Rudy T. Show (w/Larry Smith) 4/10/2003 (MP3)

the best part, imo, was when a caller remarked on our poor usage of the shot clock to set up plays. he mentioned how the ball would be slowly dribbled up court, then dribbled some more, until the end result was a rushed shot or no shot at all. he asked why the coaches don't pull these guys aside and chastize them for dribbling out the clock. after he was done, there was a long, awkard silence between the 610 hosts and larry as to how best answer the question. that silence said it all (how poor our coaching is combined with lack of floor leadership in the back-court)
classic.

 

Haha...Great Larry Smith. I need to listen to this one sometime.

Thanks edc!

Our team is sad. We have plenty of talent. We should be near the top of the league if only we could beat teams like Cleveland and the Clippers. We are not prepared well. It's either because of the poor coaching or because Francis and Mobley are too arrogant and don't care.

I hope Rudy T. gets better.

But we really need to improve our offense and defense...and fast breaks.

 

hmmm...I downloaded it, but no sound was there. I will try it again.

 

Earl C. :- That sort of confirms that the Coaching Staff have not seen the need to deal with the Guards Dribble Mania.The Gards play that way and this is a Guard dominated team, so why would they chastize them?

 

He must have been stunned by somebody asking such a stupid question. There are no problems with our offense, we run great plays, and our fastbreak is like butter.

 

This interview SUXXX!!!!

Everybody is so damn polite. Yet there is nothing, nada, zero, credit that should be given to Mr. Smith. He has done absolutely nothing. Just look at our record. While other teams have gotten better, we're getting worse. Youth is NOT the issue. Maturity is NOT the issue. How many years of experience does a player have to have to be "mature?"

Excuses, excuses, excuses

So sad.

theSAGE

 

word...

 

Charlie never criticizes the coaches that much, he pretty much railed on the players and he pointed out their lack of effort to Larry when the interview began. If you guys think the callers are so polite, you should have heard this idiot who called last week and asked Larry why he didn't get Yao the ball more. He said if Yao got the ball they could win the championship this year.

For all those guys who say Larry Smith has caused this team to go down hill, the team has had a losing record since the Laker ovetime victory, so the downfall started when Rudy T was still here.

 

I think the problem has been consistency throughout the season, irregardless of the coaches, though it would seem that with so much on the line are execution should be somewhat improved, at least on the offensive end.

No one has graduated yet from overdribbling and there seems to be an over hesitancy with getting the ball into the post.

Another problem is that our end of quarter ballhandling is especially worse. In the last 8 games, I've counted about 20 opportunities for a last shot and on 13 of these we've not gotten off a shot. This is awful.

And, like just about all radio/TV journalists doing a "coach's show", Charlie isn't going to be as direct or as biting as he would during the normal slots. The idea is not to agitate the coach to the point where you start getting a bunch of dull shows due to the coach not willing to be as forthright and as accomodating to the hosts.

Anyway, my biggest problem with Larry is that he hasn't yet found a comfort level with regards to sustitution patterns.

 

Yes I don't blame Larry Smith...

but you can tell he had the basic answer in his pocket to pull out when questions got a little tough..

"we just aren't hitting the open shots"

If I hear we are a young team again as any excuse..I am going to vomit

 

thanks again edc. you are my clutch city mvp!

larry smith sounds like a man in denial-god, it was hard to listen to him try to justify the teams one on one offense. caller asked why they continued to run an "unsophisticated" 1 guy dribbles while "4 stand around the arc".
larry says to the effect "thats not our offensive philosophy, its just in certain situations. it doesnt happen all the time." wake up larry!!!! compare yourself to how SUCCESSFUL teams run their offense and its night and day.

 

I heard that comment last week, it was hilarious! He must have only seen the Dallas game from December.

 

w/ the exception of one guy toward the end of the interview, the callers were TOO NICE

What's with all the "oh, thank you for doing a good job" with the Rockets? BS!!!! There's absolutely nothing redeeming about these past 10+ games since Coach Smith has taken over. Stuff like that drives me nuts. No one is saying a caller need slander or b**** or moan to Coach Smith about what a terrible job he's doing (the more efficient way would be to simply advertise the link to this bbs on the radio). But fans should not let the glitz and glamour of the NBA get to them and raise coaches and players alike onto a PEDASTAL.

Bad coaches and bad players deserve to be lambasted. You don't fight fact. And the fact is, regardless of how much you like or dislike RudyT, our team under Coach Smith has STANK.

Coaches are human. Sure they can err. But for the same reason, they also don't deserve any less objective scrutiny than the next person. When they fail, they sure as hell don't deserve the "oh, thanks for doing a good job" preface to these radio questions. Fact is, him and his team are NOT doing a good job and I just wish people would cut all the P.C. garbage and just speak it like it is. I mean, these callers wouldn't be calling unless they had some beef about the coaching these last few games out??!!!

When Jeff Van Gundy took over for Don Nellie, he looked stressed out, overworked, and urgent from DAY 1. He took over a team that he had little first hand control over and worked them through not only the playoffs but the FINALS. His getting the position wasn't viewed as some cushy interim job that he can always look back and say, "well, I was stuck with the job." Instead, he made the most of his opportunity to SHINE. When Coach Smith took over, we HAD momentum, we HAD chemistry, yet despite us going on a road trip... positive energy shouldn't be sapped out this fast. Something WAS wrong from the get go, like letting air out of a tire.

NOT ONE CALLER ASKED COACH MEAN WHY HE THROWS IN THE TOWEL EARLY or WHY HE MAKES THE SUBSTITUTIONS HE DOES
Tiredness is NO excuse. If you want to single out Yao, so be it. But for all the other players??? Everyone else in this league also faces 80+ games in the regular season. There is nothing inequitable about the schedule. Yet to say his players are tired... but aren't they supposed to be YOUNG??? In tough times like this, these players are paid to MUSTER THE strength to carry forward. Think about it. We, as a team, have been ULTRA blessed by not having any major injuries other than an aging Rice. Yet somehow we can't muster the energy to win in the clutch???

EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES.

The problem is MENTAL. Everyone on this BBS knows that and knows this. This interview was just another one of those "post-failure" rationalizations that doesn't do ANYTHING to reverse our bad habit of losing when it counts.



angrySAGE

 

This is something that has always bothered me. But it really isn't a function of coaching, it's got to do with our players. Honestly, Francis is not a good ballhandler.

He isn't like Stockton where he can initiate the offense INSIDE the 3 point line with a defender stuck like glue on his hip. He isn't like Mark Jackson, who can dribble through defenders and do spins and have the the ball stick to his hand the whole time.

The coaches have tried to remedy it by letting Cuttino and Posey dribble up sometimes, but it doesn't work to well.

 

Absolutely.

If RT is the coaching mentor of LS...and RT did not think there was anything wrong with the Rockets offense...why would we expect LS to believe that the offense doesn't work? IMO that's the reason for an answer like the problem being "shooting".

What I find troubling with the situation is the degree of difficulty difference between the shots the Rockets attempt versus the shots their opponents take. The vast majority of time, the "shooting" Smith is referring are very difficult shots as opposed to wide open ones like the ones the Jazz took.

Essentially we got hammered by Harpring, Kirilenko and Padgett. Whatever that system is...give us some of it!

 

The problem has and will continue to be coaching. It doesn't matter if it's Rudy T or Mr. Mean, our coaching sucks.

 

Why is it when I listen to Larry Smith I keep hearing...

"We're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe".

Oh, and they are in denial, this team has no cohesion and it is the coaches fault.

DD