-------------------------------------- Phil Jackson, coming off six titles with MJ and Pip, didn't take the Nets' head job. They offered more money than the Lakers. They offered total control. But Mr. and Mrs. Jackson didn't raise a stupid Pentacostal in North Dakota. Jackson waited until the plum position opened up. Has his presence helped the performance of Shaq and Kobe? Sure. Has Shaq and Kobe's presence helped the performance of Phil? Same answer. Most coaches don't have a choice. They take the job that's available. But some, like Jackson, like Mr. Ricky, like Riles, have the pick of the litter. (You surely noticed that once Riles took the Heat job, it took him about five seconds to bring Mr. Alejandro Mourning to South Beach.) They can puff up their résumés going from elite team to elite team, never having to sink into the morass of a Clippers. And that makes guys like, say, Rudy Tomjanovich all the more admirable. After two titles in the mid-'90s, he could have wormed his way out of Houston for greener pastures once it became obvious the Rockets were on the downhill slope. But Tomjanovich never complains about the hand he's dealt. He didn't when the union pulled the top-shelf NBA players off the Olympic team just before the world championships in 1998, leaving him with the David Woods of the basketball world. He just coached the hell out of them. And he's doing it again this season. Yes, he has the quite talented Steve Francis, but Francis is still a rookie, given to rookie slumps and rookie petulance. Tomjanovich is retooling the Rockets on the run, with Charles Barkley on the sidelines, Scottie Pippen frontrunning in Portland and Hakeem Olajuwon a copy of a copy of a copy of his former self. The Rockets won't make the playoffs this season, but they're going to soon.
Whoa..this is aldridge we talking about here. A great coach should be able to take the same team to the championship with different players in different eras. They have to go throught the good and bad times. What a oximoron it would be that we win in the last decade with the slow boring post up offense, and then in this decade win with a fast guard-oriented offense. ------------------ The Mall Kid is Back! The best draft source yet, www.draftsource.net [This message has been edited by rocketsfan34 (edited March 06, 2000).]
that's nice. Earlier in the season when people were lambasting Barkley and his role in the D.I.T. I tried to redirect attention from Barkley to RudyT (as well as Dream). In hindsight, I should of just told them to bugger off. here's to a class act. RudyT will always have my respect.
Great call, Tenchi. I don't think anyone who saw the '94/'95 teams will argue with Aldridge. As to whether they'll be winners again - tell me if Dream's at full speed and I can easily answer that. Without Dream in healthy mode it could take a while. Even with the right trade and Rudy.
It totally depends on the offseason acquisitions. We have a 4.5 million trade exception that we don't get to use unless we trade. Rudy always manages to surprise us, here is hoping he does it again. DaDakota
I honestly think Rudy is a legitimate Coach of the Year Candidate -- he's done a great job with the many new faces and injuries. Kudos to Aldridge for noticing.
I think what Riley & Phil have done is the same as any business (or life in general). If you're perceived as the best in the business you get opprtunities that others don't. I don't see Bill Gates leaving Microsoft to run Kmart. Another point is Riley & Phil are both more motivators than Xs & Os coaches. Rudy is more of an X and O guy. And although Rudy is a good (if not great) X and O coach, there are alot of X & O coaches. Motivators (like Riley & Phil) get opportunities to coach teams with good talent who haven't been able to win with prior coaches. Experienced coaches who try to rebuild teams are risking their reputations (careers?). Look at Rick Pitino, he was regarded as a great coach at UK, now he has an over the cap team with not much chance of doing anything, although he said he had a playoff team at the beginning of the team. BTW this isn't a slap in the face to Rudy, I like him, but you can't blame Riley or Phil for the opportunites presented to them, because opportunites are earned, not just given.
4Chuckie Kinda Earned. I mean didn't Jackson come from the CBA b4 the Bulls. no NBA Experience. Didn't that team goto the Eastern Conference Game the year before? Didn't the Lakers have a powerhouse team before he arrived. PJ is highly overrated. I'm down with Pat Riley though. Rocket River
RR- Yeah both both of those teams weren't able to achieve their potential. The bulls were stuck behind the Pistons and the Lakers had the most talent in the NBA, but couldn't win the west. Phil Jackson in a major motavitor, or ego stroker. Although I think alot of coached could have won w/ MJ just think how nice of job he did with keeping Pip & D-Rod out of trouble. For the Lakers he has Shaq playing hard for the 1st time ever. At the same time he has kept Kobe happy and Rice is still contributing even though he isn't happy. Phil comes off as a non-likeable person, but the guy can transform a team (mostly from the Mental aspect). I respect him a ton, but don't necessarily like him.
Didn't Jimmy Johnson look like a genius before heading to Miami? I don't like Phil and I don't respect Phil, but if he can jump from great team to great team, he never has to answer the questions of "Is he really a good coach?" [This message has been edited by fatty fat fat (edited March 07, 2000).]
I don't think you can put Riley in the same camp as Jackson. He went from the Lakers to a good NY team; but Miami was awful before Riley got there. He completely built that team. It is true, as someone pointed out, that his reputation made it easy to get Mourning, but he wasn't taking the easy road by going to Miami. While I'm at it, I want to take my hat off to George Karl, who made our once-arch-rival Seattle a perrennial 60 win team. I think he could have gotten sweeter jobs than Milwaukee even with his big mouth, but he went there and is going to make that team great again. This is where Jackson differs from Riley, Karl, and Tomjanovich: he's never built anything, he only wins with mature teams.
Juan, EXACTLY. Motivation is only Part of coaching I think at this point Doc Rivers is looking GREAT. Orlando could easily be the Clippers but he has them playing hard. Karl does well with what little he has [look at seattle now. . . no where near where he had them . . . (and it is not because Kemp is gone)] Rudy has the Rockets looking very credible. With a near totally revamped team. PJ comes to LA and let's his MJ-Given Rep do the rest. BTW - Who has PJ Drafted? [Curious about his eye for talent] I don't think he drafted Scottie, MJ or Grant. Rocket River
Rudy T has put on ONE helluva show by doing what he has done. We've had some exciting victories this season; although, I haven't denied the fact that we've had some embarassing losses. The fact is Rudy's a winner, and I'm SURE we'll be in the winners circle soon. Infact, I'm willing to say next year..we're going to make the play-offs..and make some noise.
This is brown-nosing typically from NBA "mouths" who lives off so called "inside news" fed through leaks. I remember how David Aldridge sayying how great Wilkins was a great coach. Look what he has done Hawks! If my fantacy would ever be coming true, lets trade Rudy for Phil, then lets see if Lakers get better with this "king" og isolation basketball coach. I am amazed some one would even get so excited with remarks by David Aldrige.
We've missed you Caveman. You been wasting all of that insightful knowledge down at the crackhouse lately?
Like in many other professions there are people who have an idea and can start something from scratch (or rebuild) and there are others who can take something mature and make it better. There are differences in their styles, and there is no way to say if one coach is better than the other. PJ took a maturing Chicago team to 6 championships and then is leading the Lakers to the best record in the West. This is the best team LA has had since the Magic/Kareem days, even though it could be argued that they have less talent (in retrospect the Rice for Campbell/Jones was a bad trade for LA). Phil is leading an underachieving team to new heights. He does deserve credit for their success, just like if LA would have had a bad year he would be to blame. It is not his fault that he can sit back and wait for a great job oppoprtunity to arise. As I said before I don't really like the guy, he is cocky and I'm not into the whole zen thing. However he is effective.
Having Shaq Play hard and well with Kobe etc. Makes him a nice motivator [besides if shaq still sucks with Phil there . .folx will down shaq not phil] Also . . . Tex Winter I suspect is the Puppetmaster I think Phill is Arrogant and annoying but I have not looked and said . . d*mn Phil coaching his *ss off. . . like I say about Rudy etc. He is a Good Coach but not one of the best rocket river
