sam Cassell and Chucky Brown. He should share some of the blame for bad moves too. BTW no one is an "idiot" because of their opinion.
Like I said, I'm not saying that he holds no blame. I saying that he is not solely to blame, like some here are indicating. As for being an idiot, I usaully don't go there, but I just don't like the fact that people are trying to blame one person for something that others in the organization had a hand in. I think that right now he is just an easy target. Besides, who here would say that if the Rocks make the playoffs and do well this year, that it is Rudy's fault. I think that if you blame him for one you have to blame him for the other. If it was solely Rudy's fault the front office could have done something, and if they didn't, they are even more to blame than anyone.
Let's face it, Rudy had success in the 90's because he had the best player in the league not named Jordan on his squad. He was way behind when role players stopped making so much money, and he let steve and cat fool around for 4 years. His drinking probably didn't help. AS for JVG, he has a season to prove himself. The only thing that is working against him are the mediocre players that Rudy T chose. We will make the playoffs ( i think) but i'm not so sure that francis can learn how to be a true point guard and support the team built around yao. Cat is obviously an idiot and although he has games where he scores big, his stupidity and love for steve doesn't help us at all. I say, we trade francis and Mobley for Tmac and a draft pick.
I don't think the facts support that Cato is improved this season. His rebounding is up but everything else is down. Shooting down from .511 to .340, and his turnovers are double what they were last year, his fouls have increased big time as well. All this in exchange for 1.3 points per game more than last year. Not improved. The jury is still out on JVG. Francis assists are the LOWEST of his career and his shooting percentage is as bad as the year he had planar faciatis. So far the new system has not worked out for Stevie and Cato. Only time and the season will tell about the offensive success of JVG. I'm all for waiting until the end of the season before truly evaluating his system.
