[Galv. News] Former Rockets coach ready for Lakers’ season

http://www.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?wcd=24113

Former Rockets coach ready for Lakers’ season

By Joey Richards
The Daily News

Published September 19, 2004

GALVESTON — Rudy Tomjanovich is feeling like a kid again. He even stays up late at night, doodling plays in his notebook as he gets ready to begin another chapter in his life — this time as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I tell you, I’ve been like a kid getting ready to go back to school,” he said. “I go to bed with a scratch pad, diagramming plays and things like that. I couldn’t be any more excited.”

Who wouldn’t be excited, especially when you’re drawing up plays for Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest and most exciting athletes to ever play the game.

“He’s so versatile,” the 55-year-old Tomjanovich said. “I really love that process. I’ve done it many times with the Rockets. Some of the plays go from year to year, but a lot of times I change things to fit the personnel, and that’s what I think a coach’s job is — to put his people in an environment that’s good for them and not just take a system with me.”

Tomjanovich, a former Houston Rockets player and head coach, was in town Friday for his annual Rudy T charity golf tournament at the Galveston Country Club.

Even though Rudy and his wife Sophie have packed up and moved to Los Angeles, Tomjanovich said the tournament will continue each year — and the Houston-Galveston area will always be home.

“I’m going to keep doing it as long as the people want to do it,” he said. “It’s Sophie’s and my’s home. It’ll continue to be our home. I love these people here. They care so much about their community, and I want to be a part of it with them.”

Tomjanovich, one of the most beloved people ever associated with the Rockets — both as a player and coach — admitted it’s going to be odd being a Laker, especially when the team visits Houston. He’ll likely continue to be loved by the fans, yet they’ll hate his team. The Lakers and Rockets have long been rivals in the Western Conference.

“It’s going to be interesting how this whole thing works out,” Tomjanovich said. “It’s something I never thought would happen to me. I’ve been very lucky, being with one team for so long.

“But it’s been exciting as hell, I have to tell you. I love these people out there. They’re really hard-working, honest people. They have integrity. They do things the right way. I’m just pleased to be a part of it. I got a call from Magic (Johnson). He was great, (said) welcome to the Laker family. I got to play a little golf with James Worthy. It’s been great.”

But will Hollywood change one of the most down-to-earth men in the NBA, a man who grew up in Hamtramck, Mich. as a cobbler’s son?

“I always give my assistant coaches permission that if I ever act uppity to take a running start and kick me square in the butt,” Tomjanovich said. “But it’s never going to happen.”

Tomjanovich spent 11 years in the NBA as a player — all with the Rockets. He took over as head coach for the 1991-92 season. Three seasons later, he led the Rockets to their first-ever NBA title and won another the following season.

He might have retired as a Rocket, too, had he not been forced to step down as coach after the 2001-2002 season because of bladder cancer. He admits it wasn’t easy walking away from the Rockets.

“I had to do what was right at the time and take care of my health and not let the Rockets have the burden of having a guy who’s out there struggling with a disease,” he said. “I know everybody loves me, but I don’t think you should put your fans in that kind of position. I didn’t want to do that. Luckily, my thing cleared up pretty fast.”

Many people, including former Rockets player Steve Francis, believed Tomjanovich was forced to resign, because the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Tomjanovich said that’s not true. He said the decision to leave the Rockets was his decision alone.

Tomjanovich, who spent last season scouting overseas in Europe for the Rockets, beat the cancer and beat it much quicker than he expected.

“My plan was to sit out two years, get my health back in order, and then look at opportunities,” he said. “But my health cleared up very quickly. I’m very happy about that. I’m very blessed. Then L.A. came with this offer, and I just felt like I couldn’t pass it up.”

Many things attracted Tomjanovich to the Lakers job — the history and the athletes. But Tomjanovich also came to like the people running the organization — owner Dr. Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak.

“I had been around those guys a little bit in Europe,” he said. “I was scouting for the Rockets. I had dinner with those guys. They were down to earth. We didn’t talk about me coaching or anything like that.”

Then when the Lakers job came open after Phil Jackson left the team, the Lakers started showing some interest in Tomjanovich, but told him they also were talking to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“The week with Coach K was a pretty pins-and-needles thing,” Tomjanovich said. “After talking to those guys, I really wanted that job. I wasn’t upset or anything. He’s a great, great coach. He’s a Hall of Fame coach.”

Fortunately for Tomjanovich, Krzyzewski decided to stay at Duke. The Lakers hired Tomjanovich on July 10. Four days later, the Lakers dealt star center Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat in exchange for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant. A day after the trade, Bryant — who had bickered with O’Neal in the past — re-signed with the Lakers.

But the Lakers weren’t through dealing. They traded Gary Payton and Rick Fox to the Celtics for Jumaine Jones, Chris Mihm and Chucky Atkins.

Future Hall-of-Fame forward Karl Malone still hasn’t decided if he’ll return to the Lakers.

Still, Tomjanovich is pleased with what he has to work with thus far.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “The big trade (sending O’Neal to Miami), I knew coming in that was a big possibility. I’m very happy that Kobe did sign, and I also hoping Karl Malone will be with us also. That would be a dream to coach a player like that.”

Bryant, of course, spent the final months of the NBA season shuttling back and forth between game sites and Colorado. A Colorado hotel worker had accused him of raping her — Bryant admitted having sex with the woman but said it was consensual — but the suit was recently dismissed because she refused to testify.

The situation didn’t stop Bryant from leading the Lakers to the NBA Finals last season, where they fell to the Detroit Pistons in five games.

“Just watching him play last year, I don’t know how he did it,” Tomjanovich said. “He started working out right after the charges were dropped. (He has) an unbelievable work ethic. I have never seen a player put that much time in doing the little things. He wore out one assistant coach. I had to get another guy, almost a tag-team, to go in there, but he just wouldn’t quit.”

Yet you have to wonder if Bryant can ever win. He and O’Neal didn’t seem to get along. Teammates and media complained he either did too much or didn’t do enough.

“People are always going to critique things,” Tomjanovich said. “All I know is that the guy is a tremendous basketball player, and he has to be considered to have a chance to be called the best basketball player ever just on what he’s done already, and he just turned 26-years-old.

“I’d like to be a part of that growing process with him and help him reach that goal by us winning and him performing well. There’s going to be a lot of opinion. That’s what sports is all about. Now it’s time to go out and do it and prove it.”

Despite all the changes, Tomjanovich will be under pressure to lead the Lakers to more titles — and soon. That’s fine with him.

“A lot of people say we won’t even make the playoffs,” he said. “I just try to use it as fuel to get our team going. I feel good about our team. I haven’t seen everybody together. I don’t even know what the final product is. I don’t know if Karl Malone is coming, so it’s hard to predict.

“But I know predictions are meaningless. What’s important is getting in there, getting some chemistry, getting everybody on the same page and working with a system that becomes our system for our team, our own language, our own plays, the way we defend things. That’s what this thing is all about to me. That takes time. Of course, we want it to happen right away. Everybody does.”

Tomjanovich’s old team also went through some big changes. The Rockets dealt Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato to Orlando for two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard and two other players. They recently traded for center Dikembe Mutombo to serve as Yao Ming’s backup.

“I think they’re pretty doggoned good,” Tomjanovich said. “They’ve have a superstar in McGrady, and they have a solid player that’s on his way to becoming a superstar in Yao. Yao is such a tower of strength, and he’s such a team player. He really does things for the team.”

And come Nov. 13, Tomjanovich and the Lakers play the Rockets for the first time in Houston.

It should be an interesting night and an interesting season for both the Lakers and Rockets, but Tomjanovich just enjoys the chance to coach again.

Considering this is a man who quit drinking and smoking and beat cancer, you realize he just loves challenges, and another one awaits him.

“I still think I’ve got a lot of fight in me, and I have another great opportunity with a great player like Kobe and Odom and those guys and a great organization,” he said. “We’ve got a heck of challenge in front of us — and I love that.”

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I can't see myself cheering for the Lakers but I like Rudy so much I would hate to see him struggle. What a dilemma!