How come no one ever praises Rudy T as a great defensive coach?

We are 2nd in the league in opponent FG%. We have a great defense this year. That is why when our offense is clicking, we usually blow out the other team with the exception of the Utah game.

 

Rudy can't do wrong right with you people.

If were were a lousy defensive team, there's no doubt on my mind that you'd all blame Rudy. But since we're good, he doesn't get any respect.

All of the blame, none of the credit. How many times does that have to be said around here?

 

Very simple. We use logic.

Last year - piss poor defense.

This year - very good defense.

What was the difference? (Hint: Rudy was here for both seasons).

 

Our defense has improved.We are no longer dependent on zone defense but we should use it at times when we have problems with individual matchups. Francis really needs to step it up on defense.It's a hardjob to be a playmaker and a defender at the same time for him but he is the leader of this team and we need him to be more consistant on defense as well.Whenever opposing guards like Nash penetrate easily they not only score but setup others at the same time which leads to difficulties throughout a game. He also needs help like ChenZhen has pointed out.

 

The Rockets are playing good team defense. One player cannot make the team a good defensive team. Just like one player cannot make a good offensive team.

There have been some bad years mixed in, but on average, Rudy has produced good defensive teams. Give credit where credit is due.

 

This is a pretty good scouting report about Yao Ming. I think this part is somewhat related to this topic.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/rosen/030117.html

DEFENSE: He's an incredible shot-blocker when the ball comes to him. Because he can't move laterally with his hands raised, Yao can't come out and challenge jump shooters. Opposing bigs try to drive into Yao's body and then spin around him, a maneuver that "shortens" his arms and makes a foul more likely than a blocked shot. Blame his high center of gravity again for Yao's inability to push post-up centers off the block. Back-picks are also difficult for Yao to handle. When the Minnesota Timberwolves repeatedly used this tactic against Yao in their 1/7 game in Houston, the Rockets' big center was thoroughly confused and ran great-circle routes around the come-from-behind contact. Also, Yao is adept at leaving his man and "showing" when a teammate gets beaten off the dribble, but he can't "recover" in time to challenge the resulting shot when the ball is kicked out to his man.

However, Yao was born to play zone defense. "Put Yao at the bottom of, say, a one-three-one zone," says an Eastern Conference assistant, "then funnel all penetration toward him, and he'll be hellacious."

 

Amen.

Rudy is good at motivating individuals to be better - challenging Akeem to be the best, Yao to play more defense....but I do not hink he is running a great defensive scheme. He lives and dies by the quality of individual defense of his key players - unlike Detroit or Miami who live to defend.

 

i totally agree with saying.

 

I think someone already mentioned it, but this is the same team from last yr except we add a 7'5 300lbs big man and a known defensive player in posey. Subtract Walt Williams and the injured Glen Rice. A defensive gets players to buy into his system. If you want to give Rudy credit for that, then go ahead, but adding to defensive players helped this team greatly. If notfor Ming and Griffin, teams would be killing this team inside like they do at times.

 

Having a 7-5 guy that makes other teams shooting from outside is what lowers the opponents field goal percentage, a lot. In the past seasons without Hakeem, the Rockets defense didn't impress anybody. In fact, they often got killed by their defensive shortcomings, the bad individual offense and awful strategy against PnRs as the vivid reminders. Guards also acknowledged that they play more agressively knowing someone is backing them up, a luxury that wasn't here in the post Hakeem era. So we see improved defense from the guards sometimes.

Don't forget about Kelvin Cato too, he plays harder this year than any period in his life. If credits has to be given, they should go to Yao and Cato first. What about Rudy T? Let's see, he only benches players when they can't shoot, not when they can't defend. He doesn't make in game defensive adjustments as mentioned. He has apparently more love for offense than defense, and sacrifice defense for the sake of offense, in the form of the small ball lineup. He sometimes forgets about Yao and let him ride the pine with the game on line and Rockets needed a defensive stop. He is just not recognized around the league as a defensive coach. Maybe Rudy has done something this season to make the Rockets better defensively, but I'm not seeing them. It's the responsibility for those who credits Rudy to point them out and so far I'm not seeing any.

P.S An excellent defensive team doesn't require an intimidating big man. The 1998 Knicks went to the finals by playing tough team defense without a big defensive stopper.

 

I'm sorry but any coach that puts Mooch, Steve, and Glen out at the same time is not a defensive minded coach.

Seriously though, defense is 90% effort.

For most veterans, their effort on defense is dependent very little of the coach because their mind is already made up on how hard they are willing to put forth. Hence, the great D we had during our championship years was mainly due to the efforts of our veterans such as Hakeem, Thorpe, Drexler, and MadMax.

Meanwhile for most younger players, the amount of effort they put on D is mostly defendent outside elements such as on the coach's emphasis or lack of emphasis on D, media coverage, or the excitement of the crowd. Cuttino and Steve as examples, don't show much effort unless it's a big game or a nationally covered game, meaning Rudy T has little control over the amount of effort they put forth. Thus, Rudy T has obviously done little to mold the young player's mind on the importance of defense.....
The only good thing Rudy's accomplished this year was keeping Hawkins.

 

I think we get what you're trying to say.