When Rudy stepped down last season from his head coaching job, everything seemed as if it was being swept under the rug. What really happened in L.A. that caused him to quit? Was Kobe dissrespectful, was Atkins too much to handle, or was it management? I never heard what REALLY happened. Anyone.....
Why would Kobe be disrespectful? Why would Atkins be too much to handle? Why do you make such allegations? Rudy T said he was sick. Unless he's a masterful liar, there's no evidence that it could be something else.
He was definitely sick and that was why he stepped down. I read there were some major problems between Rudy and Kobe on a couple of chat sites, but take that for what it's worth. From reading the LA Times Lakers coverage on a regular basis when Rudy was there, it's fairly safe to say Kobe didn't like the way Rudy coached the team. There was no particular write-up that exposed everything, but they dropped some hints here and there. There wasn't any outright insubordination of the sort mentioned by Phil Jackson.
Actually some Faker Fans hate Rudy. I think at one point they were playing run and gun and just jacking up 3's instead of letting Kobe iso and penetrate. His excuse was they weren't athletic enough... I dunno....
Rudy just lost his will to coach. The guy gave it his all for years, then got sick, got a new perspective on life, and didn't really need the money..... More power to him...enjoy retirement Rudy...thanks for the 2 championships ! DD
Lets see, Kobe has had run-ins with Shaq, Phil Jackson, Tex Winter and a number of teammates. And that's not even counting his legal issues. Can't imagine accusations of Kobe be disrespectful.
Every competitor has a run in with coaches and teammates at some point, whether it's in practice, a game or whatever. Jordan got in several fights. So has Garnett and many others. Also, a lot of people have legal issues. When you're as successful as Kobe, those legal issues become even more exaggerated, because you're a target. Everybody wants a piece of your fortune and fame. There's a lot of haters when you're on top. Rudy T gave up. Nobody has any evidence to put that on Kobe. So enough with the speculation about what heppened to Rudy. The man said he couldn't take the pressure any more and he was depressed.
If there were any fall out from the players or the organization, Rudy would be too nice to say it. Rudy just didn't look right with the Lakers. How could a good guy work for the evil empire?
He just realized early on that he couldn't make it work and bailed, plain and simple. I believe his official reason was something to the effect that his heart wasn't in it 100%.
I think Rudy just said screw it. He actualy had that lame ass team over 500 when he quit yet, was already catching alot of heat from Kupcheck and his bosses who thought some how the Fakers could just win on legend alone. I believe he showed them that was not so as the team sank like a led baloon after he left.
Rudy had health problems because of the stress of the job. He wasn't enjoying it. In the early part of the season, it started to become 100% grind and 0% enjoyment. I'm not trying to start anything here, but there were some conflicts that contributed. Who knows, he may have quit even if everyone on the team loved him.
from what i heard on sports radio here in la around the time of the resignation was that it was half of both. partly the stress of it all was hurting his health but it was a lot of stress put on him by management. Mitch and Buss felt that this team was much better than their record (a +.500 team at the time) showed them to be. I also heard that both Rudy and Kobe got into some arguements on the way the offense was being run and that also contributed to Rudy's ultimate departure. They said if you see Rudy T being bought out because of health reason or whatever by the lakers it is clear proof that rudy was pushed out more so than anything else. while i cant personally confirm this to be true all of this was said by two different insiders on the lakers on two different sports stations out in la. one of them who said a little bit of this was actually ric bucher who actually broke the story for espn. personally speaking i think rudy t was hired in an attempt to lure yao to la, honestly i believe IF la ended up getting yao and rudy t was still there they would have fired him as soon as yao signed the contract and would have brought back phil.
Wow's right. Twelve different people replied to your thread in an effort to answer your question and you call that "BS"? Had I been one of those people, I'd be personally pissed at you for your immense disrespect. Nonetheless, don't expect any help from me in the future.
Well, in my defense(and theirs) not all was BS. Mainly just yours and a few others. There's always someone who'll take the question wrong and make accusations and then there's like you that I simply don't care about, especially after reading your profile and seeing the word, dallas, in your moniker. I just needed(wanted) some info, and am fairly content with the answer I got. Thanx.
They mentioned one time on TNT, that lakers management was putting a lot of stress on rudy. After each game, they would meet with Rudy, and second guess him on every decision he made during the game. Magic jonhson was on the show that night, and he was very defensive, trying to defend the lakers.
