FIRE RUDY T!!!!

Pat Riley? How is his team doing in Miami?

Jeff Van Gundy? He'll be too stressed trying to control our youngsters.

 

Come to think of it. He does remind me
of Lenny.

 

I said the exact same thing in the game thread earlier. Very hard to say but that is the only thing we can do, to get this team to listen because right now Steve and Mobely run this team they call the plays. Have you seen when Rudy will scream in a play and one of them will look at him and brush him off and then run and ISO. Rudy should right then sit is ARSE no matter if he made it or not.

 

With each passing loss, it's becoming more and more aparent. Rudy is a nothing as a coach to this team. The Rox are about to sink out of the playoffs so this will be the 4th year in a row. It''ll be canning time for Rudy, I hope.

 

If we do not make the playoffs, SURE. FIRE RUDY!!! But I believe we can make it....UNLESS WE LOSE TO THE BULLS AND GRIZZLIES. If we lose the next 2 games to them, FIRE RUDY!!!

 

Damn, it really is getting cold in houston; weather is changing isn't it???? "Fair-weathered" is a term that i used in here once, and it starting getting tossed around a little. Ya'll realize this describes a lot of you Rocket's fans, and it amazes me how bad it gets sometimes. Loyalty gets tossed out the window in this town. Maybe because we're spoiled from the past championships, or maybe because we have two starters in the all-star game, and we know how good we WILL be.
Patience is a virtue we will never have. Don't reply and say I'm not a Rockets fan. I bought 15 games this year, and go to college 2 hours away.
With the second youngest team in the NBA, we're in the grasp of a playoff berth. But, ya'll b****, whine, and look for a scapegoat-and Rudy is it for you.
The dead horse gets hit again, but you have to give them time. You think Yao will have games like this consistently in the future?? Ya'll are looking for results way too fast. We have talent, yes, but it is just plain too young. Young teams have this inconsistency, just weather the damn storm, and you will realize how wrong you Rudy bashers are. We will be there soon.

 

Fire Rudy T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This team has just no logic, no execution.

Certainly the coach is responsible for this situation.

 

While I sometimes do wonder what Rudy's thinking when he makes some of his decisions, I give him the benefit of the doubt. The times I've seen Boki play for example, he's been um... sub-par. I take it he's not much better in practice, hence the limited minutes.

There are those that say that Rudy should do something when people make mistakes repeatedly on the court. I agree. I can't say he doesn't do it - he just doesn't do it openly on the court much. Maybe he saves it for the locker room. I don't know, I'm not there and neither is anyone else here (I think), therefore I can't blame Rudy for that.

There are those who say that Rudy should teach the Cuttino's and Francis' of the team a lesson by maybe benching them or screaming at the in-game. What will that do? Those 2 will forever be immature and at times, egotistical kids it seems. Will that cause them to pout? Then they'll play better? I don't know, but I'm guessing the answer is "no".

So how about we trade one or both of our backcourt? Do you honestly think we can get fair value for them? If we trade one, what does that do to the other? Does it disrupt the entire team and does it mean we're starting all over again if we gut Option 1 and Option 2a in our offense now? I don't know what's out there or who's interested, so I can't say "trade them Rudy!"

So does Rudy just put up with it and hope that things will get better and these guys will play better? I don't know. Maybe that's what he's doing because he has no choice. I often wonder if Rudy dummifies his offensive sets because his players are dodos. But then I've seen his simple sets work and fail in the past (Hakeem and then Pippen).

My point is this. Rudy's coaching may be suspect - this I'll admit (I know I've bashed heads with some of you guys over this - many times just to play "the other side" coin). I, however, think that the problem with this team is its components. Here's what I mean : all the athletic players we have are part-time dolts. Steve plays intelligent ball 50% of the time and sucks on defense. He's dumb 50% of the time. Cuttino plays well often, but you can count on him jacking jumpshots he shouldn't, complaining to refs when he should be getting back on D, or taking the game into his own hands as a personal vendetta when the opposing SG is showing him up - oftentimes at the expense of the offense.

Steve plays well enough for us to win. He's not the "10" of PG's like a John Stockton, but he's a 6 or 7. Unfortunately I think he's a 6 or 7 purely on athleticism alone - if he had to rely on his basketball IQ, he'd be a 3. By the same token, there are times when he passes out after driving and having the defense collapse on him only to have the recipient of his pass jack up a brick.

Our role players are pathetic shooters - look at the stats - we're bad. Our PG can't run a fastbreak to save his life. Our front line is pure finesse outside of Cato sometimes. Yao is slowing. Rudy can't play defense for people and he can't hit open jumpers for people. Rudy can only tell the players to not dribble the clock down to 0. He can't go out there and make sure it happens himself. I can't say it's just Rudy's defense and offense that's the problem because I've seen them when they work. I've seen our players miss wide open jumpers too often, as well.

I blame the players because they're not collectively a bright bunch or even very good players at times. At least that's what I've seen. I don't know how much Rudy is at fault in all this. I don't know if anyone knows. I want the Rockets to win just as much as anybody, but I don't really sweat over this stuff... I've seen us be worse... far worse. But in all honesty, I don't think this team has the weapons that are consistent enough to win a championship.

 

Yes he is responsible for maintaining a game plan which would call the guys to make the right play at least 80% of the time no matter what happens and to make adjustments during the game. If the frontcourt players are not putting the ball in the hole the guards go into iso mode which kills the possibility of ball movement which the biggest weakness of this team right now and has been throughout the season with some rare exceptions. Nobody runs as few plays as the Rockets and Rudy and the rest of the coaching staff have to take responsibility for that.

 

The main problem I see with this team, which lies heavily on Rudy, is that the team has been ALLOWED to play bad team basketball for far too long. I really think it's too late for Rudy to try and reach these guys. This team would be beautiful to watch if they played the game right. But old habits are hard to break. Something drastic is going to have to happen for it to sink in with this team. Starting with the firing of Rudy.

 

Damn, I was wondering when you'd say it. Now for codell and HP.

 

Hey, I've kind of thought it was the problem for a while. I just didn't like it when everybody said "it's RUDY!" It's not just Rudy... I don't even think Rudy is the major problem. I think it's the players.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh Clutch!!!!! where have you been? this is the EXACT f-ing question that i have asked about 5 times on this board.

what has happened to me everytime i have asked this question is that Cohen and Free Agent the Troll come out and don't answer the question, but insult me and other posters instead. it will be interesting to see the response that the originator of this website gets from the same exact question.

 

It baffles me how a team that features

Rice
EG
Francis
Mobley
Ming
Mo Tay
Posey

Is such a terrible offensive team. When we win its purely the talent alone that wins it. I never come away from a game feeling like "Man, that Rudy made some great decisions out there today" Why is it when we point out how terrible our O is, the Rudy jockers point out how great our D is. It like, Our great D is Rudy's doing......but our HORRENDOUS O is not Rudy's doing.

"He cant hit the shots, run the O, hit the boards"

But am I supposed to believe he's the one getting the blocks, grabbing the steals, and rotating properly. Bah. This team's improvement on D is solely the acquisition of Talent alone. Put Ming, Cato, and EG in anyones paint and opposing teams will be shooting more from outside. Look at where we get beat from........always....from the perimeter and beating the perimeter D. Anyone who thinks that Rudy has suddenly, in one year, turned a Terrible Defensive team into a great defensive team by coaching alone (but after 5 years of terrible O cant fix it) is mistaken. Its who we play in the paint.

I dont understand the "Maybe Rudy is telling the guys to do it, but they just aren't listening" argument. Am I mistaken or is he not the freaking coach?

Its time for the Rox to let go. We do realize that by some of your standards no coach deserved to be fired.

Yeah that Don Chaney shouldnt of been fired....He couldnt make Hakeem hit the shots, or Vernon not shoot too much, or Kenny from not passing it enough.

Look at what new coaches did for teams like Orlando, and Detroit. Virtual no name coaches who make their teams better. Outside of McGrady, the magic are a collection of one of the worst teams assembled. But they play hard and have managed playoff births with it.

 

Dr. - Great Post!!! I think you summed it up quite well. Even though everone says we have a lot of talent, which we do, I think we have too many complimentary players that just don't complement each other well. And, compounding that, they don't have the b-ball smarts to figure out how to better comlement each other.

Mainly, we have two really talented guards (neither of whom I'd wish to part with) who have really similar game in that they are both great one-on-one players that can penetrate and draw defenders. The problem is that the players surrounding them are a)not cutting to open spots, and b)incapable of hitting open shots. Its not there F-ING fault that we run so many ISO's, its that lazy asses like MoT and EddieG are not moving without the ball. Hence Cat and Steve drive deep into the lane, draw 3 defenders and get nothing but a turnover out of it b/c they no one to pass to.

Granted, Steve and Cat do make there share of mistakes, but any NBA player, all star or not, will get their fair share of turnovers when they play as many minutes as Steve and Cat.

What we need is 3 who can shoot consistently from behind the arc- not James Posey. I like Posey, he's very athletic and would make a great 6th man on this team (or a starter on most), but what we need is someone, anyone, who can shoot from behind the arc- a la Matt Bullard and Rob Horry for Hakeem. The Glen Rice of 7 years ago would have fit perfectly, but the Glen Rice of today certainly does not, and neither does Posey.

And the same goes for our PF spot as well- EddieG is very athletic, but absolutely cannot shoot, and does not have the size to guard the bigger, stronger PF's of the league. MoT...don't even get me started. He does have a lot of skills and can (or, used to) shoot the ball, but does not have the mobility or athletic ability, and again, does not move without the ball. Kenny T. was the same as well- a great player in his own right, but just not the right player to complement the main components of this team. Trading him was smart, but we did not get what we needed most.

We have our main 3 (Yao, Cat, Steve) that are the building blocks of what could/ should be a great Dynasty, a few others that are worthwhile contributors who need to stay (Cato, Posey) and a few that are worth the time and patience to develop into contributors (EddieG, Boki). We just need to surround our main 3 with the proper personnel and give them all time to grow as a team. We're only 1-2 players away. But where we are right now, there's not much Rudy can do.

 

Just to further illustrate my point above that our perimeter shooting is terrible...go back to the Lakers game last week. Anyone watching it on ESPN can certainly remember Walton's take on our shooters- 3 particular occasions that I can remember.

1) Eddie has a good look and misses horribly. Walton: "That was the worst shot in the hiiiistory of the Rockets franchise"

2) Eddie again has a good look and misses even more horribly than before. Walton: "Eddie Griffith, now THAT was the worst shot in the hiiistory if this Rockets franchise.

3) Posey has an open look and I think air-balled it. The other commentator asked Walton where that ranked upon the worst shots in Rockets history. Walton: "Its right up there".

Thats two different shooters, with three good looks at the basket, and they are making a mockery of how horrible our shooting is on National F-ING!! television.

Now, its not Rudy that shooting the damn ball, is it??? But I guess its his fault!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Well Rocketfat, i'll give Clutch a response....Clutch, like everyone else, is just another fan with an opinion.
So, what is Rudy responsible for????? I love those banners that hang down, don't ya'll??? What is his fault??? Nothing but inheriting a young, inexperienced team. Damn i can't wait until this team makes threads like this non-existent, but that will take time, which we can't be patient for. The players love playing for this guy, and don't forget, we are well ahead of our expected pace by even the most optimistic of "experts" or "analysts."
Bottom line, if Rudy does get fired, you will see him get pursued by a lot of teams looking for a winner. And he will turn one into a winner again. Folks, Rudy is not the problem, he is just being made into a scapegoat. Find me another coach who can take the second youngest team in the league to the playoffs.

 

I just don't understand how rudy can even sleep after these pathetic games. How can someone involved with basketball all his life besmirch the game like this and still live with himself?

 

Simply, booze.

Works for me.