Well, that's true. But the question is- does Rudy have a negative effect on these guys? Maybe he is doing a decent job with what we have, which is a young rookie center, a 20 ppg Point Guard who makes bad decisions, and a 17 ppg Shooting Guard who also makes bad decisions. I think Rudy, like the rest of us, was expecting Francis to develop more into a true point guard and a true superstar, and that hasn't really happened. I wonder if he has thoughts about trading him??? I would love to have Carlisle. However, he'd probably trade Francis like he traded Jerry Stackhouse. He values good decision making and defense.
The Rockets have the worst forwards in the NBA, the dumbest guards in the NBA, and a rookie center. The fact that they have a winning record in the West is a testament to the coaching. The fact that the writer thinks that Frank Johnson, who has equal talent to work with, and has almost the same record as the Rockets, is doing an amazing job, is a testament to his cluelessness.
I'am not sure if it is coach's job. But consider our DRAFT and TRADE. We are one of the luckest in Draft and one of the worst Trade Team. We were luck we did not have enough time to trade Horry and Cassell before we won the Championship. I think a team need one or two superstars to be able to get to playoff or to be contenter of Championship. But a good and lucky coach is also very important. To me, Phil Jackson is a 80% coaching, 20% lucky coach. SA and Houston's coach was 40% coaching, 60% lucky coach.
Mr. Clutch, The problem with Rudy is not his ability, it is his lack of backbone. He doesn't DEMAND that the players play the right way, he sits in his teepee and hopes that if he can just smoke the peace pipe long enough they will figure it out on their own. Well, the pipe is empty, time for Rudy to take his peace in upper management. DD
I don't think he has ANY effect. That is the problem, like DaDakota said, he doesn't DEMAND things out of players. Francis develops through experience AND coaching. He's only getting one of those right now. I doubt he has thoughts of trading Francis. It wouldn't solve anything, only make things worse.
You are correct, but I think on balance, Rudy's personnel decisions have been pretty good. Everyone says we have more talent on paper than our record indicates.
I still don't understand this argument. What was Rudy's role in getting some of these players? First, we lucked out on Yao Ming. He was simply a gift from the Draft Gods. As far as the forwards and guards. If theyre so bad and stupid, why do we have them? And if we have them because they have immovable contracts, who gave them those contracts? Seriously. Why does Moochie have a 6 year 22 million dollar contract. Was Rudy not involved in that decision whatsover? He helped create this team. Theyre too stupid to listen? Make them listen, get rid of them, or change the system. It's not like Les is trying to micromanage the team ala Jerry Jones.
Either we don't have talented players to run the system, or the coach can't get these players to play together. You can't have it both ways. You can't blame the players, and then say but the Rockets have the right combination. If you are willing to admit the players are talented enough, the why do you propose to get rid of them. Why should we flip the team around so we can keep Rudy on the bench. You're livin in the past man.
Think of it this way- the players are very talented, but they haven't developed into winners yet. Steve and Cuttino are good players, but it wasn't until this year that the microscope was truly on them, and they failed. Eddie Griffin was rated high last year, he has failed. Yao has lived up to expectations, but isn't ready to carry the team yet. Also, if you consider the trades for Drexler, Barkley, and even Elie, plus the drafting of Cassell and Horry, Rudy T. makes a pretty good GM. I think Rudy deserves criticism. But if you notice around the leauge, everyone is talking about how Steve doesn't pass, how he doesn't get Yao involved, how he isn't a true point guard, etc. I don't see people saying things like "Wow, Rudy can't coach, he has no clue" except from Houston fans. Rudy has won consistently, Steve hasn't. It's not really a Rudy vs. Steve situation, but Steve has been more dissapointing to me.
Its the coaches job to get the most out of the talent. You can't say Steve hasn't won anything as opposed to Rudy. Rudy and Steve are on the same team. When Steve isn't winning, Rudy isn't winning. And again, the definition of coach, is to put players in position to win, if the talent is there, the coach isn't doing the job. You can't have it both ways, and say Rudy has accumulated talent, but the talent isn't coming together. If people consider a team talented, and it isn't winning, its the coaches fault. Take OU football for instance. Everyone says Bob Stoops won with John Blake's recruits. OU was terrible under John Blake. Are you going to tell me it was those kids' responsibility to coach themselves? No, a good coach got the most of of another's talent. That's basically what you are saying, Rudy has already won, Francis and Mobley should coach themselves. And you still haven't addressed the fundamental issue. Rudy T. is an iso basketball coach. That's his system, let the guards or post men create, and either pass or shoot depending on the defense. The system is what's broken. It hasn't changed, yet the team and the rest of the league are completely different.
Exactly, it is the SYSTEM that is the major problem. Rudy is coaching the SAME ISO ball that worked years ago BEFORE allowing zone defenses. Now that we have zones Rudy is clueless on how to attack it. There is not enough "passing", "cutting" or general "movememt" of players on the offensive end. And I am talking about movement without the basketball (especially on the weakside). Make the defense "work" instead of stand around and allow the defense to rest and not work very hard by guarding some guy standing out on the 3pt line. That is the problem!
But doesn't every coach go through down periods? I mean, I'm sure OU has gone through periods where they got a lot of talent but they didn't seem to match their talent. Look at UT, is it the coach's fault that Simms keeps throwing interceptions? How much does the coach have to do before Simms understands how to read a defense? (I hope that doesn't open a can of worms.) Regarding ISO offense, I really don't know much about x's and o's to understand if the Rockets are truly different from other teams. I mean, Dallas does a lot of ISO's for Nowitzki and Finley. Detroit does ISO's as well. LA and Philly let Iverson and Kobe dribble around and take crazy shots. So I'm not really convinced the system is the problem here... And also, the Lakers bench is worse than ours, it's hard to find good bench players these days. The Spurs have some big holes also.
3 Mr. Clutch, I give up But in response to this post, isn't frustrating to see every other team we play, cut without the basketball, make the defense chase them around, etc., etc., and all this team does is either try to create off the dribble, or dump it in and send one cutter through the lane. Every team seams to have a system except this one. You can't tell me we have the only knucklehead guards in the league.
Matt Jackson on SportsRadio 610 had some pretty good insight into the Rockets situation a while ago. He made fun of the people saying it's Rudy's fault by making the assertion that if we change coaches then our players won't magically become smarter. I agree with him. We have a collection of players who are focused on one thing -- themselves. This type of selfishness pervades both their on-court play as well as their off-court antics. We've got guys showing their lack of commitment to the team by getting drunk and driving down Westheimer (Steve), smoking pot (Maurice and Eddie) and missing team flights (Tito). We've also got guys who have no regard for passing whatsoever (Moochie and Steve), despite repeated pleas by the coaching staff and fans. Let's face facts here, we put a collection of morons on the court each and every night out (Yao, Rice and Hawkins excluded). These players habits are incorrigible. These players are incapable of learning anything. In times of crisis, they will always revert back to their streetball skills and will shun the fundamentals that Rudy & Co. preach to them. Rudy T is a coach that has proven his skill both in the NBA (2 championships) as well as international ball (his superb coaching job at the world championships a couple years ago). Our players are the ones with absolutely nothing to support their case. There is no magic wand which will turn a collection of idiots into a championship caliber team.
Well, if our guards don't pass why would the other guys move? We agree on the problem, we just don't agree on the solution.
Cuttino Mobley seemed to be a nice player at Rhode Island. His team almost shocked College Basketball by beating a heavily favored Stanford team the season before he was drafted. Steve Francis worked his way up from Junior College to being a second pick in the draft after his last year at Maryland. Moochie worked his way off the street corner damn near into the NBA. Yet, everyone's skills seem to erode when they get to Houston. Scottie Pippen's skills seemed to erode when he got here also. You people need to face it, Rudy has lost. You guys are living in the past. What's the constant in all these situations. And as far as the players' character, this coach is the same one who slammed his car into a tree in West University after a bender one night, urrghh, falling asleep behind the wheel. So there is enough judgement to go around on that front if you want to play that card.
You have to move to get a pass, I guess Steve just decided to pass the ball around for that All-Star because hit his head before the game and forgot who he was. Or maybe those guys were moving around. Steve has proven he will pass to an open man, Mobley on the other hand, even I won't argue that. Anyway, if the players aren't moving, maybe they aren't being instructed to.
I agree. Last night on Mr Mean's radio show it sounded just like what Rudy said every week. The bottom line is that the coaches recognize everything we see and tell the players how to execute. But the players don't do it. It isl ike the players have tuned out these coaches and it is time for a combo of new players and new coaches. I think it is more of the player's fault that Rudy deserves such a low grade. If Rudy deserves a D+ or C-, the players on the this team deserve a F- with the exception of Yao. I am sure I will get accused of being a Yao-only fan. But I think a rookie always should get the benefit of the doubt. There is no excuse for Steve, Cat, Moochie, EG playing as bad as they have at times this year. Then to just tank it at the end of the season. They should be ashamed.
I specifically heard Larry say he was alright with the shots the Rockets were getting, and if they shot better they would have won. So basically your post is B.S. because that was Larry's excuse for last night's game, not the lack of ball movement.
