For the people that wanted Rudy's head and were adamant about a new hire, were you a little hasty about his exit? Although this team looks different and more talented than the one of last year, the results are basically the same, is Rudy now exonerated?
If it all ultimately comes down to wins and loses for a coach, the Rockets are an 83% winning pct at home and 40% on the road so far this year. That's compared to 68% and 37% last year. The verdict is still out, but the early indicators are that we have a better team.
I think he is half- exonerated. Yes, we now realize the low assist numbers, the lack of a transition game, and the choking at the end of games had nothing to do with Rudy. But Rudy still built that team. He decided to make Steve the franchise player. He signed Moochie and Cato to huge deals. He drafted Eddie and traded KT. It was Rudy's team and he couldn't get them to even play his system right.
If anything AB, I would say that he is more on the hook than ever. Maybe not as a coach, but as a decision maker. It was his say on how this team was built and therefore it is his team that is on the floor now. You say the team looks better. I would infer that you feel the coaching is better but the team still sux. Who built the team? Carrol Dawson is not completely off the hook either, but the ultimate authority resided in Rudy.
Of course he's off the hook, he's fired. As a side note, I've met rudy before and talked with him briefly. He's a really cool guy, and definitely 'off tha hook!'
Rudy is off the hook, so to speak, now that we see just how uncoachable the guards can be. Yao makes me scream in frustration, too, but at least he's shown progress in a year. But watching "The Franchise" and The Cat get mugged by rookie guards is painful.
Coaching isn't an exact science. As you said, now we know that some of the problems we had (that had many Rudy bashers screaming for his head) weren't the coach's problems but the players' problems, as many of us "Rudy apologists" said all along. Team building is even less exact than coaching. Many of us liked Francis' potential a lot when he was a rookie. We thought Mobley was a great steal in the 2nd round. We got real excited for getting EG. I mean in the game of talent evaluation, you win some, you lose some. You can always point out some bad (and good) decisions of any coach/GM. The fact is, there isn't a lot of flexibility in getting the kind of players you want, especially star caliber players. You have to take whatever is there for you to have.
Optimistic? Knowing A-Train, he's thinking we'll lose the next 66 games. As for Rudy's exoneration, I'm in no place to comment. I never blamed him and still don't. I do find it funny though that the Rudy-haters can find a way to blame Rudy no matter what.
He's not off the hook. JVG was left with a big mess of bad contracts, players with years of bad basketball habits, and a lot of work ahead of him thanks to Rudy. If Rudy were still the Rockets head coach, we'd still be stuck with Rice and minus JJ, Pike, and A. Griff. Rudy would still be using the same excuses to help cover up his team, "Oh this team has so much potential, and that potential is amazing! They just need some time to develop together and maybe they'll reach their POTENTIAL!" Cato although still an offensive liability wouldn't be as improved as he is this season. Our defense wouldn't be as good, and our offensive structure of ISO ball still wouldn't have changed. Granted our offense flat out sucks right now, that could be attributed to our players refusal to buy into the system and run it properly. We'd probably have an extra loss or two against a lesser team people on this forum would be complaining about much like last year. JVG's promoting change and I think once he's got the right players he wants on this team via trades then I think we'll be able to officially put all the blame on JVG then. JVG does deserve some bashing though for his weird player setups. particuarly one set up that baffled me against the Sonics. Moochie, SF, Cat, Pike, and Yao on the floor together. That made us so soft and small on the court it was ridiculous. Then again if it weren't for Rudy, we wouldn't be stuck with Moochie's ridiculous long term contract.
True, I agree with that. It really is tough to blame him. After all, who wouldn't resign Francis? And who didn't want a guy like Cato when he was young? And who knows, maybe he was ready to blow up the team like all of us are.
I only blame Rudy for loosing control of the Team and alowing the Mobes & Franchise Show to take over. The correction of the problem still is in the works, it might never be fixed, with the same players who play this type of game.
