Assuming Rudy T gets the boot who would be a good hire for us?? Whose available and who would fite our team?
WE need an Old School type of Coach, one who demands respect from his players and is a strict controler of his players. One that is forward looking with very high standards. His methods must be thoes that develop the Big Mans Game. He needs two very experienced Assistant Coaches, one incharge of Defence and the other for Offence. No more office people on our Coaching Staff. Rudy T ...V.Pres. incharge of Players and Scouting.
Why assume at all? If it happens, it is not likely Les Alexander will seek the opinions of this BBS. Any number of coaches could fill the job, but there is still no guarantee they would have better results.
definitely jeff van gundy. the guy took a weak knicks team to the nba finals and he knows how to get his players to play defense. he's been pat riley's assistant before and learned a lot from that experience. another reason for his hire is that he's had a center be the focus of his knicks offense in the past. in his stay with the knicks, he was known for getting the ball to ewing. even though ewing sucks. rudy is known for doing less with more. van gundy does more with less. easy choice. replace rudy with van gundy in the off-season and this team will win at least 60 games.
Donnie Nelson. We need new blood if we do get rid of Rudy, which I am against until his contract is up. If he's anything like his dad, he'll know how to handle a team with more talent than one basketball can handle. How does Dallas' big three manage to average around 20 pts each? I don't see why we can't. Of course I'm wondering if I'm the only person who understands that Ming needs at least another year before he'll reach that status. I mean, look at Dirk's first three years point wise: 98-99 8.2ppg 7 shots per game 99-00 17.5ppg 13.6 shots per game 00-01 21.8ppg 15 shots per game The more that I think about it, i think people who complain about this team are really impatient with Ming. They want him to average 20 pts per game, but don't want to blame him for not doing so. So they blame everybody else. Of course Ming isn't doing anything wrong because he's a rook who is learning and paying his dues. He's averaging 9 shots per game, compared to Dirk's 7. Actually, if you adjust it for when he started starting games, it's 10 shots per game. I digress. Back to making 3 good players work well together. Dallas' shots per game for the big 3: Dirk: 17.7 Nash: 13 Finley: 17.8 total: 48.5 team total: 85.1 Rockets' shots per game for the big 3: Francis: 17.3 Ming: 10 Mobley: 15.1 total: 42.4 team total: 78.4 Wow, these numbers tell me some interesting things. First of all, Mobley is not a cancer and he doesn't shoot too much. Ming doesn't shoot enough. That's the problem. Part of it is because he passes the ball when he shouldn't and of course I think that Francis's turnovers hurt the offense too much and might be responsible for us not taking as many shots as a comparable team like Dallas. Francis is working on cutting down his turnovers as he has done a good job since the break, Ming has taken 35 shots in the last 3 games. Anyways, I believe that if Ming stops hovering 15ft out and plays more under the basket, his touches should increase as will his points. Now, if Mobley could just find his shot again, this ship will be back on course. Thank you, thank you. See what happens when you think clearly and don't get all angry. Ha, trade this guy, fire that coach. Man, patience is still a virtue if you haven't heard.
How about Byron Scott? That might help us land Jason Kidd down the road! I like Van Gundy. Donnie Nelson sounds alright, too. Bottomline is that I agree with the sentiments that we need a stricter kind of coach who won't stand for anything but consistent effort regardless of the opponent.
in the current NBA environment a strict diciplinarian will not work. I realize Riley and Old Don Nelson have that reputation, but look at Riley's situation now. Old Don Nelson really isn't coaching that team anyway. Donnie Nelson and Del Harris are. We will not get Donnie Nelson from Dallas. Cuban will want to keep him for the Euro connectiions alone- previous coaching Lithuanian team and long term scouting in Europe. Can you imagine a bidding war with Mark Cuban??? I never liked the Knicks half court game. When Van Gundy took over the Knicks Dave Checketts was on a spending spree with Cablevision money. Remember the outrageous contract they took on for Larry Johnson alone. They were loaded with talent and in the weak Eastern conference. Do not give Van Gundy so much credit there - he was in the right place with talent galore and in a dead conference. He could not repeat it now. Van Gundy never really appeared to have control of that team and always seemed scared of the players. I do not look for Van Gundy to coach anymore. If Rudy is fired, which I do not think he should be...... My pick would be John Lucas. He is well respected by our players from playing at West Side in the summer off Season. We would probably have to pay Cleveland something I think he is probably still under contract to them. Lucas is gifted with players-point guard mentality will work with this team, If a different roster is desired, then we need a coach who is good at building a team. I think Rudy and CD did a good job, but.... If we wanted a coach to build a team-then maybe Larry Brown, Geaorge Karl.......... If we fire Rudy, do we fire Carroll Dawson too?? If so will the new coach be the new GM also - a la Pat Riley?? Definitely no to Chuck Daley - he is an old burnout. I like the idea of Avery Johnson and I do think he will be a successful coach, but do we want him to coach us as a rookie coach?? What if we hired Lucas, Moses Malone, and Avery Johnson as assistants and let Rudy finish his contract. It would give each a couple of years to learn the Rockets and make a smooth transition.
We've had this discussion before. If the Rockets move Rudy up -- they will never move him out -- they should go for Calvin Murphy as head coach. For all of the Pocket Rocket's kidding around, he would be a taskmaster -- just ask any of his Marching Thunder members. Yes, he was primarily an offensive weapon, but he knew how to read defenses and solve them because he certainly didn't have a height advantage. Calvin knows how to get serious, and he is very serious when it comes to how a basketball game should be played. His jersey hangs from the rafters, he is a Hall of Fame player and -- like Rudy -- has never been with another organization, so his pedigree cannot be questioned. However, with that said, Rudy is in no danger of losing his current job.
I agree that if we do make a change it should be for new blood and not someone like Van Gundy. I have no idea why people are so fascinated with broadcasters and recycled coaches. Im shocked no one has mentioned Gene Shue. It's one thing to sit there with a headset and analyze like Van Gundy or Calvin Murphy. It's a totally different scenario to watch film, create mismatches, proper substitutions, work the refs, discipline players, etc...... I guarantee you that if Rudy was in the broadcasting booth he could disect the Rocket's problems as easily as Murphy. Fixing problems is much harder than identifying them. Hell we could do that - Get Yao Ming more touches. Ok, how do we do that? We need a coach that can figure this out. As far as Dallas vs Houston Oski, there's a difference between Nowitzki, Nash, and Finley vs our "big 3". Nowitzki, Nash Finley, Yao, Francis, Mobley - which of these do not belong. Which of these is not an NBA All Star caliber player. Which of these are one dimensional scorers. I don't think Cat is the root of all our problems as some would like to portray. However, people blame Cat because other than scoring, he's not really good in any other facet of the game. He's not a great passer - he's not even a good passser. His defense is inconsistent (better than Francis). He's not a great rebounder. He's not even a great pure shooter. As far as Yao Ming and pasing - how many times have we seen him hit the cutter in stride leading directly to a basket or 2 foul shots. Yao Ming is the best passer on the team - pure and simple. He's willing to pass (which is always good - especially if we ever install a motion offense) and he can thread the needle to set people up for easy baskets. People want to make the offense go through him because he'll find his open teammates which other people can't do. Also, he rarely will just throw up a shot early in the clock without looking to find someone else first. Passing is not something we should discourage. As he matures, his low post game will improve. It's easier to teach someone to shoot the ball more and pass less than vice a versa. Our guards are perfect examples of that.
Larry Brown is available and ready. Perfect fit. Teacher, disciplinarian, good stategist, builds winners from losers. 5 year contract. World-wide respect. You can't do better for Ming and Francis. He's won with very different players/systems - in LA, SA, IN, and now Phil. 2 finals in 5 years, guaranteed - then he retires, and we get the ex-player coach. This is exactly what the team needs.
Oh, and Mobley IS a cancer and does shoot too much. Getting a new coach is just step one. We need to exchange for good complimentary players and balance contracts, too. Mobes is a terrible fit for Ming/Francis. Ship him to some other team where he can dominate the ball. We need a shooter and/or defender at 2, not a scorer.
Larry Brown sounds pretty good. If he's not available, then Van Gundy. If he's not available, then a coach who used to be a PG and knows how to actually be a head coach (x's and o's). John Lucas doesn't know how to talk to his players or about his players. BUT, he would make a good assistant coach. Here's what I'd like to see: Head Coach: Larry Brown Assistant: John Lucas Assistant: Moses Malone Assistant: Someone Larry Brown picks Maybe he can make Eric Snow want to come here too.
