Rudy's not a great coach for winning 45 games two years ago, he's a bad coach for not winning more than that this year. Rudy's not a great coach when his draft choices EXCEED expectations, but he's a terrible coach when they don't live up to them. Rudy's not a great coach when players from all over the league WANT to come play for him, for LESS money, but he's a bad coach when those players don't play well for him. Rudy's not a great coach for winning championships, but he's a bad one when he doesn't. Rudy's not a great coach when he wins a bronze medal with CBA players, but he's a bad coach when he wins a gold with NBA ones (while George Karl is still a good one). Rudy's the coach that built the new arena, but he's not the coach that the 'fans' want to open it.
Rudy is all that. And more. BTW - if a vote were taken throughout all Houstonland, my guess is Rudy would win in a landslide!
Amen, Rudy is the Rockets. If Houston weren't such a great city, it might be named Rudy, TX because of what Rudy has done here. He is the man for the job. If I can say one thing about Leslie, and the ONLY thing, its that he still has Rudy guiding this team. My props go out to Leslie for that move.
People forget that Rudy has coached this team with what he thought was a bladder infection through most of if not the entire season. That had to be painful and distracting to say the least. If Rudy is healthy and feeling good next season we will see a much better team. Get well soon Rudy.
I just want to hear you respond to one and only one thing. Barring major injury, if the Rockets do not make the playoffs next season and Rudy is able to coach most of the season (60+ games) will you be classy enough to admit that Rudy is past his prime as a coach? No need for a Doctoral Dissertation just a simple "yes" or "no".
Rudy isn't a bad coach. He's just an overrated medicre coach who has been stalling for years along with his team.
My idea of Rudy, the coaching staff, and the team in general is summed up by the following: Eddie Griffin is not a good 3 point shooter yet continues to stand at the top of the 3 point arc. Callers to the Rudy T show ask him why Eddie continues to shoot 3's. Rudy mumbles that they (the coaching staff) are trying to fix that. Last night''s pre-game shootaround: Eddie takes the majority of his shots from where? Take a guess. Somehow I don't think this was a 1 game phenomenon. Say what you mean and do what you say.
In other words, either: The coaches are not effective communicators The players are too stupid to understand The players listen but then do whatever want anyways You can pick any of the above and they still point to the same direction: Something must be done or these guys will continue to make the same mistakes over and over.
In other words Eddie has a Winnie the Pooh memory for whom Rudy traded 3 first round picks. It goes back no matter how you look at it.
'Classy enough'? Good one. Past his prime? Another good one. I guess Hubie Brown is just now hitting his prime. Funny how Rick Adelman suddenly became a good coach. I will conclude no such thing most likely, because I don't necessarily think coaches have a 'prime', and they have only a marginal impact on teams on the whole. And I don't do doctoral dissertations, you must have me confused with someone else.
For all those people that say Rudy developed great talent, that's false. You guys have such short memories. Do you remember why the Rockets got rid of Robert Horry? Because he never developed his game. After he came in, people, including Rockets management felt he would develop more skills which he never did. Thus he was traded. Sam Cassell was considered a very good player when the Rockets drafted him. Anyone who knows anything about Sam Cassell knows he was a great Junior College player at San Jac, and a really good guard at Florida State. The one player who has truly exceeded expectations under Rudy's watch is Cuttino Mobley. Rudy didn't develop Olajuwon, Maxwell, Drexler, Kenny, or Thorpe. Those players were handed to him, and yes he won with them to his credit, but Rudy's a good talent evaluator, not developer. He just needs to moved up to the front office.
Anyone who knows anything about Sam Cassell knows he backed up Charlie Ward as a PG at FSU. He only started when Ward was still in the midst of football season. He was drafted 24th overall in the first round. As far as your Horry comment, that he was traded because he didn't develop his game, I beg to differ. He was traded so we coiuld acquire a certain power forward named Charles Barkley. Mobley is a great example of a player that developed under Rudy's tenure. Olajuwon certainly did develop under Rudy...every year he got better (pre-1997 when he started the downslide), and added more weapons to his arsenal. What about Carl Herrera? What about guys like Chilcutt, Elie, Brooks, Harrington......guys that Rudy was able to get maximum effort and talent out of, and then when they left Houston, never to be heard from again???
I completely disagree with your apology for incompetence. Rudy is a horrible coach, should be fired. The easy way to do it is let him move upstairs. Give him any other last name on any other organization and he'd have been fired long ago. Rudy is still a scout. He and his staff can't teach, can't make tactical adjustments, show a donkey-headed stubborness in the face of terrible results, and show inexplicable, emotive, hormonal substitutions and command zero jr-high level discipline vis-a-vis "and1" foolishness. Hope he gets healthy, but hope he never coaches again. ...And trade Cuttino, too.
Chilcutt averaged a little over 5 points in his best season, Herrera over 7, Scotty Brooks over 6. Harrington had his best season with Memphis. In the cases of Herrera, Elie, and Brooks, again, he didn't draft the guys and develop them. Yes, he has found his diamonds in the rough. I acknowlege the fact that he has found talent where no one else has. I'm saying he hasn't developed talent very well. Every Rocket fan from the early to mid nineties knows that Horry was eventually a disappointment when it comes to expectations. As far as Cassell is concerned, do you think he really got better as a player? Sam Cassell came in a very polished scoring point guard. It was a good find. But Cassell's game hasn't changed much since he was a rookie. Although, I wouldn't place that blame on Rudy, I'm just saying, its a difference between finding and developing talent.
What is your definition of development? What difference does it make whether or not he drafted them???? Brooks, Elie, Harrington, Herrera etc. were all role players, yet you are citing their scoring stats as some sort of proof that they didn't develop? What did you personally expect from guys like that? 20 and 10 a night? Rudy was able to take those guys, and make them into solid role players, and gave them the confidence, the know-how, to come up big in big situations. To fill in admirably when the starters were out or injured. If that's not development.....what is? I get the feeling if Rudy had drafted these guys in the second round, and made them into all-stars, then you'd believe he's able to develop players. As for Cassell, his game has changed dramatically from his rookie year. He was a slasher in his first year, and developed a much more reliable jump shot in his second and third years in the league. But he still loved to take the ball into traffic. Now it's a rarity that you see the guy go to the hoop hard like he used to. I think Cassell is a much smarter player now that he was. But Rudy made the most of Cassell, as a rookie and second year player.
