our injuries made us lose, not our offense, even though it is a little dumb. But it works if we have all our weapons.
So just ditch the Coach we have for one that MAY be better? No thanks. Rudy does command respect, he's loyal to the Rockets, and his players, and that is why players want to play for him. Every coach in the league has to put up with BS from the players, ask Larry Brown. Seems to be a problem with young "superstars" with more money than god thinking they are bulletproof, above the law, and greater than the team. That is the beauty of our situation. Rudy has won, is loyal to the Rockets, and has the trust and respect of management... Some young "superstar" is not going to run Rudy out of town. I always loved Mr. Mean as a player and I'm glad he's part of the organization as an assistant coach... that being said... He's IS already an assistant coach and has the authority to "instruct" Cat and Steve which I've seen him do on numerous occasions, just as I've seen Rudy instuct them. The problem is players today don't always follow instuctions, regardless of how stern or lax a coach may be. Which brings me back to my original post... Rudy is not the problem. Name a coach we could get who is better, AND has been as dedicated to his team as Rudy has been to the Rockets. I'll wait...
How bout Mike Dunleavy? How bout Jeff Van Gundy? I would take either one of them over Rudy T. And how many mulligans does he get? Every year the team has significant injuries. And every year people say that had the players been there, the team would have been good. Rudy T. has used up all of his mulligans as far as I am concerned. If the team sucks this year (regardless of whether there are injuries) he should be moved up in the organization and off the bench.
I think he should get some slack considering he has 2 rings. You could say that he got that because of Hakeem, but you could also say Phil won because of MJ/Shaq and Kobe. How many rings does Sloan, Jazz coach, have? ( I love that question!)
How many mulligans do those coaches have?? How many championships do those coaches have?? Both have had more talented teams than Rudy but have yet to win a championship.
Most people seem too anti-Rudy or pro-Rudy. Last year wasn't his fault. Too many injuries. But he has to be accountable for performance, regardless of his past accomplishments. If he doesn't manage to have the Rockets make the playoffs in the next 2 years, he should be dismissed.
Seems like an ok plan to me. Unless the NBA adopts a "NO ROCKETS IN PLAYOFFS" rule, but that wouldn't be his fault. The only "real" reason I could see is serious injuries again, but then we would probably have to have a talk with Keith Jones.
IF Rudy doesn't make the playoffs in the next TWO years, I'd take Van Gundy IF he were still available -- which he won't be. Dennis: Van Gundy did not have a more talented team. tod: I'm still on the fence about RT. He's gotten a lot of mulligans, it's true. But they've all been deserved. Doesn't work to say we always have injuries. Last year was the worst yet that way. We had games where every single projected starter was out and we wound up starting every single player on the roster. That's unprecedented. Add in the rule changes and last season flat doesn't count in evaluating RT. That said, we haven't yet seen if he's able to run an offense that doesn't rely on Hakeem. In my book, he gets one more mulligan if we don't make playoffs next year, as we have two rookies as major pieces, three projected starters coming off major injuries and he still hasn't been able to really practice new strategies in response to the rule changes. I agree with you that some people make excuses for their teams/players/coaches, but in RT's case the jury is out. As it should be. And as bad as the last few years have been, even without valid excuses, this has been a damn fast rebuild. Not like Boston or Philly, who each had very good coaches during rebuilding and didn't make the playoffs.
OK well maybe not a whole lot better talent but still better than we have had the last 2 seasons ( which is what Rudy is being evaluated on). Rudy will always put a player in his best chance for success. It is up to the player to make the most of it. Rudy will be here as long as he wishes. He definitely won't leave until the 2nd year in the new arena. In fact his pivotal year may very well be the 1st year in the new arena with sellouts every night , the public will expect the team to perform well. I think he has setup the team to peak at the right time. BTW - I like Van Gundy too. My statement was not meant to diss Van Gundy or Dunleavy but to show the fallacy in the mulligan statement. I feel a coach who has led his team to the promised land not once but twice should receive more chances than who hasn't.
Van Gundy has taken really crappy teams to the championship series and deep into the playoffs. Now part of that is because the Eastern Conference is not as good as the Western Conference (hasn't been in years). But he is a very good coach and he is especially good with Xs and Os (something that Rudy T. does not do well with at all). If I have one criticism of Van Gundy it is that he has coached mainly veteran teams and does not like playing rookies. Clearly he would have to change if he ever decided to come to Houston to coach. It just seems to me that Rudy T. has gotten a mulligan every season since the two championships and that is quickly becoming a really long team. This team has to make the playoffs this season. If they don't (regardless of whether there are injuries), the Rockets should get rid of him as their coach.
Do you include a mulligan when were tearing up the Jazz in 97- 98 and Barkley went down with an injury and we just missing meeting the Bulls? What about in 96-97 when were swept in the 2nd round of the playoffs by a far superior Sonics team? What about in 2000 - 2001 when we had 45 wins(the most wins by any team in NBA history NOT making the playoffs) Last year, we did not have the same player rotation for more than 15 games at a time, so ok we did not fair well but I would be curious to see how other "great" coaches would have faired under those conditions. Your arguement does not hold water if you are saying making the playoffs is ok but say it is a mulligan in the past. Rudy may not be the best X's and O's guy but he is better than most coaches and players like to play for him. You work hard in practice, you get playing time. Again, I am not saying anything bad about any coach.
Rudy is not a supreme court judge. He doesn't get to stay for life because he's been part of the organization for so long. Last yr was a wash, but I think if Rudy doesn't make it to the playoffs the next couple of yr, he needs to go. Rudy has hit that 10 yr spot and maybe a fresh start would be good. Riley left LA,Daly left Det so its not out of the ordinary for a long tenure coach to leave and recharge his battery. Personally, i think Rudy lost a lot of cool points when he almost lost the world championship games, but mcdyess saved the day. He has yet to maximize this teams abilities to be a up and down the court team as well as a good team defensive team. It has never been written that you have to have good defensive players to play good team defense. I think a lot of players kind of tuned him out because he is such a players coach. That needs to change this yr and he needs to get Francis and company to understand that no personal accolades come without team success. How he gets this concept to go over will go a long ways toward the success of this team.
leebigez:- I couldn't agree with you more. Rudy must show the team how to play Team Basketball and to put aside the personal goals other than WINNING. He has the players and without injuries he must produce and get into the playoffs. Team Chemistry is high on the order and our leader Steve Francis will bring that about, hopefully!
Let us not forget, my Rockets Brothers and Sisters, that the sight of Rudy T. put a lot of fears to rest for Yao Ming's parents...and people were approaching Rudy on the street in Shanghai, etc etc. Rudy T had the luxury of Olajuwon in his prime, and that made coaching easy. Give it to Dream. Let him create. Still, Rudy wanted to implement a new system last year but no plan was worth a damn since all the players were injured. This team will soon be so good even Dan Issel couldn't screw it up...well, that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea. And keeping this team intact with its coach will be very important. I hate to tell the Rudy-bashers, but you're stuck with him.
