The next coach will be a former Rocket with a head on his shoulders. And, he wont be necessarily a former great player. Most Great players have NOT become great, or even good coaches. Calvin Murphy is TOO nice (like John Lucas). He would keep players instead of fire/bench them. That would hurt the team in the long run.
You don't know Calvin Murphy. He is a tireless worker, putting in 70-80 hours a week now with his charity organizations and his "Marching Thunder" group. He is continuously visiting schools to promote the "Stay in School" program. He rarely takes a day off. The reason he would not want a head coaching job is that it would take him away from all his other work and his family too much.
ex-Rocket as a criteria for the job.......... hmmmmmm.......let me think..............: Mike Dunleavy Pat Riley John Barry John Lucas Otis Thorpe( who would backtalk OT) Scott Brooks
Some of the posters on the BBS should receive an award for crossing bridges that were never built across chasms that never existed!
Apparently there has been a lapse at the border! Narcotics have made theor way into the US and LA Fade has obviously consumed them!!
Sticking to the original candidates only. I don't believe that Calvin would be a good coach, he's to full of himself and he talks to much. I could here him now "Ming, just stop and pop ok; thats all you have to do just stop and pop". Furthermore Kenny Smith would be an interresting coach for this Rockets team. He always tried to do just what was necessary, rarely tried to over due things. He knew his role on the old rocket teams, give the ball to Hakeem and take the open shot. That system worked to a perfection for the time it was being used (two championships). If Smith were to shoot the ball as many times as Maxwell did(and that Maxwell was a fine young man) , his scoring averaged would have improved but the Rockets probably wouldn't have done as well. Before you think that Sam would of did the exact same thing that Smith was doing. Please his mentality has always been shoot first then pass second. Thats one of the reasons the Bucks have been trying to trade him the entire off season. But hey, thats a different subject. Anyways it would be interesting to see how Cuttino would react if Smith were to tell him instead of shooting the ball when you get down court pass it to Ming the first three possesions. Or if he told Cato to use his size to his advantage, by establishing position, getting posted, and just power you way up and dunk the ball; if he were to get foul in the process fine, Catos' good for hitting one of those foul shots. It's a few other players that could keep it more simple in their game and limits that could be pointed out ( like Moochie, less dribbling) but you get the point. Most likely this won't happen because I beleive that Smith burned some bridges with this organization, when he came out publicly and criticized Rudy T as a person (I still have that article from the Post). Most likely Les backed up his coach, not his point guard. Those that are saying that Kenny Smith is not that well spoken, it shows that you never met him or don't know that much about him. Hes' very intelligent and very well spoken. He was the one that spoke in the huddles before the game in the Championship years, you know the ones to get the team focus. You need to watch some of the old Rocket footage, you will see thats he is the one talking before the game to the players and after the game to the media (many players don't like speaking to the media especially after the game because they might embarassed themselves by not speaking proper); he spoke with alot of sense and proper english. I don't know where all of these analogies are coming from, but please get your facts straight.
Because24, next time use paragraphs, they are easier on the eyes. I agree about what you said about Calvin. He's too nice. He runs on pure emotion. That's fine for a player, but not as a coach. Calvin doesn't know how to read players personalities. As a coach, sometimes you have to do things that not very pleasant: like bench/reprimand players. If Calvin liked that player, he'd have a tough time waiving that player for the better of the team. Also, if you got on Calvin's bad side, he might give you the silent treatment for the rest of the season. Calvin's it too sensitive and gets his feelings hurt too easily. I mean, there were times that I thought Calvin was going to quit on the air when Bill Worrell joked about Calvin's hight. Geeesh! Kenny Smith would be a good coach, but he needs to get under some ones wings before he just starts coaching. Some day, but not now. I just hope that Kenny doesn't fall in the same coaching method that Rudy uses. I disagree with your assessment that Kenny should run the same "simple" plays that Rudy did. I hated that offense! We've all heard the adage: Great players make the players around them better. Well, that's true if the *other* players would ever get the ball. Dropping it down to Hakeem *every time* was not play-making. Players waiting on the 3pt line is not what I considering "getting your other players involved." The problem was that Hakem never *knew* how to get his teammates involved for the first 7 years he was in the league. So, he never really "made his teammates better." Hakeem didn't develop this skill until his career was pretty much over. (this is another debate)....
The best thing I can say about Fitch is that he's a poor man's Lenny Wilkens...which might not be too bad until you realize that the best thing you can say about Wilkens is that he's a better version of Bill Fitch.
