How long for Rudy?

I love Rudy. He's a good guy and has been a terrific coach. But, even I'm honest enough to admit that only one coach has survived 4 straight seasons without the playoffs - Wes Unseld and that was because the Bullets/Wizards were pathetic.

I think the Rockets are giving Rudy all kinds of latitude here. The combination of the lack of talent and the plethora of injuries last season was devastating. Also, we are only one year removed from a team that had the best record of any team ever to miss the playoffs.

Prevailing thought is that he doesn't go from a great coach in the running for coach of the year to an idiot in a season.

However, for me it is really about flexibility. Last year, the team had basically no flexibility. They were starting guys who probably couldn't start on a good CBA team at times last year. Their bench was a bunch of empty seats. Now, this year, that should change fairly drastically.

The ability to play a larger number of players and have your dominant talent on the floor at the same time SHOULD make an immediate impact.

If Rudy is unable to produce with a healthy and talented, if very young, team in the sense that we see a big turnaround this year, I'd say he's in trouble. Making the playoffs, IMO, isn't nearly as important as being consistent and playing well on a night-in-night-out basis.

If there is improvement like that, the playoffs can wait. But, continued struggles will not only cause management to lose faith in the direction of the team but the team to lose faith as well and that spells disaster.

 

Okay, I think Toner's being a little trolly in tone, but I like raising the basic question of this thread. I love Rudy, (almost on a personal level since his summer camp meant so much to me as a kid), and I don't think we have to be some massive # of games better, but I agree that the Rocks better have a significantly better season or hard questions have to be asked. Or like Jeff said, let's look at the product on the floor over the whole season this year.

Also, I agree with the point (and I know it's been discussed to death already) that Cat and Steve don't bust a$$ on D. At some point, you have to really ask about the coach's motivational tools when it comes to defense (e.g. Nellie's teams have almost never played good D, throughout his career; Riles' teams always play good D; etc.).

 

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I'd like to state for a fact Jermaine O'neal is not that great. I'd much rather have Griffin emulate Sheed. O'neal relies on his little jumper and has very limited moves. Plus he tries too hard and tries to dunk through the whole squad. He had one good game against the Nets, and K-mart shut him down the rest of the way. Look at the WBC.

 

There was no possible scheme that could work other than the iso's last year. No post presence. Only one scoring threat throughtout the season.

Francis with his headaches, plantar fasciata, and Cuttino with the his ankles.

Would you rather run some screens for kt, rice, cato, moochie, oscar?

I don't blame Rudy for his plans last year. Nothing went accordingly, but you gotta give him until the end of the 2003-04 Season. The team needs to mesh. Plus he's got us two rings so put a little faith in the man.

 

Better draft position.

I would do it if it guaranteed me Yao and Lebron James.

 

There is no way I'd be willing to give up francis or cat. Unless it was kobe and vince or tmac and duncan. Name a person for all the recent drafts that has mobley like stats

 

None of those players average 20 points a game. Sorry to break it to you buddy.

Those aren't even number one scoring options on their team. Mobley led this team with defenses on concentrating on their team. About half of them aren't even starters.

 

Staying at the gym late and working out is a sign of determination. Name someone that can consistently shut down a BIG TIME Player?

 

Rudy and CD are putting together a team very much like our championship teams with a great big man and good outside shooters. I think our D will not be as good but, I think our rebounding will be a lot better. Remember we had the worst rebounding team in the league when we won a championship.

You all are about to relive Rudy ball. Get it to the big guy and see what happens. Make a move and make the shot or draw a double or triple team and pass it out to a shooter. That's Rudy's other version of the ISO. It might not be pretty but, he can win another championship doing it. All he needs is 2 or 3 more years with the team he has right now. Just my opinion.

 

It was mentioned in another thread and is worth repeating here, the presence of Ming and Griffin to erase mistakes will make Steve and Cuttino better defensive players by default.

 

Rudy stays till 2020 when Ming retires after 18 years in the League. Eddie Griffin decides to hang it up, too.

Rudy contemplates it, but decides not to go through another rebuilding period. He decides to retire after surpassing Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson by three for most Championships. Larry Smith is hired as the oldest rookie coach in League history, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley remain as his senior assistants.

Phil retired four years before, frustrated in his attempts to find another championship team he could walk onto to prove he is a genius. The final straw was when Rudy passed him for most championships. In his last year Phil tarnished his reputation a bit by claiming in numerous whining interviews that he could have won more championships, too, if he had Ming and Griffin.

After Shaq left, in 2007 due to the Rockets ending the Lakers championship run, Phil took off for a a year to contemplate his navel. He then had terms as the head coach for the Clippers, the Bulls, the Cavaliers and the New York Knicks, all teams that appeared, prior to his hiring,as being on the cusp of a championship. Unfortunatlely Phil never got back to the finals.

 

Ya' know normally I can follow a dudes threads and eventually see the guys side of things. While I agree about the need to tighten up on D, these guys are the best backcourt in the league by many accounts. The book is still open on Steve's leadership also but history shows that the good one's usually grow up. I think Steve will, too. This team will blow up in three years and for nearly a decade after that. Come back in ten years and count the rings. The total will increase. Bet on it! Granted Cat is not irreplaceable, he is one of the best around. Oh yeah. Don't even bring Maxwell into this. Cat can win games on some nights. Max was a role player, period. Like to have his D but I'd rather have Cat in there for the NEXT ten years

 

Just to echo franchise?..NOT.

I too would much rather have Mobley's consistency and ability to take over a game.

Fact is, as good a defender as Maxwell was, he was inconsistent as hell, even on defense.

At least you can put Mobley down for 17-20 a night, which is absolutely huge.

 

Why would a coach eliminate weapons from a player's arsenal. That's doesn't make any sense. EG is working on a post up game and driving to the basket. Those tools are not something he had entering the league, and shouldn't be all that he's allowed to use now.

For a 19 year old rookie to perform as well as EG did last season, I think says a lot about what great job Rudy did with him. Judging by the summer league, and EG's weight gain, things seem to be improving at a steady pace.

First of all EG has been hitting the weights and has gained weight. As others have said who would you put on the team as a head coach?

Thinking that people are just homers because they want to keep Rudy could be flawed thinking. A lot of people felt that way about Dierker coaching the Astros, and we saw that this year with a different coach, the team didn't even make the playoffs, let alone fix the problem of winning in the playoffs.

To some people the grass will always look greener on the other side...