For all those who wish to criticize Rudy please first admit that you are stupid.

What a great post.

Thank You!

I needed that.

We built our team to be a guard oriented attack then won the Yao award.

So now let the the team build towards it!

 

Cut down on the alcohol and you won't keep thinking crazy thoughts like that.

 

oh, this is just great! many good points made. but i have to side with the measured responses. this professional basketball coaching staff probably does know more than all of us, i am sure.

i do think it is amazing we only fell one game short, while introducing a new prescence(and a whole new attitude on offense) without having a reall offense installed.
i think many people here underestimate the difficulty of winning in the association. if it was so easy, then why don't more teams do it? i mean, look at the winning teams, they mostly have several superstars on the team, who do we have? the franchise and a rook. i bet you a million freaking dollars when these two have played together for a year or two, they will dominate. it is not hard to see, that the coaches are not the problem, it is merely a stuational problem, give them time and they will achieve.

if after another year,barring major injuries, we are not in the playoffs, then get a new coach. but regardless of what happens, rudyT is still a good coach. you don't coach in this league for as long as he has, if you suck at it.

 

Pick your head out of your azz!

 

Many posters here (myself included) have more coaching experience than Les Alexander.

As a matter of professionalism and respect, the Van Gundy's, Walton's, Ainge's, John Thompson's, Fratello's, Kenny Smith's, Barkley's, and Calvin Murphy's of the world are not going to publicly criticize Rudy Tomjanovich. However.....

I have heard the expression "ball movement" enough from the lips of the aforementioned to know there is a problem which ultimately comes down to coaching and/or upper management.

Or perhaps you missed Kenny Smith referring to the Rockets offense as "dribble diarrhea"?

 

Quote:
Originally posted by pasox2
Sometimes, when I throw my beer at the tv, I think I do know more than Ruddy and Riley.


Cut down on the alcohol and you won't keep thinking crazy thoughts like that.

Hehe. Actually I don't drink beer, hardly. Just a turn of phrase.

The point I'm after here is NOT that these men lack knowledge or experience. Certainly they have that - and yes, for those that require the personal groveling - far more so than I. The problem is a character flaw. HP - your post noting the players tune Rudy out doesn't make me any happier with him. I would feel sorry for him, but too often I see him make his own problems, or problem-children . You don't give a manager a pass if he has a decent game plan, but can't get the workers to execute. He's got to find a way to make them listen, or find a way to replace them. Most franchises change managers. The fact that we still have Rudy is what's surprising. Only Jerry Sloan has been employed in one place longer, and he hasn't missed the playoffs. I wonder how many trophies we'd have if Sloan was Hakeem's coach and Rudy coached Stockton and Malone. (Insert Jazz hate here). Hate him all you want, but Sloan wouldn't lose to the Sonics like Rudy, with the low block (zoned) low block(zoned) low block (zoned) fail fail fail attack. Sloan just has more tricks in his bag than Rudy. Unfortunately, he didn't have Hakeem or Jordan. Or Shaq.

I don't know who the next coach-negating unstoppable force will be, but it's not Ming or Francis. They need schemes, they need role players, they need the team to buy into feeding them and getting the ball back. They need to learn confidence in a scheme that delivers results and delivers them maximal opportunity. Helter-skelter or sludge-pit defenseball isn't going to cut it. It's bad basketball. It's bad tv. It won't make the stars stars. Our stars need to shine. Rudy's just going to get them muddy.

 

The 5 things at the top are all FACTS. They show that the coaching staff is PROVEN. Nothing you have given to discredit Rudy is fact. All you have is that the Rockets MAY have underachieved ONE year, and Rudy didn't even get to coach the entire year! Your case is WEAK. You keep bringing up that the Rockets haven't made the playoffs in 4 years. That is no argument. I could say that the Warriors haven't made the playoffs in 11 years, so Musselman needs to go. Great argument. Unless you can tell me that the Rockets SHOULD have made the playoffs any of those years, your 'argument' still comes down to the Rockets MAYBE underachieving ONE year, when Rudy didn't even get to finish the year. WEAK.

 

Uhhh....yeah. Your question was what has Rudy done in the past 4 years that makes me think he's a good coach. Therefore I assumed that what happened 3 or 4 years ago was a relevant response. Is this not the case?

No, it's called an ACCOMPLISHMENT. Just like had Denver won, say, 30 games this year, it would also be an ACCOMPLISHMENT. It's called overachieving. Unfortunately, they didn't win the championship, so I guess to you they underachieved. Please see the disclaimer you're supposed to use at the top of this thread before commenting.

You see, the West has better teams. Therefore, winning games in the West is more difficult than it is in the East. See? No, it isn't possible to change that. However, it is something that should be taken into account when evaluating one's performance.

I guess it's not like that with EVERY NBA team. Most rookies that come in don't immediately play. Therefore, they're on the bench. If you want to just consider the starters, fine. The Rockets don't have a starter over the age of 27. How many other teams can say that. I'm not suprised that young 'doesn't cut it' with you. You seem to have a problem with facts for some reason.

You asked what has Rudy done the last 4 years to make me think he's a good coach. Apparently 'legitimate' to you means making the playoffs every single year, regardless of the talent at your disposal. Anything else is just an 'excuse'.

 

Stubborn? True...

But, seems to me that he's a lazy thinker, and resist change because he fears it (he fears what he doesn't understand; how to do something).

He's an ultra-conservative!

 

Yes, it's true that the following are facts:

1) Rudy coached the Rockets to 2 titles (defensive coach, lead by Hakeem and Drexler).
2) Players love Rudy (A nice guy)
3) Coaches respect Rudy (A nice guy)
4) Rudy's been with the Rockets for 30 years (A nice guy).
5) Rudy has cancer (Not relevant to whether he is a bad/good coach).

Nice guy does not = competent coach

Rudy is so scared to be "not liked." He scared to get the job done at the expense of being labled "strict" or "a meanie!"

 

Rudy has done some great things as a coach. Look at the production Rudy got out of players like Mario Ellie, and look at what other coaches with the same player got out of him. Look at Rudy got out of Matt Bullard, Charles Jones, Chucky Brown, etc. There are plenty of players that played on other teams some of them even when they were more in their prime, but the coaches on those teams didn't get as much production out of them.

Two series I can think of where Rudy actually outcoached his opponent, and made the necessary adjustments to win those series are the '94 Championship series against the Knicks and Pat Riley. The other was the '95 series against Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz. Among the adjustments Rudy had to make in that series was Vernon Maxwell's exit from the team part way through. Rudy's progress with Yao Ming also speaks well for him and how he coaches his players.

There are things I don't agree with Rudy about, and they include substitution parterns, various offensive schemes, and others. You may have reasons to not want Rudy to remain with the team, but just flat out saying that Rudy sucks is a coach, doesn't seem to hold much merit. History proves that statement wrong.

 

If we are going to place this much emphasis on history, it is worth mentioning that historically NO coach has won NBA championships in different eras.

 

True, and how many coaches have gone from Championship teams to sticking with one in a rebuilding phase. That's quite a task Rudy has undertaken. Other coaches like Phil Jackson just move to where the best players are and then take up again with contenders. Before Rudy no coach had won a championship with a sixth seeded team, but he made history there too.

That being said I don't think it's wise to blindly stick with Rudy no matter what happens, that wasn't my point. My point was that the extreme nature of some of the posts don't seem to be amazing examples of over reacting.

 

this is getting too dirty for me. I think I will keep my hands clean for a bit. Then I will come back with my thoughts...

 

I have had disagreements with the way Rudy runs this team all season. I don't think he sucks as a coach, but I do think his time has passed.

The problem is that if the players don't respond to him, then one of two things HAS to happen:

1) get rid of the players that don't respond to him (which seems like the whole team with the exception of Yao)

OR

2) get rid of him

Now, which do you think is easier? Getting rid of like 9 or so guys or one person?

Personally, I would like to see Rudy move upstairs and leave the bench coaching to someone else like Larry Brown. If the players don't respond under him, then they won't respond under anyone.

Finally, to those who think that Rudy can do no wrong:

How many seasons of not making the playoffs are you going to sit here and tell those who think that the system isn't working that we are stupid? It can't be 4 because we are already at that point. Is it 5? 10? Infinity? Really, I would like to know.

 

Yes, Rudy is a great defensive coach. He knows how to read *OTHER* coaches schemes and cause havoc.

But he lacks an understanding of how to implement his own sophisticated offense.

Now, regarding Rudy's defense...it's up to the players if they choose to *play defense* or not.

That I put in Francis and Mobley's hands.

 

My answer. Five.

My question to you is, how long do you think it should take to rebuild a team from scratch? Compared to other teams who have entered the rebuilding process over the last five or so years, the Rockets have actually done pretty good. Just look at the Bulls. Yeah, there's been some Eastern Conference teams that have rebuilt pretty quickly and have come out of nowhere, but I don't really need to explain that, do I?

 

Rudy apologists like Old Man and the Freak are dumb and blind, but unfortunately we are not deaf, so we have to listen to all of this crap.

Bringing up the Kenny Thomas situation to defend Rudy??

Claiming that the Rockets were successfully implementing a motion offense, only to have Yao emerge all of a sudden and be forced to change "systems"??

Defining the team as underachieving for ONE year out of the last 4??

and, my favorite, talking about how all the players love to play for Rudy. Of course they love to play for Rudy -- he doesn't make them do any work! They get paid the same for working less and don't have to listen to anyone tell them what to do. They can safely ignore his instructions, whether it's to call timeout in a late-game situation or pick for the picker or pass to Yao, and not face any repercussions whatsoever. In fact, they can go on to brag about defying his instructions in the paper after the game, and face no repercussions.

The whole band of clowns that is running this team (into the ground) is stupid, and the fans are voting with their feet -- no attendance even with one of the most interesting and exciting players in the league (Yao) added to the team (thanks to nothing more than incompetence and sheer luck). Why? Because the team is not only boring to watch -- they are a living, (barely) breathing slap in the face to fans who have to watch them do the same stupid **** over and over, and then in an added insult, have to listen to the same stupid excuses over and over:

"We're young." Steve and Cuttino are NOT young anymore, and Yao doesn't play young. Eddie is the only truly young player on the team.

"We need an inside presence." This was a popular and effective line before they got Yao.

"We don't have enough practice time to implement my new offense." This is one of Rudy's favorites. How the Rockets have any less time to practice than any other team in the league is the $64,000 question.

"We're injured." The Rockets had to be the healthiest team in the league this season.

"We're getting good shots, we're just not hitting them." This one of course is a total lie, because the Rockets do not lose by missing wide open shots. They lose because they don't get open looks and they turn the ball over.

I'm sure there are some more but this is a good sampling of my favorites. The bottom line is that Rudy and co. have shown an inability to:
assess talent
adjust to (significant) rule changes
develop players
make in-game coaching decisions (substitutions, strategy)
implement any sort of offensive scheme that generates high% shots
motivate players to hustle / play D on a consistent basis

I'm not sure in what other ways they could fail, and fail spectacularly, year after year.

Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and wondering why it still isn't working, and is exemplified best by Rockets management and Rudy apologists, not fans who are disgusted by the present state of affairs and fear for the future of this franchise.

 

you missed the point freak. the players you mentioned... bullard does not equal ming, pig miller does not equal cato, and walt williams does not equal mo taylor.

yes, my question was regarding what rudy has done in the past four years. seriously... have you seen any progress... at all... the past four seasons? if so, then what? if you answer just one question from this post, please answer this one. should be pretty funny.

here's where you lost the argument. overachieved? so you're using the denver in an analogy with the rockets now? the rockets shouldn't be in the same sentence sorry. please create a poll here on the bbs and asking if the rockets overachieved. sure, none of us are qualified enough or have the basketball iq of rudy, but some of us have watched basketball long enough to know when a team is underachieving.

you said that i said the rockets didn't win a championship, so i probably think that they underachieved? why are you exaggerating? when did i say that? quit misquoting. thanks.

the west has better teams? whoa! i didn't know that. we should take into account that we're in the west when we evaluate our performance? how long have we been in the western conference? how we ever been in any other conference? why not evaluate that we're not in the ACC then?

hey freak, we're going to be a young team again next year too. if we don't make the playoffs by one game again, will we have overachieved? just curious.

yeah... "legitimate" to me means making the playoffs every single year. yeah... whatever. misquoting again. stop. all you're doing is arguing with the words that you're putting into my mouth.

legitimate answers it what i asked for...

from all your posts on this thread (let me count again), all i've seen was one reason that you gave as to why he's a good coach and that reason was because he won 34 games with bullard, miller, and williams on the front line. lol. yeah... rudy's a genius. not that i'm saying i could do any better... i can't, but i'm not out there trying to coach a professional basketball team either.

that one reason that you gave sucked. sorry.

almost forgot... i never said that i was stupid compared to rudy whenever basketball is concerned. i'm stupid. there.

 

Old dummies who are set in their ways and afraid of change are stupid. but I understand how old stubborn stupos like to stick together.

JR, you da man.