Not so, at least RyBo plays defense........lol Shoot if I was getting paid $7mil per year I would score more then that just at the free throw line...cuz I'd put the work in yo instead of hittin' the hooka
That's exactly the point. They played much better under Rudy. BTW, the "top backcourt in the league" wasn't doing that great after leaving Rudy. And it's not like they had passed their prime. Look at that 00-01 team: Francis, Mobley, Anderson, Taylor, and the ready-to-retire Hakeem. They won 45 games. And in 02-03, they had Francis, Mobley, Posey, Taylor, and the rookie Yao. They won 43 games.
Of course, Yao, Posey, Mobley and Francis did just fine without Rudy too. And Taylor and Anderson were far better before joining Rudy than they were with Rudy. The two years before Rudy, for example, Taylor averaged 17 pts a game. With Rudy? 13 and 8.5. And of course, all these guys never made the playoffs with Rudy, yet made it as soon as they got a coach that actually made them play defense.
i thought members of 7 years or more without any contributions to the tip jar couldn't gripe about coaching?
Is top 5 in FG percentage defense in '02-'03 not playing defense? You do realize that making the playoffs depends on other teams' records, and not just your own, right?
It really IS that easy. Kinda like ordering pizza, you page the guy, and in 30 minutes or less he's at your door. God I miss NYC
i used to joke around about mo a lot, but the dude did play with heart (sometimes) when he was with the rox. as far as aggressiveness, he and steve never ever never, ever never ever backed down from any body on the court. btw, does anybody have the clip of him in the world games or olympics (can't remember) of him dunking over that guy. man... after seeing that i remember thinking the guy was pure gold coming to houston. edit: btw, i'm suprised no one has posted the infamous "i love this weed" pic yet. you guys are slipping.
Basketball teams are judged in comparison to their peers. Half the league makes the playoffs - if can't be better than average in your conference, you're not "good" by any definition of the word. You are average or below average, regardless of your record - 8 teams were better than you. All a good record and 9th place finish means is that the bad teams that year were really bad and everyone beat up on them and piled up easy wins.
the fact that 45 wins got them in the playoffs one year and not the other only solidifies the fact that they played in a tougher conference 2001 Portland, coming off WCF appearance, still having Wallace, Sabonis, and others Dallas, Nash and Nowitzki Minnesota, Garnett Utah, Malone and Stocton Phoenix, Jason Kidd San Antonio, need I say more Lakers, Kobe and Shaq Seattle, GP of those eight teams that made the playoffs that year, only three of them the rockets had a realistic chance of overcoming, Seattle, Phoenix, and Minnesota. fast foward to 04, Malone and Stockton gone, Kidd in New Jersey, Gary Payton is gone from Seattle and Portland completely falls apart. in fairness, the grizzlies began to get better and Denver to replace the teams that had fallen. but that leaves a couple of spots, one houston moved into. its completely ridiculous to give van gundy anymore credit than rudy for winning 45 games with that team as evidenced by the fact the rockets only lost one game to the lowly eastern conference that year. it wasn't that they didn't compare to their competition, it was there was a complete unbalance in the two conferences.
Are you attributing the playoff berth to coaching? What exactly is your point? They made the playoffs the next year with a different coach - so what? Are you saying that's the reason they made the playoffs? Also, I see the "didn't play defense" claim kind of fizzled out.
Yes, I'm attributing the fact that they went from the 9th best team in the conference under the old coach, to the 7th best team and then the 5th best team in the conference to new coaching. I also attribute the fact that the Rockets went 4 (?) straight years without making the playoffs under one coach, to two straight years making the playoffs under a new coach, to new coaching. If you watched the Francis/Mobley teams the last few years under Rudy and compared them to those under JVG, they didn't play good defense *at all*. (nor did they play smart)
but they did win 45 games, and considering they had yao ming under jvg there is no argument that he did a better job. he had a better team, yao ming, jim jackson over shandon anderson, and he only managed the same amount of wins, in a weaker conference.
Great, so new personnel, improvement of existing personnel, injuries, improvement of the competition, etc., don't figure into the equation at all. Coaching is the only variable. Great analysis! I actually can't tell if you're being serious at this point. I guess we can also attribute the fact that we're in the lottery again this year to coaching as well. Well, since you "watched" it, it must be so. Just throw the stats out the window.
Yao: You want to compare the rookie Yao and the 2nd year Yao? Posey: He played well only one year after leaving Rudy. Since then he has been getting worse each year. Mobley: 17.5 pts, 43% fg, with Rudy; 15.8 pts 42% fg with JVG (his stats stay pretty much the same with any coach). Francis: Only 1 season out of 4 over 17 ppg after leaving Rudy. Yeah, they did just fine without Rudy. All these guys are not old. So you can't say they are declining due to age.
