If Boki started getting 25 minutes a game all of the sudden, with no gradual increase, and he started averaging 15 points a game, then no, I would not give Rudy any credit. But that is not what happened with Yao. Ming started out slow. He had noticeable difficulty adjusting. Nachbar is less skilled than Ming, and he hasn't shown a great deal so far. He seems to have decent handles, and he is reported to have a good outside shot (we still haven't seen that in games either). Based on performance in games, I don't think Boki needs to be getting a great deal more minutes. Now...if Rudy started gradually increasing Boki's minutes, and Boki's performance started to gradually get better, then I would give Rudy credit for his management of Nachbar's PT. You can argue that if he had done that sooner, it would have been better. That, however, is pure speculation, and a true "what if." We would never know.
Man you guys all pick on Rice, people want him to retire, want him traded and what not. All you all would be all up on him if he gets his groove back, if he has one of those seasons like he had when he was an all star. Don't forget he is one of the purest shooters left in the NBA. If he gets his shot back and hits it consistently Rockets would be hard to stop, they cant double up on Yao and Francis cause they will be too worried about Rice, and if they man up on Rice cant leave Mobley wide open. So as you guys can see, there was a reason why Dawson and Rudy T went and got Rice, it would be tough for teams to guard the Rockets if Rice is on fire. Get of Rice
No, it isn't. Once again, you are not carefully reading what we are saying. What we are saying is that RUDY is in a better position to make these decisions than YOU are, so we trust in his judgements over yours. No one said whatever he does is right.
I still remember reading an Italian fan claim Boki to be the best player on his team (better than Tskitishvilli (sp?)). Boki is part of the future; Rice is not. Although I think that Rudy won't give him major minutes this year, Boki should get some playing time. He was a veteran pro player in Europe and can really provide a spark off the bench. I see Boki become a major part of our bench next season when Rice is gone.
I'm not sure what you are reading into that. I don't feel it really matters because it was something posted AFTER you made the statement I quoted, so it can't really have any effect on you saying "and that's the only thing that most of you have to say." On top of that, it is a statement referring to Rice and not Nachbar or Ming...so how does that have any relevance to this discussion? Also, I will point out that Rudy is not GM, so trading for Rice was not really his decision. BUT...assuming that this guy's statement somehow DID prove your statement that "most" of us believe that Rudy is always right...it still only represents ONE person in this thread. How about giving me more examples?
I just want to point out that Rudy T was forced to play Yao more in the Lakers game due to the absence of Cato. Then Yao proved himself in that Dallas game, earned a starting spot and the rest is history. Hardly a "handling" and "tactical" masterstroke! I always wonder should Cato didn't skip those serveral games, maybe Yao would now still come off the bench. And we still wouldn't know how good Yao is.
Rudy wasn't forced to do anything. He could have played Griffin at center if he wanted (Shaq was out, it wouldn't have been a big deal). However, it wasn't as if Ming was total crap up until the Lakers game. He had a 13 point game not long before that. In fact, Ming had a steady increase in his game performance leading up to the Lakers game, and that was rewarded with more minutes.
JEEEEZUS Raven. GET OFF RUDY'S DAMN JOCK ALREADY!! Rudy also wasn't FORCED TO put Hakeem on the court throughout the '94 and '95 finals, right??! Try giving some more credit to the skilled athletes out on the floor, and less to the drunk in the suit stumbling down the sideline. Very good point CYO2. i forgot all about that.
Maybe the death of Cato's grandma was also in Rudy's plan. Seriously, let me summarize the arguments of the two camps so there's no misunderstanding. rocketfat and those agree with him: We see that none of the SFs are playing well. There is no reason not to play Boki more, unless he is injured. But if he is injured, why is he still on the active roster? Raven Lunatic and those agree with him: By virtue of being a coach and with his players all the time, Rudy knows far more about Boki than any of us here. Criticizing the coach for something we have no full knowledge of is simply unfair. Now, both sides seem quite reasonable to me. There must be some conclusion we can make from considering both sides' argument. First, let's separate facts from speculations. Let me list all the known facts to us. 1. Rudy wanted to draft Boki all the way. He scouted him and loved his game. Hence, unless Boki did something to piss Rudy off after his arrival, it must be false that Rudy doesn't like Boki and just put him in the doghouse. 2. Rudy knows quite well what Boki can do both in practice and in Euro game situations but not much in NBA game situations. We all know that Euro games are less intensive than the NBA. 3. Rudy's first priority is to win games. 4. Rudy is not stupid (at least not THAT stupid) as to deliberately not play a player who he knows can help the team win. 5. Rice is not playing consistently. Posey is new. Morris is not a good offensive player. In other words, none of them deserves to play major minutes. But they are three people (i.e. there's a logjam there at the SF position. Not enough minutes to go around.) OK, now let's list out what we don't really know but just speculate. 1. Rudy is stubborn in not playing rookies. 2. Boki doesn't play well enough in practice to deserve significant PT. 3. Rice is being showcased for a trade (a la KT). 4. Boki is physically not ready. He is either still hurt or is not well conditioned due to the lost time to injury. My conclusion (you don't have to agree): 1. Rudy is not stupid. He knows what he is doing. That is not to say that his decision to keep Boki on the bench must be right. 2. From what we have seen the other SFs playing so far, Boki should be playing more than he is now. 3. Therefore, Boki must be physically not ready to play. (i.e. Boki's lack of PT is not so much due to issues of his performance as to issues of his physical condition.) 4. Yet he is still on the active roster because Rudy wants to keep Boki working and get his feet wet whenever there is garbage time opportunities. 5. When Boki is physically ready and Rice is still stinking, Boki will get more minutes. When will that be? Nobody knows. But to borrow DoD's idea, it's a safe bet that Rudy knows about Boki's physical condition much better than any of us here.
Try sticking to the discussion and not taking cheap shots at a coaches previous drinking problem. I never took any credit away from the players. Since you have failed to give me the examples I have asked, and your only further addition to the debate is of the "JEEEEZUS" and "drunk in the suit stumbling down the sideline" variety, I'm going to assume you have nothing constructive left to say. I hope that someday you come to the realization that the Rockets coach knows a little more about the Rockets players than you do.
if you remember right that guy must be an idiot. Bochi dramatically improved from the previous year, but he was not in the top3 of our team. Skita was playing only garbage minutes, instead...
From today's Chronicle (the Rockets summary for today isn't up on the web for some reason, so I'm not going to type up the whole blurb, just Rudy's quote). Quick summary of Murphy's commentary- Coaches were happy because everyone got to play in the Bucks game, and Morris and Nachbar aren't usually in the forward rotation. Rudy: "I told the coaches that I hoped we kept the lead so we could get Boki and Terence, who hasn't played in a while, into the game," Tomjanovich said. "It's just a morale booster." So it looks like Morris is on more or less even footing with Boki. Before anyone mentions it, Morris got into the game earlier because Mo was injured. So, the guys ahead of Nachbar are Rice and Posey- I don't think anyone can argue that Nachbar should be getting minutes over Posey, and I don't think a coach in the league can justify sitting one of the best shooters in NBA history for a rookie, shooting slump or not. Hypothetically, imagine Rice is taken out of the lineup. Having Mobley as the veteran of the starting lineup is about as frightening as it gets.
Have you noticed that everything you say has if in it? Rice at this moment is the 3rd worse shooter on the team. He has lost his touch and he doesn't play defense. I find it hard to believe that Nachbar couldn't do better than Rice.
RIGHT NOW....STEVE IS OUR BEST THREE POINT SHOOTER. He is Top 10 in the league. I am absolutely sure that Bostjan Nachbar and YAO MING could shoot better from the 3 point line. Glen just lost it...I still support him. But he's not doing very well.
