Take a look at the Grizzlies, started off 0-13 and have a record of 23-28 since then with 10 players at 2 years or less of NBA experience. I didn't think Hubie had the energy, however, he has proved me wrong. It appears that he is an awesome teacher of x's and o's due to the teams performance lately. I truly believe the Rockets need an X and O coach and not a master motivator, which appears to be Rudy's strong point. Oh yeah, he's a players coach, whatever that means. I think it means good players play worse.
Hubie is quite old, but he is a good coach. But I don't think he's better than Rudy. Hubie is a good teacher...but Rudy is still our coach....and we can't trade them or anything. I guess they are equal.
It's easy to turn a terrible team into an average team, or in Memphis' case, a below average team. Can you name one team in the NBA that actually GETS UP to play the Grizzlies? Can you name a team that inspires the best effort in the other squad each night more than the Rockets do? Probably the Lakers, and maybe Dallas and Sac, but that's it. Do you see the difference? What do you think the Grizzlies' record would be if other teams actually circled them on their calendar?
Don't give Hubie too much credit yet. Often, a change of coach will temporarily change a teams fortune. If the change carries deep into next year, then maybe I'll give him more credit. From what I understand, Hubie's an old-school discriplinarian. That sort of thing works very well at the beginning, but sometimes players get sick of it ultimately and stop listening. You can only scream at a grown man so long before he stops listening. And it's not like that Memphis team was shy on talent to begin with. One might view Memphis' current performance more a reflection on the horrific performance of past coaches, rather than Hubie's excellence.
