I would love to see the Rockets lure Chuck out of retirement. He's a championship caliber coach and would get our guys playing some defense. I know Van Gundy's name has been kicked around, but Van Gundy's offense is about the same as Rudy's lots of ISO's and post up's.
if people say Rudy has no control over this team then how would a 73yr old man have more control than RT? Too old.
I would like to see John Wooden as our new coach. He is only 92; we might get 10 good years out of him.
Isn't there some guy named Lugo who needs a job? They could get Bizarro Phil Jackson. -or- They could use dead coach Bear Bryant in "spirit". He'll haunt the competition. Just sensing the Bear gives ANY team a winning outlook.
Chuck Daly is too old for this. He's probably going to die of heart attack of something watching the gut wrenching season of Rox. I agreed that Hubie Brown did a great job with the Grizzles. We will want to see how the team performs when Rudy's all healthy
Chucky failed in Orlando...what makes you think he could succeed in Houston? Plus the guy is retired from coaching. As for Van Gundy, I think he is one heck of a coach. He knows how to teach team basketball and get players to run a system. Also, Gundy doesn't just teach isolations. Which games were you watching?
If I remember right ( I may be wrong), Van Gundy never won anything right. He took a team that was in the playoffs back to the playoffs. Thats not that great; they didn't improve and had vetren talent. Isn't that why he hasn't coached since and why he left. Plus look at him, Keith Jones could beat him up. He may know his Xs & Os, but he is not worth the money or the hype people want to give him.
* Read the Bold parts...that should tell you why Van Gundy is a great coach! Jeff Van Gundy always knew that one day he would be an NBA head coach. What he didn't know was that the opportunity would come as suddenly as it did. On March 8, 1996, 59 games into the 1995-96 season, Van Gundy replaced Don Nelson to become the 18th head coach in New York Knicks history. Over the next four-plus seasons, Van Gundy established himself as a solid tactician and a coach who holds the respect and loyalty of his players. <B>He has guided the Knicks to winning records every year and a berth in the 1999 NBA Finals, where his injury-depleted squad was overpowered by San Antonio in five games. He entered the 2000-01 with a career record of 190-129, a winning percentage of .596. He's already the fourth-winningest coach in Knicks history, and should pass Pat Riley (223 wins) in 2000-01 to leave him behind only Red Holzman (613) and Joe Lapchick (326). </B> Van Gundy, then 34 years old, stepped in for Nelson with the Knicks at 34-25. They finished the season at 47-35, going 13-10 under Van Gundy, then surprised many by sweeping Cleveland in the First Round of the playoffs and playing five tough games against the eventual champion Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Knicks were the only team to take a game from Chicago in the first three rounds of the playoffs. <B>In his first full season as coach of the Knicks, Van Gundy led the team to a 57-25 record, a 10-game improvement over 1995-96. The Knicks' 57 wins matched the third-best total in franchise history, and their 10th straight playoff berth tied a team record. It was the best record ever posted by a coach in his first full season at the Knicks' helm. </B> In two spirited playoff series, the Knicks swept Charlotte in the First Round but bowed to Miami in seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Knicks had led Miami three games to one, but a bench-clearing fight in Game 5 led to the suspension of various Knicks players for Games 6 and 7, and the short-handed Knicks could not hold off the Heat. That series would prove to be the start of what has become the NBA's most intense rivalry. In 1997-98, an injury-riddled Knicks team limped into the playoffs at 43-39, and even though mainstay Patrick Ewing had suffered a season-ending wrist injury, New York managed to upset Miami in the first round of the playoffs. The Knicks did it again in 1998-99, when they came in as the No. 8 seed with a 27-23 record and beat Miami, then surged all the way to the NBA Finals where they were beaten by San Antonio. Van Gundy's elevation to the head coaching position came after 6 1/2 years as an assistant coach with the Knicks, where he learned the NBA game from some of the best coaches to ever stroll the sideline, such as Riley, John MacLeod and Nelson. As an assistant, Van Gundy gained a reputation as an excellent strategist and tireless worker. His dedication and love for the game earned him the respect of the players and the entire Knickerbockers organization. Coaching basketball has always been a way of life in the Van Gundy family. Jeff's father, Bill Van Gundy, has been coaching for four decades served for 15 seasons as the head coach at Genesee Community College in Batavia, N.Y. Jeff's brother Stan is an assistant coach under Riley with the Miami Heat, after a distinguished college coaching career at Canisius, Fordham, Lowell (Mass.) and Wisconsin. Jeff Van Gundy began his coaching career in 1985-86, when he was head coach at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, N.Y. Van Gundy was a graduate assistant under Rick Pitino at Providence as the Friars made their Final Four run in 1986-87. The following year, he served as an assistant at Providence under Gordon Chiesa, currently an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz. Van Gundy then moved to Rutgers as an assistant to Bob Wenzel for one season before joining the Knicks on July 28, 1989.
I live in NY so I watch most of the Brick games. That team always had problems scoring points even though they had Spree, Houston, and Ewing/Rice. Their offense was predicated on causing a mismatch for the most part. Putting Spree or Houston on the wing and letting them create.
Thanks that gives me some more insight. But I don't know, when I always watched the Knicks play, I never thought or felt he was doing a great job. In fact I felt they were winning inspite of him. I do remember every year he was rumored to be fired soon. That was one of the reasons he always looked so worried. I do like the way his players stood buy him because he stood up for them. Like I mentioned before he took a winning team and kept them winning. They had alot of talent in a weak confrence. Give me a coach who is good at changing teams for the better not just riding the wave of progression. Remember Don Nelson was on the way out, but was given alittle more time with his team and look now.
