Is Rudy still in Control of this Team

George Karl? I think Karl is an ego maniac, who loves to take credit for things that his players do. He is a good coach as well, but not better than Rudy, and no matter how good he is, he isn't worth his ego.

In Robert Falkoff's book about that first championship he points out some great differences between George Karl and Rudy. At the end of '93 win the Sonics beat us and Rudy congratulated him on a good game, Karl responded by speaking about certain decisions 'HE' as the coach had made, whereas Rudy gives the credit to the players. That's the kind of self centered attitude that I would hate steering this team right now.

Maybe Rudy is missing some things in guiding this team right now. For one thing I think Cato should sit out of practice and someone should just play catch with him over and over, to improve his hands. The Rockets should work over and over on getting back on defense after making a basket and stop teams from pushing the ball up on us, and YES they should work on passing and trusting teammates. Those are all problems the team has, and maybe that learning process could be sped up, but I still think that learning process has been slowed because of injuries and not learning to play with one another.

 

george karl would, IMO, be a MAJOR upgrade in coaching over rudy.


as for the karl v rudy 93 series comments...that's writer's bullsh*t,,,comparable to writer's block. anytime a coach wins, he is supposed to deflect the attention towards his players. and anytime a coach loses, he is supposed to take the brunt of the criticism. rudy and george did exactly what they were supposed to do, and had the roles been reversed would have acted accordingly. typical media bullsh*t.

karl is FAR from a egomaniac. how many egomanical coaches can completely change their coaching philosophy from a defensive, swarming, single-player driven team (seattle sonics) to a multi-dimensional, offensive juggernaut, funneling defense (milwaukee bucks)???

karl has the ability to change - on the fly - whatever his system is to the benefit of his players. rudy, IMO, is a player's coach. that's a euphamism for a p***y. rudy has not shown the ability to discipline his players for stupid, repeated errors. how many times do we have to watch The Little Dribbler dribble the air out the ball? how many times do we have to watch cat go 1 on 3? how many times do we have to watch steve skip the ball up court instead of putting his head down and running with it or passing it? these are all mistakes which have to be disciplined...and when the coach does not put consequences to those detrimental actions, he might as well be encouraging it!

conversely, we have eddie griffin, who is already probably the headiest ballplayer on the team. and he's a 19 year old rookie. i just hope he doesn't get contaminated by the unbridled selfishness and illogical play of some of his teammates.

 

The Sonics won, and it was Karl who took the credit for the win. Karl didn't give the credit to his players.

Also note that Rudy changed his system completely from dump it in to the post, to running a guard iso, penetration system, which worked better than anyone thought, when we had a healthy team.

Rudy isn't perfect, and may not have corrected some things that probably need correcting, but everyone knows that he is a tireless worker, watching video tape, preparing for games etc. It's why they said if he the olympic coach was a permanent position Rudy would have it. They liked his work when he had the college kids in international play that werent' supposed to be able to win a meddle, but he went ahead and studied the tape and worked hard, and they ended up with the bronze. Rudy has more strengths than just being a Players coach.

I believe that Karl is a hard worker, and good at coaching, and devising systems that work for his players, and if he is better at x's and o's, I don't think it's by very much, and not worth the ego that comes along with it. That's just my opinion.

 

i stand (or sit ) correctled on the 93 series. i'd chalk it up as a mistake on karl's behalf.

as for x's and o's being similar, you've got to be kidding. the rocket's offensive system at times only requires one X vs five Os.

 

That's what I'm worried about. With all the bad habits on this team I'm afraid that Eddie will start to get it in his head that this selfish play exhibited on the Rockets is okay. But for some reason, I believe Eddie is special in a way that he has good basketball sense as well a God given ability. That's why I believe one day when Eddie becomes the leader, and perhaps we get a better coach, this team is really going to take off.

I've really been disappointed in Steve lately. I know Steve has had a rough year health wise but his decision making and costly turnovers recently have been rookie-like.

 

i know i'll get bashed for this one, but...

i'm looking forward to the day eddie busts moochie in the grill for dribbling too damn long.

 

Give me a break Brian. You and Jeff are so pro-Rudy, that you can't see that his system is wasting the talent on this team. The duo of Steve and Cuttino can be one of the best in the league. It was last year, when the team won 45 games. Eddie is already a quality player, regardless of his age. That is a pretty talented nucleus. Any team with this much talent should show some improvement over 41 games. This team has just gotten worse.

 

And the Answer is: "Plaing Time", "P/T" , "Court Time", "Bench Time" or "Minutes Per Game" Or like a Mom would say "Time out for you child". The most valuable commodity in the NBA.

The way to teach these guys has to do with P/T. Play selfish, play playground ball, don't play D, get lazy in transition defence and your butt will sit. Fining them dosen't matter, they have money. Critize them in front of their peers and their minds close and make them mad. Try it with small children and you will see what I mean. When they screw up in the game pull them off the court and have an assistant tell them what is wrong and let 'em sit and watch awhile. Be constructive in your evaluation of them. Praise them when they do right, and before you know it you'll have a better team, and a team that will like if not love what they can do for each other. Then the trust will come.

You know in Dallas everyone asks who is the leader of the team and every player backs off from answering. They will all say it is Fin' from pure respect for each other and the fact that he was the "best" when there were no "rest". Now, alot of fans argue over Dirk or Nash or Fin, but in alot of games it is a different guy including Timbug and Juan and the "Mexican"(E.N.) and Buckner and Adrian and last year even Bradley. That is what is making them the Mavs and we love them for it. Soon nationally, many more people will love them for it.

You know I watched from Reunion when Dallas had talented players J. Kidd, Mashburn, J. Jackson. They had great talent great potential, great individual play and great selfishness. The Rockets players are currently in that soup. That selfishness is what destroyed that Mav group of very talented players. It is for Rudy to determine which way they will go. If he teaches them and disciplines them with less P/T when they screw up and more P/T when they play within a "team system", they can get better. You know he might as well be teaching them the simple game of basketball even when they are losing as thay are now. He can make it a disappointment or a challenge to each of them to analyze and improve themselves with each game win or lose based on their individual faults and not accepting the same faults time after time from the same player. I think that if he wanted, K Willis could teach the younger guys about playing inside but Rudy needs to ask him to. Look at Dallas on the bench when they are talking to each other they are talking about what is working in the game and how to play the other team. I am not sure if that is what the Rockets players are doing for each other, I am just too far from their bench to tell.

You know, all these guys were exceptional players where ever they came from or they would not be in the NBA. It is now Rudys challenge to make them understand that if they want to win at this level it will have to be as a team. My best example is your current NBA Champion L.A. Lakers. Did you see a team playing the Clips last night on TNT, or was it the Clips and their coach Alvin Gentry who were the Team? (I am really happy for the teacher in A.G. as well as the coach A.G.) Lots of talent on the Clips, and if their selfishness and impatience doesn't destroy them they are learning to be a team and play in the NBA.

Good Luck Rockets.

MFFL
HLV
Texican2K