I personally think Les forced Rudy out, and I am still bitter about it. But like Francis said, the NBA is a business. There's no room for hurt feelings. No playoffs in 4 seasons would get almost any coach fired (especially how fragile the job has become). But I wanted atleast another year for Rudy to work with Yao. Just look what Rudy did with Hakeem and the championship team. Yes, Yao isn't dream but he got them to play a team game.
I've been pushed out of a job, so I know all too well the importance of maintaining your pride at that moment. Even an honest person will spin what happened. All the evidence suggests that Rudy wanted to stay, but that nobody, including Les and Rudy, wanted anyone's fingerprints on the decision other than Rudy's. Conclusions: 1. Les, not Rudy, thought it was time for Rudy to go. 2. Les allowed Rudy to "make the decision." He did this out of gratitude and respect. 3. Les made sure Rudy understood that the decision to make was to resign. This happens in marriages all the time: One person makes things sufficiently uncomfortable that the other "decides" to move out. Sorry. No bad guys, no liars. Just discretion on one side and pride on the other.
I am thinking it's a combination of both health and looking toward a new direction. My reasoning, is that they orchestrated a settlement to buy out the final years. If Rudy were fired, he would of wanted all the money due to him and no negotiate a settlement that quickly. Some of you might say that he did it in the best interest of the club to agree. But when you are owed money and expect to be the coach, you get your money that's due.
Who says Rudy doesn't bs the media? CD and Rudy ALWAYS have their poker faces on and tow the company line. It's pretty rare when you hear them say something bad about anyone, at least with the cameras on. I think Rudy was pushed out In retrospect, it was a gamble that didn't pay out, but a gamble I could understand and support.
See, I don't think we can say that yet. 1. Rudy was going to be out the following season. I've talked to several people who told me he was serious about taking off at least half a year if not an entire year to fully recover from his illness. 2. If he did take an entire year, would anyone here be ok with Larry Smith running the team for that entire year? 3. If we did allow an interim coach for an entire season, which is completely unprecidented by the way, what happens if the team seriously regresses during that time period. How do you get them back on track? Even worse, what if they completely excel under the new coach? I am absolutely no fan of JVG. For a lot of reasons, I just don't care for the guy. On the other hand, I have more admiration and respect for Rudy than you could possibly imagine. I have a pic of myself at 12 years old at his basketball camp where I got horrifically sick and he and the staff were absolutely awesome with me. Then, I got to know him a few years ago and found him to be one of the coolest guys ever. BUT, the situation the team was in was not a good one. There were a LOT of very awkward choices to be made. This was a difficult one to make and we can't say for sure that it has been good, bad or indifferent. We won't know for at least a couple seasons what JVG can do with the franchise. I feel for Rudy but he didn't exactly fall on his face. He has the most prestigious coaching gig in all of basketball. And, his time here WAS coming to an end. Everyone, including Rudy, could sense that. This was an unfortunate way for it to happen, but it had to happen sometime.
I don't even know why there is any question. RT was pushed. As to Les, my biggest problem with "how it went down" was the way that day in May 2003 went down. Les should've handled his own dirtywork in person, and should've stood before the media to announce his decision. Instead he hid, and only made a "press availability" on a bad telephone line when it became clear that his absence was a PR disaster.
i think it was mutual, i rember worrell sayin that les said rudy's got his job for as long as he wants. the results weretn that diifernt cuz it was the same squad ,but we got in the playoffs at least thats a start.
I've got no doubt that Rudy was nudged out by Alexander. As batman pointed out earlier, Rudy T. seemed eager for the season to begin just a few short weeks before his "resignation", next thing you know he does a 180. At the same time, we all knew Rudy's tenure was coming to an end soon. It was hard seeing him go knowing he was the only component left from the two championship teams (besides Owner and GM.) but it worked out for the best, he's coaching the most prestigious franchise in the league, and the rockets perhaps have the most potent 1,2 combination in the league. Only time will tell how it all pans out in the end.
Good points about the kind of guy Rudy T really is. Perhaps it was his time but I still feel that he fell on his sword for the good of the organization. It's just a shame that such a grand gesture was wasted since Dawson was able to keep his job.
I agreed with the rest of your post, but no bad guys? No liars? About a week after Rudy's press conference, Les was asked about his replacement. He was quoted in the paper saying that he didn't know who would be the next coach since his first choice had decided to step down. If Les pushed him, that was a lie and a particularly sh*tty one at that. Again, I didn't disagree that it was likely time for Rudy to go. Players' coaches don't do well with players like we had and, apart from one nice run just before the diagnosis, things weren't getting better. It was the way it was handled that pissed me off. After all of Rudy's years here, he gets cancer, is promised he'll be back, he makes statements to the press based on that promise and then Les changes his mind. After Rudy's sent out to deliver the news (sans Les - another lousy move), Les says he really wanted Rudy to stay. If that was a lie - and I and 75% of the people who voted in this poll think it was - Les was, on that day at least, a bad guy and a liar.
Jeff, this is the first I've heard of this and several accounts in this thread contradict it, including statements allegedly made by Rudy himself, as well as Boylen, etc. Btw, I know it's not 1994, and this is something that I will NEVER get over, so you can save the snide comments in the future. I also didn't start this thread.
I'll be even happier when a coach who knows how to win championships (Phil Jackson) is introduced next summer....
Rudy T was asked to step down, plain and simple. You could see it in his face when he was fighting back tears and biting his upper lip at his farewell conference. He had that look like he wanted to say something but was holding it back.
Look, I love Rudy T, but when he had to step down before the end of the season for health reasons it was an obvious opportunity to evaluate the future of the team. For whatever reason the Rudy and Steve and Cuttino show was not going in the right direction and Yao was not suited to Steve's game. So more reason to consider a change. I do not fault Les Alexander for taking advantage of the situation (which he could not have planned) to take the risk of making a change. An interim coach would set us back, especially if Rudy's health worsened instead of improved. This didn't leave much room for error on Les's part. He could risk confusion and regression with Yao's addition to the Steve Francis team or he could risk going in a new direction by replacing Rudy. I think it is obvious the best choice was to go after another coach. Rudy could stay in the organization if he chose to. We could move forward with Yao's development and see if Steve and Yao could click. They didn't mesh. JVG exposed that. Now we move on. I wish Rudy would have stayed in the Rocket organization. He has nothing to prove. He is Rocket red through and through to me. But I will hate him being on the Laker sideline. I hope we kill the Lakers. That's what Kobe does for me. I hope JVG can get us to the championship. I love his no nonsense approach, I hate his people/player skills. I do not want to see Yao or TMac become alienated to Houston. If JVG will stick to coaching and stop be so publically honest about his players deficiencies I will like it alot more. Don't think Rudy was forced out. The Rudy, Steve, Cuttino era was over. That's all.
