In reality, some personnel are kept. Organizations do ask that alumni be given consideration "above and beyond." Jose Cruz was kept on the Astros staff when the manager changed. Heck, Phil Jackson kept Rambis - HIS IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR on the bench. It is not an entire staff, but one or two guys. There was an opening, Mario Elie interviewed, and was apparently never seriously considered. EG was in trouble, probably due to substance abuse. NOBODY on JVG's staff took responsibility for taking care of it. John Lucas, someone who deals with such things on a daily basis was never even consulted? Without that, what does the history of the organization matter? How can one associate these Rockets with the ones that won the title?
First of all you don't know if JVG and his staff tried to take care of Eddie Griffin. Either way it's not their responsibility to take care of him. They're his boss not his babysitter, if Eddie is stupid enough to get into drugs and refuse to get help for it early on it's his fault not the organizations. As for the Rockets not hiring Mario Elie, an organization isn't required to hire someone because they happened to work for them. That's how organizations get into a repetitive state, why pass over the most qualified guy to hire a guy who happened to play for you? That makes zero sense. Besides, didn't Mario Elie scream at Rudy T. and the bench after hitting a game winning shot against the Rockets and just go crazy? Why would you want to hire that guy? But, getting back to JVG, it's ridiculous to try and blame JVG for Eddie Griffin's substance abuse problem, especially when he probably started the problem under Rudy T. And how about actually blaming Eddie Griffin for the problem instead of a coach?
In reality, some personnel are kept. Organizations do ask that alumni be given consideration "above and beyond." Jose Cruz was kept on the Astros staff when the manager changed. Heck, Phil Jackson kept Rambis - HIS IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR on the bench. Did it ever occur to you that he kept Kurt Rambis on the staff because Rambis actually KNEW the players? They didn't keep him on there because he played for the Lakers. That would be stupid. Why just start handing out jobs to guys because they played on the team? Mario Elie had no connection to the current Rockets team, didn't play with any of the players, and was unproven as a coach. But it was the Rockets job to hand him a job because he played on a championship team a decade earlier? What kind of logic is that?
Ooops, correction, that should say that an organization isn't require to hire someone because they PLAYED for them.
Wow, what a great theory....it can even cross over to football!!! Hell, before we drafted that punk David Carr, the Texans had Danny Wuerfel. And James Allen was our #1 RB. And lets not forget Tony Simmons at WR. Oh, and Boselli and Young on the OL. Were those my Texans? I should sell my season tickets now!! (I cant believe we let those guys go. Especially Allen with his promising rap career...poor guy....who put that idea in his head?)
That is simply incorrect. Mario was not a coach before this past season. He WAS present daily during the offseason at Westside, and worked with every single player on the Rockets roster with the exception of Yao Ming. Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, Mo Taylor, and Kelvin Cato all acknowledged that he helped their games. The Rockets organization knew this. It was not the Rockets responsibility to "hand him a job," but there was no reason to dismiss it without consideration. Given that the (then) World Championship Spurs gave him a job, and that he has managed to advance to a better one after a single season, qualifications are not the problem. As to EG, I agree with everybody. He screwed up. However, if the Rockets wanted to protect their investment, they should've done something. Whatever problems he did or did not have during the RT era, they blew up under JVG. The way things ended up is clearly not optimal. Someone within the organization should've intervened, and as I've said three times, I can't think of anyone more qualified than Lucas for that particular job.
