Rudy has the biggest penis ever if you were to judge how many people still on his shiznet. But you do gotta love these threads. They keep the server busy.
Guess the game has passed Phil by too, since he can't seem to win as much as Rudy was with LA. Coaches do not reach a peak, that is totally false. Players lose athleticism with age, coaches don't forget how to coach.
No...but age, health, desire; things like that do change, and I think Rudy just didn't have the stomach for it any more. The game was taking a terrible toll on him. And since his system was based on such a dominant big man, I think it was taking an even worse toll on him to try and adjust with a different kind of talent on the floor. Certainly the Lakers move looked like he'd just had enough.
NBA coaching takes a huge toll emotional and most coaches run out of gas after so many years. It has nothing to do with forgetting how to coach. LOL. It's called burnout. Sorry if I wasn't clear. Also, most coaches are married to particular offensive/defensive systems that don't translate well as the NBA changes over time. Plus, NBA players (as a whole) morph every year as older players retire and youngsters come in. Over long periods of time, most coaches don't adapt well to this. Even after his break, Rudy wasn't ready to come back and coach the Lakers. It was obvious. He was a coach for the 90s not the 2000s. While Phil Jackson is unique among coaches, I'm not saying he will have great success this go-round. But he's got more left in the tank than Rudy.
JVG sure does pull alot of heat considering we have been to the playoffs every year he's coached for us, INCLUDING that Lakers series.. which hmm what was it??? Stevies first playoff series? or was it his First and only playoff series in his career?? I'm not sure.. anyone want to help my memory out? I thought it was funny how Steve Francis complained about JVG while on the other end that team was the best team he had ever been on, winning wise. Gooo steve!!!
Nonsense. 45 regular season wins in 2000-2001. 45 regular season wins in 2003-2004. Steve Francs was on both of those teams.
this is why the playoff argument is inaccurate. they also won 44 game the year before JVG got here. Hakeem's Rockets made the playoffs one year with a 41 win total. Its called REBUILDING people. these fans were spoiled by Hakeem's era. teams naturally go through a rebuilding process when the guy who held up your franchise for 15 seasons leaves. and considering they 45 games in the second year of rebuilding, I don't think the Francis era was all that bad.
Nonsense, eh? I think this proves that the Rockets could be just as successful under the horrible, mean-spirited, Stevie-hating Van Gundy as they were with Rudy. Take the blinders off, hater.
One point of clarification. I'm comparing the JVG and Rudy systems with the same level of talent, i.e. Francis, et al. If we're talking about the Rockets' championship years, I'm not so sure that JVG would have been able to close the deal. Hakeem was such an amazing talent that you basically just had to point him in the right direction and make sure that everyone else followed. A simple formula, but one that Rudy executed to perfection. In that same situation, I'm not sure how well JVG's command-and-control system would have worked. My guess is that the Rocks would have at least one less championship. That being said, there is no way that Rudy could have taken the JVG Knicks team to the finals. Different coaches. Both good.
Of course, there is the little point that Mr. Van Gundy had an extra NBA-experienced 7-6 center on that roster.
I figured you meant that, but I don't totally agree. Coaches may burn out, but they can come back and be just as good as they were. Not true for players. Rudy was ready to come back, but the fans/media in LA were too delusional about their roster, so the pressure to win was too much and he was pushed away. However, you can see now that the "best coach of all-time" is having even less success there and the problems in LA had NOTHING to do with the coach. The EXACT same thing happened here. Also, Rudy isn't married to any system; he tailors his style to fit the players he has. This makes sense because winning in the NBA depends on the players, bottom line.
Rudy tailored his style to fit the players he had? That's news to me. Perhaps if you mean going from ISOing Charles/Dream on the left block to ISOing Steve on the left wing.
I would call taking non-NBA players to a Bronze medal in a world championship, and taking a strong (but not "Dream Team") NBA team to a gold medal and an undefeated tourney adjusting to the strengths of the players you have.
You pointed out examples of success - how are those "adjusting to the strengths of players"? Phil Jackson has had great success in his career. That doesn't mean he adjusts to the strengths of his players - he uses the triangle everywhere he goes.
Nonsense, look at the teams we beat, they were the teams we were racing against in the playoffs I BELIVE. Which then is what caused us to MAKE the playoffs, The same wins = nothing. Oww I bet no-one thinks about that (though I could be wrong)
I agree that people weren't giving the "rebuilding" a chance..wanted instant gratification. HOWEVER...I do think the Francis era was that bad. I think it never could have progressed beyond the 40-45 wins and 1st round out. The ISO game that allowed Steve and Cuttino to get their scores stagnated the offense too much. Yes, the O sucks right now also, but I think at it's best (end of last year's season, for ex.) it is much better than it could be under the old group of players. Plus, I'm one of the (seemingly) few who believe Yao has improved a great deal with his court awareness and overall skill on both ends eaech year. I think some of that growth would have been stunted by having a stagnant offense that wouldn't involve him quite as much in a team game. (I do think Steve and Cat got him the ball a good amount...but it was more pass and watch than it is now, imo)
In situations where your team is not 100x more talented than the opponents, International tournament basketball is nothing but adjusting your gameplan to the strength of your players.
