Trader Jorge, There are a few things I don't agree with there. 1) I believe Steve wasn't drinking and driving, but on medication. Could be wrong on this one, though. 2) I've seen flashes where Steve does pass well. Even Yao doesn't look like a good passer when no one is moving or making things any easier on him. 3) Rudy T was a great coach of a system that was iso iso iso. That system doesn't work anymore and Rudy still does iso iso iso. If it's the players' fault, then Rudy has absolutely no control over his team and a change must be made. 4) Rudy T didn't do all that great a job at the Olympics. He almost lost, as well, and had better players than the ones that lost at the World Championships. I think that an assistant coach who knows X's and O's offence is the way to go. All those who want to just keep the coaching staff the same need to realize that the offense is HORRIBLE and will remain HORRIBLE unless motion is really installed. However, I am leery about getting riddy of Rudy because of his many positives (including making them play pretty good defense for the most part).
Once again, you talk about all these incorrigible players. And these players just magically appeared on our doorstep? Coaches are responsible for coaching and sometimes personnel. When you have a coach that's so deeply involved in the team's on-court operations, whose fault is it when they don't perform? Is it the players' fault for being stupid or is it the coach's fault for acquiring a stupid player? Don't buy a Hummer and then complain about the gas mileage.
Exactly Reit, That's the argument you can't get around either way. Either Rudy's doing a bad job coaching, or he put a bad group together. Either or, it comes back to Rudy. This isn't a situation, where a coach is unfairly punished because his general manager put together a crappy squad. The coach put together his squad, so there is no way for him to escape blame, no matter what your argument is.
Yeah, and Rudy is approaching four straight years in the lottery which were preceded by two straight first round exits. That's a very long six year "down period". You obviously aren't watching these other teams closely then. Even the bad teams have players move without the ball on offense. They also push the ball up the court after getting a rebound. This creates easy baskets and requires the opposing team to expend at least some energy on defense. The Rockets NEVER do this! EVER!!! So either Rudy isn't teaching these guys how to play this way(which everyone knows is true, admit it) or the players have simply tuned him out. Either way, he's gotta go.
To be fair though, everyone thought Steve Francis was great the last 2 years. Now everyone is souring on him. And Mobley has gained even more haters. Maybe this is a case of Rudy getting young talented players who haven't really developed the right way. Who could have predicted that? And if you want to blame Rudy for the players not developing right, I guess I could agree to an extent, thanks to all the ISOs.
Thank you, Rudy=Kelvin Cato over paid Rudy=Glenn Rice overpaid Rudy= MoT overpaid Rudy= Moochie overpaid Rudy= equals drafting Collier and Langhi Rudy= Eddie Griffin, The proof is in the pudding, Rudy= not being able to win with Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon, Rudy= never being able to solve the illegal zone defense of the sonics, and now the legal zone defense of every team in the league Rudy = Rockets never, ever, ever, having a team that fast breaks, even during the championship years. Rudy=
I don't think anyone in the league predicted Francis and Mobley could be this selfish, even with a great new center.
I think one thing this Thread has shown is that everbody seem to agree that: a) There is a problem! b) Most of it is on the Offensive end....lack of passing and movement, play calling and execution, lack of focus and lack of skill. The problem seems to be who is exactally at fault......Rudy T and assistant coaches?, Francis, Mobley, and players in general? For the sake of argument lets narrow down the players list to Francis, Mobley, and Yao.......Coaches list to Rudy T and Mr. Mean. My question now is From a Couch GM and True "ROCKETS" fan who can we afford to get rid of first...... because in reality thats the only way in the end to see what was the root of the problem. Should it be player/players or Coach/coaches and how far would you go! Myself, I would do a couple of things: first I talk to mobley and let him know I'm putting him in a sixth man role...he doesn't like it ..I'd move him for the best thing I could get....Second no disrepects to Rudy or Mean but I follow Dallas's lead here ..I put a seasoned X's and O's coach under Rudy and let Rudy know that next year is his make or break year at the same time grooming my next head coach and by the same token giving mean somebody with some true X's and O's knowledge to learn under....if Rudy or Mean don't like. Then I guess I got myself a new coach. That's were I would start....... and you would do what?
There's nothing wrong with the makeup of the team. They're performing at the level they should be. They were predicted to be a bubble playoff team, and that's where they're ending up. The best players on EVERY team ahead of them have more experience. That's the difference.
Problem - yes Offensive end - yes While I think the leaders of the team are the ones that are at fault...You have to take a look at the big picture. Rudy T. (2 Championships) should be handling these guys the way he should. Let these guys know when the need to step up. Get in these guys mugs and tell them. I have seen him at games just look away when they make these stupid shots, when they needed to pass the freakin ball. I think Rudy is already on the make or break year this year. But givin his record in the past, I would give him another year. His health is not going to help though. I do like Mobley in the 6 man role. Bye Glenn and Mooch. These are my opinions. ................And also Go Rockets!
Why are you bringing up all those things man, you're living in the past. Rudy = more championships than any active coach except Phyllis.
See...stop defending our coaches. It is sad that he has cancer. But we really need a new coach. Everyone knows. Everybody laughs at our team. We have no plays. Yao has not been used correctly. We still do the same crap from three years ago. We need a good coach. D+...ha. I think that was a good grade. Larry Smith should get an F. Coaches are responsible for coaching. And our coaches aren't doing that. They are inspirational. We need teachers and playmakers. NEW COACH!
I think that it is tasteless that all of you Rudy-bashers are kicking Rudy while his is out with cancer. At least wait a few weeks. You will have all summer to kick him around. And the Rockets clearly would have made the playoffs had Rudy not come down with cancer. They had just beaten Phoenix in his last game, were tied with Phoenix for the #8 position, had the tiebreaker, and had a much easier schedule remaining. When Rudy announced to the team that he had cancer, it took the wind out of the sails of the players. Say what you may, the players lost their leader, and no doubt lost their direction and confidence. I am just glad that Les is not as callous (I think) as you so-called fans and will not be stupid enough to face the p.r. nightmare of firing a coach (with a lifetime of service to the organization) in the offseason whose team would have won nearly 20 more games than the season before, and made the playoffs, if he had not come down with cancer.
Yeah. Even though he was sill with us...we weren't doing that great anyways. Larry Smith has been not very good. I don't want anyone to fire Rudy. I just hope he will say he has had a satisfying basketball career and that he will step aside...and let another coach BESIDES larry smith or any of the other assistant coaches become the head coach of the Rockets.
That would be the most graceful solution. Let's hope he gets better and we get a competent head coach out of this bad situation.
I like that scenario... and even better... AFTER RudyT gracefully sits down, Rox mgmt serendipitously discover that JEFF VAN GUNDY has announced his return to the NBA and desire to COACH again! How sweet would that be? theSAGE
Wow I don't think you watched much basketball. Pls go watch some other teams what they do on offense and compare to us. I think out of all the 29 NBA teams, possibly only Clippers and Cavs have a worse and more dysfunctional offensive system than us, it's if we really have an offensive system at all in the 1st place.
We pray on the mistakes of other teams. We haven't figured out how to consistently create mistakes for other teams. That's why we play to the level of the opponents IMO. There is no way to argue about that.
