its like Iron Chef, who would do best with the secret ingredient? for example, today's ingredients have soft centers the next day's might be gazelles
I guess i was mainly wondering why JVG and Adleman were neck and neck in the poll. I guess Rick hasn't done well with poor ingredients but with more tough efficient players our offense would be beautiful. It would make JVG's offense look like...well...JVG's offense always looks like crap.
JVG's offense had some of the worst servings of brick sausage i've ever seen. Even though the cuisine of steve francis and cuttino mobley was unoriginal under rudy t, it scored some points with the judges.
I voted JVG (remember this includes Tom Thibodeau). Great defense lead to points on the offensive end. Yao played his best as a Rocket under JVG. This year's defense would be monstrous if JVG was still here and we were healthy.
Did you ever remember Memphis under Fratello vs the Rockets under JVG? I went to that game. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200611250HOU.html Memphis Grizzlies 76, Houston Rockets 85 I was in shock we made it to 80 points
Rudy T kept it simple. Simple but effective. He didn't have to go all Princeton on us. The good ol' Inside-Outside game. Give it to Dream and let him work, if its not there, kick it back out and swing the ball. Let me also say there was no Zone defense back then so that style wouldn't be as effective today. The Zone is killing the big man. It's a guard's game these days.
Actually, What Rudy T. did was teach Dream... Dream had the skills no doubt, but before Rudy, Dream was the ultimate BLACK HOLE... Once the ball was passed down low to him, he was going to shoot.... No matter what.. Once dream started passing the ball back out and then reposting it took a lot of pressure off of him... That and the fact his teammates started making their shots. I wish Yao would learn this concept... Pass the ball back out.. You don't have to shoot everytime you get the ball.. I blame JVG and P. Ewing for that.
Adelman is the best choice for this poll, but this year it's been ugly. That's why I have to give it to Rudy T, since he's my favorite coach, winning back to back championships and all. We all know people don't make logical choices on this poll, causes Tinman says so. I'd voted for Yao but he wasn't on the poll. But really Hakeem made Rudy a better coach, by being unstoppable. JVG couldn't punch himself out of a offensive paper bag, and at least Rudy knew how to use Stevie and cat to the best of their abilities. Jvg would rather put you into a box and have you play like a robot.
Rick Adalmen is almost as focused on defense as JVG. That was definitely a surprise to me. He's just an all around good coach.
Don Chaney gets more Votes than Rick Adelman.. for COACH OF THE YEAR! Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: FRI 05/24/1991 Section: Sports Page: 1 Edition: 2 STAR Sports Spotlight: NBA/Chaney named top coach/Club responds with contract By W.H. STICKNEY JR. Staff It took a masterful plan from coach Don Chaney to keep the Rockets afloat when an eye injury in January sidelined center Hakeem Olajuwon for 25 games. It didn't take a genius to figure the success of that plan resulted in Chaney being named NBA Coach of the Year and receiving a multiyear contract extension from the Rockets on Thursday. "That was the biggest key," Chaney said at a news conference at The Summit. "A lot of people picked us to be a lottery team. The players responded very well to the negative criticism. "There were a lot of coaches out there who performed well this season. Their teams performed well. "But among those teams in contention (for the NBA championship), the key for us was the great March we had." The Rockets went 15-10 after Olajuwon was injured Jan. 3 and underwent surgery to repair the bone supporting his right eye. Upon his return, the Rockets lost their first game, then won a franchise-record 13 straight. The Rockets were 9-2 over the final 11 games before Olajuwon came back. They were 14-1 in March, a team record for victories in a month. That earned Chaney his second straight NBA Coach of the Month Award, the first time in NBA history a coach had been so honored in consecutive months. Although swept from the playoffs in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers, the Rockets (52-30) finished the regular season with a club record for victories. Chaney received 69 of a possible 96 votes from a nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters - three from each league city and 15 representing the national media. Portland coach Rick Adelman was second with 11 votes, followed by Boston's Chris Ford (seven) and Chicago's Phil Jackson (four). Larry Brown of San Antonio and Del Harris of Milwaukee were next with two votes each, and Chuck Daly of two-time defending NBA champion Detroit received one. Chaney became the first Rockets coach since Tom Nissalke in 1977 to be chosen as Coach of the Year. Chaney received a multiyear contract extension from the Rockets on Thursday to go along with the Red Auerbach Trophy, symbolic of his accomplishments in the NBA. Terms of the multiyear contract ("That means many; more than one," Chaney joked) were not disclosed. Chaney, 45, was in the final year of a three-year, $250,000 deal. "I'm very happy with the (new) contract," Chaney said. Happy now. But not so long ago, Chaney was unhappy and struggling with the pitiful Clippers in Los Angeles. "That was then, and this is now," he said. "Sometimes when you have to struggle and pay your dues, you get a greater reward. "I feel that now. This is the ultimate reward for me. I feel now that I'm appreciated, not only from this team, but from the league, for my efforts and the hard work I've put in." The hard work might be just beginning. Chaney said the Rockets' next step is to embark on a mission that will result in a league title within three years. "One of my goals before I retire from this league is to get a championship as a coach," said Chaney, who after being drafted by Boston in 1968 won two NBA titles as a player with the Celtics. A championship in Houston will come, Chaney said, only after the Rockets make some adjustments in the roster. That can be done, he said, through trades, the June 26 draft, the acquisition of free agents or a combination of all three. The primary area of focus, Chaney said, will be at small forward. "Buck Johnson and David Wood need help," he said. "We'd like to have scoring off the bench and maybe help for the small forward position." Chaney looked for help a few weeks ago when it seemed contract talks with the Rockets were going nowhere. "It's very difficult when you're trying to gear for the future," he said Thursday, "trying to figure out where your team is, what the needs are and what's out there, and your future is in limbo. "So I'm very pleased the contract is out of the way." With a 138-108 record with Houston, Chaney has the best winning percentage (.561) of any Rockets coach in franchise history. But when the contract talks became balky, he worried about his future with the club. But he wasn't concerned about being out of the NBA for long. Among teams that showed an interest in Chaney were the Minnesota Timberwolves, who fired Bill Musselman at season's end. "I've been around the league long enough to where I wasn't really worried about a job," said Chaney, who was an assistant coach at Detroit, San Diego and Los Angeles with the Clippers, and Atlanta. "But I was really concerned because I feel we have something going here. This team is on the verge of a championship." The proposed sale of the Rockets by owner Charlie Thomas, Chaney said, contributed to the hesitancy of the contract talks. General manager Steve Patterson said that is the norm in such situations. "In the old days when players made as much as college professors and coaches made as much as high school teachers," said Patterson, "you'd get those deals done overnight. But in this day and age when the players are making more than the chairman of the board of General Motors, the coaches are making more than the president of the United States, it's going to take a while longer. "You have to realize that and deal with it." Chaney earned his 100th Rockets win in his 189th game, the quickest ascension to the century mark in franchise history. Houston this year won 11 more games than in 1989-90 (41-41). Only Orlando (13 games) showed better improvement in the league. The Rockets led all NBA teams in road improvement, going from last season's 10-31 to 21-20 in '90-91. They were 29-9 in games played from February through April, only the 15th time in history a team has lost fewer than 10 games in the final three months of the season. Somebody obviously was watching. "This (Auerbach trophy) is something I'll cherish forever," Chaney said. Top coaches Vote totals for the NBA Coach of the Year award: Don Chaney, Houston.......69. Rick Adelman, Portland....11. Chris Ford, Boston.........7. Phil Jackson, Chicago......4. Larry Brown, San Antonio...2. Del Harris, Milwaukee......2. Chuck Daly, Detroit........1.
This one is so easy. You'd think someone proclaiming to be a titan of Rockets history would at least put the guy on the ballot. Watch as Tinman tries to justify not including him... Whatever. Too late. FAIL. The answer is. Tex Winter
dam 22 game win streak without a healthy team and a bunch of role players... second longest win streak in nba history without both of your superstars.. beating the likes of NOH and LAL during that time. and keeping the rox in the playoffs despite our continuing insults to injuries.. and people STILL dont vote adelman... RA is definitely our best coach to date. Rudy T had Olajuwon and a group of hungry good players. Cassell, Horry, Jet, OT, Bullard, Drexler and all healthy. If RA had that group of guys we wouldve 3-peated and/or had 5 championships with that team.
i guess it can be argued that the battles were won on the defensive end tho.. kinda hard to separate the two tho. unless ur coach is mike d'antoni. he is by far the best offensive coach in the NBA.
bill fitch. fitch, imo, is a forgotten legend. 1. an interchanging post ofense with ralph and akeem where both got their shots. 2. perfect assimilation of lukie as point guard (half court alleys 2 dream/ralph but hit ur spotups and run with lew) 3. a DEADLY fast break, either solo (lew lloyd) or as a team (lucas, wiggie, reid & ralph/dream trailing) 4. excellent transitions between 3 pgs with differing games. lukie was a pure point with the best alleyoops in the game. a floor general! allen leavell, broke wrist and all, was more gritty, safer, and prone to pullups. as a cba'er, fitch assimilated leavell fantastically. then bobby joe reid played pg, too, though he was a natural 2 guard without pg handles. all this talent and we never had offensive quarrels. never shot distribution questions. we had a fricken machine!!!! ralph was allowed to be a damn 7'4" point! unheard of before fitch!! people sleep on fitch. I don't. one hell of a coach.
I had to go with Bill Fitch. The Rockets were a true running team when Fitch was the coach. Rick Adelman could be the best if the team ever learns his system. Rudy T's offense was to park 3 players on one side of the court and the point guard and Dream on the other side of the court in order to try and get Dream isolated. This strategy worked because of the Defensive rules at the time but unless you were a Rockets fan it was very ugly.
