Rudy might not read these boards, but I think that Rudy has gotten the message from the media, fans calling in (610), national commentators and other coaches around the league. The fans DO have an affect on how he coaches. Remember, we pay the bills! Rudy has always been very conservative (that's a euphemism for slow). It's taken him years just to implement a few changes, much less a new system; regardless of injuries or lack of talent. Passing to Yao isn't the cure-all. Even if we didn't have Yao, we'd still have to address our ball-hogging problem. Yao has just exposed our deficiencies to a greater extent. Yao (our catalyst) has essentially accelerated the teams evolution into a passing team. Not necessarily like Dallas or Sacramento. But close.
Total MORNIC YOU HAVE THE DUMBEST POST I HAVE EVER SEEN RUDY T IS THE HOUSTON ROCKETS WITHOUT HIM WE WOULD BE 3 AND WHAT EVER GET A LIFE AND DONT THINK YOU KNOW ANYTING ABOUT BASKETBALL...........
Heh heh... Although, you are probably taking to rocket113... Here's a rule of thumb...Two words you should never misspell: "moronic" and "intelligence." It defeats the purpose.
it isn't enough that the bbs ignored you before with only 5 token responses 5 days ago. no..."I'm poster member #27 who used to call Princeton games. HEAR ME ROAR!!!!!!" lol
"Rudy Apologists" is a good term, but I personally prefer calling those myopic fans "sunshine pumpers."
I completely agree with your assessment of the Rockets this season. I realize that Rudy is somewhat of a sacred cow given his long tenure with the Rockets organization. But, his tenure has become too long. He has no control over this team. He refuses to confront his guards' selfish play and make Yao an integral part of this offense. Yao is an offensive weapon of which we make little use. He becomes tentative on offense b/c Rudy has not given the instruction he needs to become more aggressive. Yao constantly passes up open shots, which I contribute to Rudy's lack of leadership of the offense. His rotation shows absolutely no creativity. Every coach, player and fan in the league knows exactly when Yao will sit down. Doesn't Rudy T know that opposing teams can exploit that knowledge? Why on earth should Eddie get more shots than Yao? Why is Yao always out around the three point line setting picks, when he is a 7' 6" offensive weapon? These unanswered questions are just the tip of the iceberg. Rudy T cannot control his players and they take advantage of Yao's unselfish play.
All you Rudy haters are on crack! He's the best thing that ever happened to this franchise, with the exception of Dream! Almost any player in the NBA would love to play for Rudy. With that, Houston is always a step above the rest when it comes to recruiting free agents. And let's not forget his eye for talent... Whether its grabbing Cuttino in the second round or signing Chucky Brown from the CBA to be a key role player in our championship days, he is the man. And lets not forget all the criticism he took for drafting Yao. He was a big part of that decision. But I've made my case. Rudy will be here next year whether we make the playoffs or not. The problem with the Rockets isn't Rudy T., its the fact that we are the second youngest team in the NBA and it shows some nights.
Nice, HP. Perhaps you will remember that the only time I've ever brought my Princeton background to light was when the topic was the Princeton offense! A fairly relevant fact for the purposes of that discussion. What my Princeton degree and CC member # have to do with Rudy's abominal "coaching," I'm not certain of, other than a weak attempt by you to distract attention from the issue at hand.
JR...just get used to it. HP likes to take the most agonizing parts of the Rockets team and defend it to no ones end. You'd never catch him defending someone like a Yao, Posey, Hawkins or any other part of the Rox that actually plays smart or unselfish ball When he loses in his battles, quickly it becomes a sly jabbing session with hints of "your stupid" laced throughout his post. If that fails in his attempts, then the ever so Prodominant "WELCOME TO MY IGNORE LIST" comes after that. Just remember, this is the guy who asked the Rox orginization for game film so he could help them design plays.
Last night with 9 some seconds left on the clock, 3pts down, would it have been better if rudy actually tries a qucik 2pter instead of 3pt. Why we ran that same 3pt play again and again, everybody knows what we going to do in that kind of situation, and this was why SF couldnt get his shot off, blew it.
laen21 - Rudy was to the Rockets as Joe Namath was to the Jets! A has been who still got/gets lots of air time and name recognition for bringing a sorely needed championship to his chosen city. But now, in 2003, Rudy is to the Rockets what Joan Collins was to "Romantic Drama"... a once upon a time has been, who's welcome was worn out long ago, and who's best use now is as comedy fodder for late night T.V. hosts!!! Face it, Rudy has no f#*@ing clue what the hell to do. And the only reason that players want to come here is because they know they can get away with doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT WITHOUT FEAR OF REPERCUSSIONS!!! Oh, and btw, I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and say that if the Rockets don't make the playoffs this year, Rudy will be gone. And, if he's not, then they will have lost one current season ticket holder!!!
Firing Rudy is an interesting topic that has only been discussed 8 million times on this BBS. It's too early to fire Rudy. At the same time I'm not going to sit here and make excuses like they need more time, or Steve's not a true point guard. Nobody ever accused the Rockets of being a smart team. They win on pure desire and courage mixed with incredible talent. The bottom line is, this team lacks a leader. Steve simply hasn't accepted the role yet. He shows flashes but cannot be consitent. Mobley would like to be the leader, but he seems to have the IQ of a watermelon. Rudy tries to lead, but the final decision is with the players, if they want to play hard or not, which they don't seem to want to do for 82 games. Until someone realizes their responsibility to the team, this team will do nothing but flounder in flashes of brilliance and lackluster games.
Originally posted by Rockets-R-Us ... Face it, Rudy has no f#*@ing clue what the hell to do. Oh! I was wondering what it meant when we beat good teams and lose to bad ones. Obviously the wins are flukes! Thanks! ...Oh, and btw, I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and say that if the Rockets don't make the playoffs this year, Rudy will be gone. And, if he's not, then they will have lost one current season ticket holder!!! .... Fair weather fans exit here....
Cohen - You can take your "fair weather fan" comment and shove it!!! I have been a HARD CORE Rox fan since 1986 (When I moved back to Houston from California), and I grew up a Celtic fan, so I know good basketball when I see it. All I have insinuated is that I will not pay good money to see B.S. on the court. If you think that's' fair weather, then I don't really give a damn. I am probably more passionate about the Rox, and emotional about the team than 95% of the other posters. Hence the and comments with some venom behind them. I am sick to death of seeing this team underachieve. And, I say again, if we don't make the playoffs, we have DEFINITELY underachieved!!! Why would I shell out another couple K to see Cat hog the ball next year? Why would I pay to see Rudy's inability to make adjustments during the course of a game which winds up costing us the game? Why would I pay to watch our two illustrious guards take more shots than the guy with the best shooting percentage on our team? This is not personal (well, actually it is...), but it's also business. I will spend money if I think the team is progressing. That's why I have my current seats, because I thought we were going somewhere. Now, I feel like I have been totally screwed out of my money!!! Oh, and
I feel the Rox have more talent at each position than they've ever had! Ever!!!! The early 70s? The big E. One star. The late 70/80's. Malone and Murphy. But, Murphy didn't dominate like Malone did. So, it wasn't really a two star team. Later, Murphy started to come off the bench. Rudy never had a change to develop into a league star. The 80's. Two. Akeem and Sampson. Sleepy Floyd amost made it. He was a site to see on the good nights. The 90's. Hakeem at first, then Hakeem and Drexler. Having Hakeem, Drexler and Barkely on the same team was more a novelty than a real team. The one year with Pippen was a waste. The 00's. We have Francis, Mobley, Yao and possibly Griffin as legitimate All-Stars. Add Posey and MoT, TMo, and you got you some real natural talent. It's the most talent (national recognition) we've had ever on one team at the same time.
You can't be serious. I hope other people don't actually believe this. Actually, no disrespect to you, I know quite a few people believe it. First off, Griffin and Posey are just not that talented. Griffin is definitely at the very bottom of starting power forwards in the NBA. Posey is athletic and plays defense, but he's nowhere near the top in terms of past Rocket small forwards -- Horry, Pippen, McCray -- all were much better. Second -- it doesn't matter how much individual talent (or athleticism and potential, which is all the Rockets really have now, they sure don't have a lot of actual talent) you have at each position. What matters is how good your BEST players are. For much of his career, Hakeem was better, are you ready for this, than the Rockets current three best players COMBINED. Hakeem was better than the sum of Francis, Mobley, and Ming. So any Rocket squad during Hakeem's good years would automatically have a good shot at having more talent than this year's Rocket team. I wish people would quit overstating how talented this team is. It leads to unrealistic expectations, which is why people feel like they have to complain so much.
I think we're both defining "talent" to mean two different things... When I say talent, I mean natural offensive, one-on-one talent. Give me the ball and get the hell-out-of-the way talent. Also, they have the ability to score in many ways; 3-pointers, 2-pointers, off the dribble, in the post, dunks, free-throws, etc...That's Francis, Mobley, Yao and Griff. Defense. No way! They need work on that. Now, some might conclude that you need to be a well-rounded player at both ends of the court to be considered "talented." True, true...but you have to start somewhere. And I chose to start with offensive players. Regarding Horry, Pippen and McCray... Pippen was awesome on all counts. But he was not a leader of any team. He's a #2 guy. But he was awesome. The question is, will Francis be better than Pippen? McCray. Give him the ball? No. He was a role player that was good on the fast break, and jump-shots. But give him the ball and let him create? No. He was a role player. Mobley, on the other hand, is a type of player that can take over a game. McCray is not. Horry. He sucked on offense. I don't care how many threes he makes to win games. He's a role player. Sure, we all loved those threes. But he's a bench player. How many times have you seen him take over a game? I saw one game, and he scored 25 from mostly threes. That's why the guy scores only 6-8 points. He goes on droughts. Give the ball to Horry? Yeah, if you want to see him fall on his face of dribble the ball of his skinny legs. Cassell and Maxwell were better offensive players than Horry. Posey is waaaaayyyyyy better than Horry! Check the stats!!!!! The current Rockets have the most offensive talent they've ever had (from 1 to 12). Meshing this offensive talent into one unit is the key. Also playing D. If the staff is able to get this team to play as a unit, then we'll have all the tools to completely dominate. Then, when the game is on the line, you wont care who has the ball. All players are able to score.
