over the years, i have read many, many complaints about rudy t and his coaching abilities. i've even voiced a few (ok, a lot) myself. well, after reading the fran blinebury article (be it true or not), a question dawned upon me: is rudy capable of providing the "guidance" and "teaching" necessary for young players? years ago, players came into the nba much more "ready" than they do now. they stayed in college for at least 3 years, they were not hyped up nearly as much as they are today, and they were much more fundamentally sound. thus, the coaches responsibilites did not include things like teaching a point guard how to play point guard, or teaching a power forward how to play like a power forward. there may have been questions about reigning in "gunners" like vinnie johnson, much like there are today (cat mobley), but those are easier problems to deal with than teaching base fundamentals. which brings me to rudy... rudy, as a player with the rockets, was a gunner. he was never known for his "court intelligence". he never had to be the creator/distributor. he never did play great defense. he was, in essence, singularly dimensional. i wonder, does he have the background to know how to teach young players to do these things? let's go back to the "dream" years. those were teams with experienced players that grew up in a completely different basketball world than we have today. hakeem was already largely knowledgeable about bball...clyde, barkley, and pippen too. those teams, from a coaching standpoint, were more a challenge ego-wise and shot distribution wise. not teaching wise. this group of kids, however, is different. griffin, francis, and to a lesser extent mobley and ming all need to be taught certain aspects of the game...nuances, if you will. but is rudy capable, intellectually, of doing it? how can you teach someone something that you never had to do or teach yourself? if we are to believe fran's article, then steve is 100% receptive to guidance from those that he respects. whether he responds or not, we'll see, but i have always wondered whether rudy says the right things to him. just look at the comments steve has made about his assists being right up there with the league leaders, but failing to recognize his asst/TO ratio is THE worst. it's a mentality. and after 4 years of teaching from the same person, i would expect that the mentality would at least be right, if not the actions on the court. griffin has the physical talents to be 3 different positions on the court. a blessing right? well, yes, until you consider that he was 19 years old coming into the league after one year in college, and needs direct guidance. griffin needs someone to sit him down and define his role on the court. and if he strays from that role, he will not play. and when he puts forth effort in that role, reward him with minutes. someone needs to teach him how to properly box out...how to have proper footwork...how to stop double clutching on his jump shots...how to lead with his inside shoulder on jump hooks. i wonder...is rudy capable of doing this? this is not written as some indictment of rudy, and it is not intended to start some "bash rudy" festival. i just wonder, as i'm sure many of you do, if rudy intellectually is capable of TEACHING this group of KIDS. i certainly hope so, else we may have to wait until steve, cat, griff, and mobley are in their 11th or 12th years before the light switches click on.
Not sure if this means anything, but I think Rudy is smarter than Bill Walton and George Bush combined.
I understand your point, Verse. Although Rudy is smart enough to survive the intrigues of 30 years of different owners and power brokers, how do we classify him as a coach? The Vilnius Schoolmaster -- Larry Brown Stiff Upper Lip -- Jerry Sloan The Wily Coyote -- Don Nelson The Lion in Winter -- Red Auerbach The Richard Simmons Workout King -- Pat Riley Rudy has his "special gifts" -- all the players love to play for him -- but some of them are for "impossible relationships" -- I'll let you guess the movie. However, I wish he would bring in an offensive coordinator - instructor - taskmaster who would drill the team until they get it right, a la Sloan and Riley. I would be sickened if Rudy is ever removed as head coach just as I was when Tom Landry was removed from the Cowboys. Rudy is an institution in himself.
Without having actually met the man it's difficult to accurately judge his intellectual capacity, so all we can really go on are his interviews and game decisions/strategy. But even from this it is rather difficult to come up w/ much hard evidence either way. Some here perceive him to be a great coach and others think he is dumb as dogsh!t. I'd like to offer forth one possibility. I think it might just be his overall attitude and personality that gets him into trouble sometimes. He is obviously a full throttle intense person susceptible to sometimes losing perspective, evidenced by his drinking too much and overworking himself in the past, for example. Few can deny that rudy is most definitely strong-headed and to some degree stubborn about a lot of his views. Whether it be his insistence on defending the pick'n roll differently from most other teams or milking the ISO offense for Dream/ Barkley/Mobley/etc when it's working or coaching off his gut instincts or going against popular logic to draft a certain player - this "stubbornness" can be a good thing when he is right and can even make him look like a genius or coach of the year or expert draft scout. But when he's indeed wrong about something and insists on sticking with it, such hard-headedness can make even an intelligent man look like an utter fool. So IMHO in the final analysis, it doesn't really matter whether he's a smart man or an outright invalid. His way of thinking is gonna prevent him from ever being consistently effective.
Get Larry Brown now. Rudy can have the tv job. Calvin can be a special players assistant to coach Brown. Too bad this isn't a "bash Rudy" thread, I had a bag of hammers and the long knives all sharp and ready. I'd really like to hear Rudy call a game. It'd be fun to see what adjustments he'd suggest to coach Brown .
A valid question. I think during the championship years, Rudy was more of a motivator than an x's and o's type coach. With those players, he didn't really need to be. They were veteran players who knew their roles without anyone having to constantly remind them...oh, and our center was pretty good too. Now we have more young players (yeah, I know..I get tired of hearing that too) who need to be COACHED, not motivated. I'm not sure if that is Rudy's strong point seeing as how he's never had to do that before. He sure won't be getting any help with his "staff" of 1 former player and 2 former video coordinators, none with any outside coaching experience! Check their bio's on the team website. Makes me wonder if that's the way Rudy want's it. I'm sure they're just "yes men". All "era's" must come to an end. Most of us realize the "heart of a champion" era ended 4 years ago. Question is does Les?
Prior to Francis' arrival, Rudy had no experience coaching a ball handler who thought he was the best player on the team. Add Mobley, and that's two ball handlers who think they're the best players on the team. How do you get them to give up the ball? I'm not sure Rudy is any closer to figuring that out.
I believe that Rudy has what it takes to be a descent coach (which he is and maybe surpassed) but it seems to me that his desire to keep his reputation as a "player's coach" intact is getting the better of him. I started having doubts about his "Xs" and "Os" 5-6 years when we were swept from the playoffs by Seattle and he has not done much to make me think otherwise. The struggles of this present bunch of Rockets players has to do with Rudy rather than inexperience (IMHO). Rudy has to understand that Dream's generation of players and Stevie's are different and he handle it with the right gloves. Rudy remains the greatest coach out of Houston (With all due respect to Bum Philips and Van Chancellor) but I am afraid that his time here is running out baring a playoff berth. In my book, Rudy is a great man manager - one of the best in the league (up there with the Zen master) but I have never confused him for a great "teacher" or "coach". Just my opinion.
I would so love for this to happen. I'm not so sure Rudy can teach this team how to get over the hump, or even get to it. maybe assisstant coaches could help get the job done, mebbe not. I would not be in outrage if there was a coaching change in the offseason. How about Tim Hardaway for hc? Tim: " uhm, uhm. Steve, u gotz to be passin when u drive to whole." SF: "Steve Francis doesn't pass up Steve Francis difficult layup time over 3 defenders for anyone. How do you think Steve Francis ends up on SportsCenter?" Tim: "uhm, uhm, I think Steve Francis endz up on Sportscenter, yeah, but, uh ...... yeah pass the ball. *throws tv monitor across locker room* Like that dammut!" *tries to get mean by squinting and raising left eyebrow* SF: " Ah, Steve is getting "it""
Philly is 25-24 and playing in the East. Yeah, bring in Larry Brown. What has he 'taught' Iverson? His FG percentage is at an all-time low the last 2 years. His turnovers are higher now than they were 5 years ago. He doesn't practice. Wait, I thought Brown was the type of no-nonsense coach we needed? His star player won't even practice? This is all the coach's fault, right?
here's something to consider: is there any player on the rockets that you feel is significantly better now than he was when he first got here? i can only think of one: t-mo. and i don't know if that's really coaching that led to that. his mechanics didn't change any. his shot selection didn't change much either. he just seems more relaxed and his hitting those same jumpers now. isn't part of being a "teacher" (which is what this team needs) improving your students?
TheFreak: larry brown doesn't relate to his players at all. in order to have a larry brown, you must have a "rudy t" type buffer so the players don't just shut you out completely.
You can sugarcoat this thread all you want but in the end it's still another Rudy bashing thread! I grew up watching Rudy and those early Rockets and I thought he was a smart player who got more out of his limited athletic skills than most. He wasn't a Larry bird type but he rarely made dumb mistakes. As far as his bball knowledge now I would say he is an innovator and certainly one of the top coaches in the league. You argue that Hakeem was a veteran. But Hakeem in many ways was still a raw talent. When Rudy took over and helped him to learn to read defenses and develop an inside out game that made us deadly. No one else was doing that and now everyone with a legitimate center is. And in Hakeem's last year when he was often injured Rudy switched to and ISO game with Francis and Mobley who were virtually unstopable. Many people claim that it was this offense that made the league change to zone defenses (which I still think sucks). Rudy doesn't get credit for being an innovator because he is a low profile kind of coach who prefers to let the glory go to his players. Many will say I am a Rudy lover and I can't see any of his faults. But you would be wrong in that thinking because I am a Rocket fan first and foremost. And I will always be for whatever makes the Rockets better. And if that means axing Rudy trading Cat or even Steve and Yao then as long as we can do it with a little dignity then let's do it. But at this time I don't believe getting rid of Rudy is that answer. I don't think he is without flaw either, and I can say from an outsiders point of view I feel Rudy is too easy on his players(None of us really know what is happening behind the scenes). I mean when the guys continually refuse to execute the game plan I do think a good benching might be an order. But Rudy has a different style of coaching and that is to continually believe in his players. And it worked with Hakeem when many rockets fans and management wanted him out. Everyone claims we have this all star team that shouldn't lose to anyone. But we don't. In spite of what everyone thinks Yao is not great yet. I mean I love the guy and he does have flashes of brilliance and is an exciting player for the Rockets and the league but he is still a Rookie and he still has a hard time getting low post position against average centers and at times his defense is less than great, Nesterovic tore him up the other night. (For you Yao lovers, please take no offense I love the guy too and he makes it exciting to be Rocket fan, but he is not perfect and he will be the first to tell you that). And Eddie who also has tons of potential and at times shows it, is still only 20 years old, and is as of late more off than on. And please don't compare him too Amare, Amare's come around about as often as KG's and Eddie is no KG. Rice is injured and old and Posey is good defensive player that is still learning the system and has an inconsistent shot. And know that leaves us with Cat and Steve. And this may be the most difficult coaching challenge Rudy is facing. Because in my mind Cat and Steve are redundant. They are both one on one type players that create for themselves and now they are being asked to change their whole style of play and become more pass oriented type players and whether you believe it or not they or complying, not as much as Rudy would like but probably more than they like. The problem is we now have a legitimate inside presence which means we need more of a Kenny Smith type player to live out on the 3 point line. And that is not Cat or Steve. And their are alot Cat haters screaming Cats got to go but the truth is if Francis was substituted for a Stockton or Bibby type Player Mobley would be a much better fit for this team. So maybe will eventually decide Cat does have to go but for now he is part of this team and and he is a very talented athlete as well as Steve and Rudy hasn't given up on them and is hopeful they will come around. And so am I going sit back and let him coach because I know he is much smarter than me or anyone else on this board when it comes to bball. And he definitely wants the Rockets to win.
I don't know much about Bill Walton since he might have been acting, like most of the media personalities do. But if you put Rudy T. in the same sentence with GW Bush, then the Rockets are in some serious trouble
Great comments, great thread -- a big notch above the other 293 "Rudy sux!" threads. Here's a thought: *IF* the Rockets were to decide in the off-season to make a coaching change, they would pretty much be able to pick from any coach not currently under contract. Guys would be lining up and salivating to take this job. Yao, Francis, Griffin -- all coming into the prime years of their careers? Someone would have to be nuts to turn down a gig like that.
Okay. Why don't you ask him his IQ. Rudy is smart...but being smart will not help him to teach our players. It's pretty hard to convince Mobley to pass first. How would you do it? Yeah...BRING IN LARRY BROWN!!! He has done a wonderful job! It really depends on the players that you have. The 76ers were better with Mutombo. PLAYERS win...not coaches. By the way, Allen Iverson actually played good at the All Star Game. He proved that he can pass. And if we got rid of Rudy, the chemistry would be gone. Maybe it would be better, but a lot of times it takes a while to adjust. Or maybe the players just don't care! And we cannot get rid of Steve Francis. Yes. Get John Stockton!!! Our attendance would be even higher!!! Indeed! Get Mike Bibby! Everyone would be dying to watch him. I think we have a core of players. We should develop them. Our attendance is increasing. New uniforms! New arena! New era! The Rockets are hot!!! But yeah. I would love to have Jerry Sloan or Don Nelson or Phil Jackson. LOYALTY TO RUDY! Just why does he shake when he talks? If we do not make the playoffs, new coach!
