Whoa! Shocking. I guess that rules out Van Gundy, if he has been asking for $7 million per year as rumored.
OHHHHH....Well, there goes my theory....hmmm, maybe I should start checking the front page once in a while.
If money was an issue, and we can only afford a middle-priced coach, we should have just kept Rudy (at least another year). It makes the Rudy firing look like an even more knee-jerk reaction. p.s. - if Rudy wasn't fired, why was there a buyout?
very interesting, and well written. although i liked brown as a coach (he was obviously the best one available), i didnt like the fact that he can only stay for so long considering his age and his history of leaving abruptly. if strict is what we need then JVG is our guy. but just for fun i say he hire: Head Coach - Mike Dunleavy Assistant Head Coach - Mario Ellie Assistant Coach - Avery Johnson Third Assistant Coach - Kenny Smith
According to the source, the fact that the "Rudy T stepping down" story leaked early meant Rudy T had the upper hand financially. So its Doc's fault we can't afford Larry Brown.
Just amazing, they fired Rudy T but want to spend less than $5M to get Brown or JVG???? If they end with Mike Dunleavy, why fired Rudy T in the first place? They spend extra couple M dollars and get same type of guy as Rudy but without a ring????
Thanks CLUTCH. I've been waiting long for a post from you. If money is the issue, then we should go for Rick Carlisle. He should be able to come cheap than Brown
Yup, I guess we can all look foreward to Rudy 2 next year. No wonder the media says that Mike D is the number 1 choice since he is demanding less money. I would rather just take a flier on a no name.
If Houston was the premiere place to coach like everyone claims, coaches "should" be willing to take a little less to coach here. I don't blame LB at all, I think he made the right move for him. Clutch, now that the first choice is gone, are they kind of scrambling to decide who their next choice should be, despite the soundbites to the contrary? Or are they waiting for possibly someone else to become available?
Maybe they had an offer, and maybe Brown was their first choice, but I would also throw in that they would take him as the first choice only if he was a good bargain (I go for your wouldn't option). Moreover, if the guy was all about the money at this point of his career, then he wasn't a good choice at all. Certainly the Rockets offered something that was "lucrative". Looks like Brown was no bargain, and his heart was in the money. I'm glad they didn't try to bid him up. That was an accident waiting to happen. Better it happened in the motor city... As far as a disciplinarian goes, I'm not so sure the pendulum needs to swing that far. The players didn't react well to Larry Smith's disciplinarian approach. Brown would "command" more respect, but would that really be a good atmosphere. An "inbetween" coach would probably fit better in these times... I'm not sure Dunleavy is the solution, but at least he won't have an "Answer"...
Yep...maybe the Houston job isn't as sweet as people seem to make it out to be. If Kidd leaves the Nets for the Spurs, Brown has an almost automatic trip to the NBA Finals for the next five years. ...another lottery season is upon us...
Well Peter Vecsey got one right the other day when he said "you're only as good as your sources". So all I can pass along is what I'm told, knowing the validity and past credibility of the source. So watch now as the Rockets give Van Gundy $7 million or something. For a fact, the Rockets talked money with Brown and made an offer. They want it to look like he was just a candidate on the list - totally and completely false. That I know for sure. "Money" - I can only go off what I'm told. I have no idea now who they will get right now to be honest.... I'm pretty frustrated they didn't get Brown. I should probably start a "HIRE MARIO!" campaign. All the positives from the Rockets view points to Dunleavy ... I just think he would eventually get run over by these players, but hey, he managed Portland (for a while anyhow). I heard the same thing someone else posted from a newspaper report that Van Gundy fell a notch or something - that something didn't go super well. Carlisle - no idea. I heard from this guy that Carlisle may get play from Indiana too because they regret ever letting him go, and I doubt they are that thrilled with Isiah. Nelson or Nelson "Lite" .... I wouldn't be surprised if they became candidates soon. So many negatives about missing out on Brown, but two positives: Maybe we'll have a stable coach when Yao needs to re-sign and maybe we'll still TRADE MOBLEY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS PURE AND HOLY!
I'm sure Les realized that he couldn't win a bidding war with the Detroit group and firing Carlisle made it clear that they were not going to be outbid and stuck with a lesser coach. And from LB's point - Detroit is a better team than the Rockets and stands a better chance at making the incentives (especially in the East) and getting a/some ring(s) in the length of his contract. I think the talent level really drops off after LB. I can't get too excited for anyone the Rockets pick, but I'm still hoping for a better year - that's what's kept me being a fan for 20+ years.
Clutch, your article raised my worst fears....that this thing was NOT done because of "money." That is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! UNACCEPTABLE! If Les REALLY wanted Brown then he should have gotten him. I think the Rockets got too loose in looking for their coach. They didn't "grab" the coach they wanted when he was available. Let's look at what Detroit did. They OFFERED the job to Brown WITHOUT an interview! I mean they KNEW the goods when they saw it. They POUNCED on Brown. The Rockets just casually met with Brown and then just sat on their thumbs! When the Rockets did not sign Brown after that meeting on Wednesday, that should have been a sign to us. What a shame! As a Rockets fan this really is disappointing! I was hoping that if they did not get Brown it would be more of 1) He did not fit for us or demanded too much control or 2) he just plain liked Detroit better. But from what Clutch says, we were CHEAP and did not offer enough money? Sounds like we also were not AGGRESSIVE enough. We acted like we were all high and mighty and felt everyone should come begging us for the coaching job instead of ROMANCING these coaches to our job. And then when ANOTHER premier job opened in Detroit our "stategy" backfired. It was DETROIT that romanced Brown and got him in the fold. What a disaster! Now the Rockets are pretty much stuck with a second tier coach for their team. Well, maybe not second tier but second choice. I would be SHOCKED if it was not Dunleavy now. Not that he is a bad coach but NOT the kind of SPLASH I am sure Les wanted to make. This was Les' biggest chance to make a splash and he failed. Hopefully lesson learned here for him. Hopefully it won't be a costly lesson! One more thing, I think many agree that going from Rudy to Larry Brown would have been a 'step up' in our coaching position. But is going from Rudy to Dunleavy or Van Gundy a step up or more just status quo? Disappointing!
