Rudy says: "My loyal fans, let me give you these following talking points to explain to those disloyal ones on why Rockets were not so successful this year. No 1, it is not my fault, I have one million different plays that I wanted the players to adopt, but.... Blah Blah Blah".
He said that Collier and Langhi are getting cut...lol. He is avoiding a lot of questions about players and Francis's negotiations. He will not mention weak positions. I guess he just doesn't think it is right to say something on air. He even said, "I will not broadcast this." He's not really saying anything different that the speech after the game. He did say they want to get "another 5" (but Ming is the only one), and would next look at a perfect 3. He said Griffin did get injured and never really got back from that. He didn't really agree with Francis about "heart." He said "you'll have feelings like they in this period of still being wounded" from what we went through. Is predicting the Lakers ("Hard to go against the Lakers.") Caveman, Take a tip from Fran Blinebury...you're schtick of stalking Jeff is boorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.
Thanks, Jeff Recap on Rudy: some players made progress. KT, Cuttino. There are exciting guys in the draft. Probably not wholesale changes. Q: Most glaring need? RT: He doesn't want to broadcast needs. Only 5 that high is Ming. Expects Ming to go 1 or 2. Then 3. needs to be adressed. Need to improve overall defense. Constant changing of personnel led to improvements and then go back. The longest the rotation stayed the same was only 3 games. Only 5 games for stable starting rotation. Q: Regarding EG. RT: They had an outline of how to bring him along. He got into rotation a month early due to necessity. Per Rudy putting him in too early if he failed, would stunt his growth. EG responded well. He plateaued. Later, when he got hurt, it broke his rhythmn and he never got back into it. This was a good expeience for EG. RT: This summer is vip. 4 Rookies from last year. Possibly two new ones. Collier and Langhi are practically rookies. Going to Cal for 3 weeks. Other work, too. RT: Are trying to work EG more into an inside game. Need back to basket offense. Believes EG can do that. EG will have setbacks on this. Per 610. Steve Says He Will Sign Long Extension in Houston, If Offered Q: Is headaches an issue on extension. RT: he is thrilled to hear that, but he didn't expect anything different. Steve will get more tests. Supposedly Steve said team needs more heart. Rudy says Steve, Cuttino, KT did learn some leadership. He thinks they showed heart by giving themselves a chance to win rather than accept losing. Q: defesne was not good. Rice and Taylor aren't known for defense. RT: we improved in shotblocking. Will looktoward the draft. A lot of young teams need to make this a priority. The year before the championship with a veteran team and a seven game losing streak, that team then finally understood the need for defense. Q: Where does EG get his minutes? RT: not clear. KT<MoT and even Cato had improvement. Q: Going to use both picks. He would like to make the most this year. Might use Toronto pick to move up. Not clear yet. Q: Only one coach has survived 4 lotteries, you have had 3. RT: There is pressure to get results. RT and players need this pressure. E.g. Minn has pressure to get past the first round. RT welcomes the challenge.
I think we will have a miracle draft. I mean, I appreciate the recent ones (Cat, Francis, Griff) but I think this one will be bigger. No mroe acquiring players because they like them. Look for a new impact player next year. I'm looking at one of the following: 1) Lose Mo T, get Ming. 2) Lose KT, another player, get Odom. 3) Lose KT, Mo T both picks, get Odom and Ming. 4) Woods and Ming in the draft. 5) Ming in the draft, no PF glut, good backup C, healthy Rice.
Glynch, thanks for the recap. Originally posted by glynch Q: Most glaring need? RT: He doesn't want to broadcast needs. Only 5 that high is Ming. Expects Ming to go 1 or 2. Then 3. needs to be adressed. Need to improve overall defense.[/i] Does this mean that Ming is the only center the Rockets are looking at/interested in getting? Or that Ming is the only center worth drafting at the #5 and that he won't be available then. RT: Are trying to work EG more into an inside game. Need back to basket offense. Believes EG can do that. EG will have setbacks on this. Great to hear this. What do you mean about setbacks? Just that it's going to take time for EG to develop his back-to-basket game and there will be setbacks along the way? Q: defesne was not good. Rice and Taylor aren't known for defense. RT: we improved in shotblocking. Will looktoward the draft. A lot of young teams need to make this a priority. The year before the championship with a veteran team and a seven game losing streak, that team then finally understood the need for defense. I'm a little disturbed that Rudy would look to the draft to improve team defense. I guess Rudy made clear in the interview that working on defense was a priority and commented that getting a good defender in the draft would help. Comes across differently in your notes. Q: Going to use both picks. He would like to make the most this year. Might use Toronto pick to move up. Not clear yet. I hope we don't draft two rookies and keep them. We're too young as it is. I'd rather keep one young player from the draft and he better be an impact player. Did Rudy mean that he didn't want to deal the Toronto pick to Memphis?
