This is truly a mixed day for me. I am so sad because Rudy T is the only person that has coached any winners in Houston. He basically put Houston on the map as far as basketball goes. Players from all over the league loved him and I am truly sad he is leaving. But I am also laughing. Laughing at the amount of crack that is being smoked by alot of people in this BBS. Paul Silas? Donnie Nelson? Yet, you don't want Jeff Van Gundy? Because what? He didn't win a ring? Oh!!! I get it!! That is whats needed in the league to get an underachieving young team to get over the top!! Sort of like what Rudy T did with his 29 rings when he came to be the Rockets coach. Or those 10 rings that Popavich won before coming to San Antonio. How about those 44 rings that Silas got and that is why he got the Hornet job and basically bombed every year in the playoffs. Donnie Nelson? Oh, yea. He got 3 coaches of the year awards...OH! Thats his old man that has them!! Guys, take it from a person that has seen the man coach over and over again. This guy is the KEY to bring back the rings to Houston. He never has won anything. But he went to the Finals as an assistant. And he went to the Finals as a coach...EIGHT SEEDED no less. And lets remember one thing. They guy is not even 40!!! I compare the Rockets a little bit like the football Tampa Bay Bucs. All the talent...on defense. Had to get a young offensive minded coach who knows offense to come in there and get that side of the ball rolling. Same here. A young defensive minded coach with discipline for a team that jacks up shots like I eat Chalupas. This guy is loved by his players. Coaches all over the league have said that he is the best young coach in the game. Ask people who know the pro game and they will tell you that there is nobody better at breaking down games than this guy. His teams play extremely hard all the time. Not sometimes. ALL THE TIME. I said that he learned from Riley and people say that Riley hasn't won nothing since Magic. What the hell does that mean? You want him to be like Phil Jackson? Anyways, back to my point. The guy knows the game better than any coach you want in here besides Larry Brown. And why get Larry Brown? The guy is threatening to retire every 5 minutes and he is 63 years old! I would much rather have a coach who is gonna stick with the team during the whole 10-12 year run that this team might have. Remember what I am telling you. The Rocks get Van Gundy, we are smashing teams mouths in and playing tough D next year. And, we start pulling in the rings in 2 or 3 years. Anything less than Van Gundy and you guys will regret it big time. The man has the reputation around the league. He is loved in NYC...yea, and that happens all the time to coaches who never win anything. Guys, Jeff is the man. Trust me.
Nice post but it is all irrelevant since Van Gundy has already excepted the Cleveland job as reported by ESPN. Official announcement to be made next week.
That is not exactly a done deal. ESPN has report that "a radio station in New York had report the news". They also comment that the Cav office does not confirm it. So I think it is not a done deal yet. I think the rocket still has the shot at JVG.
ESPN Radio in NY are the ones who broke the story. Cleveland and VG are not commenting on the report (which, if it was inaccurate, I am sure they would have said that its not a done deal).
I think it's interesting. People thoguht that Lebron is going to Cleveland, so Van Gundy will wanna go there. Now, the Houston job is open though. If there's no formal written agreement, then maybe Van Gund will change his mind.
Why not!? Because LeBron is the most dominant player in the NBA. . .oh that's right he hasn't played a game yet in the NBA! Because LeBron is an awesome young talent? Well Yao might have MORE potential then LeBron James, Francis is a franchise player, and Mobley is the #3 scorer a championship team needs. Because Cleveland is a good team? Houston came within 1 game of the playoffs in a tough Western Conference, Cleveland was the worst team in a weak Eastern Conference. So what makes LeBron James so great?
Listen up, King James LeBron should push for Silas as Cavs coach Posted: Friday May 23, 2003 2:16 PM Updated: Friday May 23, 2003 5:35 PM LeBron James already is talkin' the talk. If you listened closely on Thursday night after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the LeBron Lottery, you heard the 18-year-old object of affection use the words we and my quite a bit. As in my team. Sure, he talked about his teammates and said all the politically savvy things. But make no mistake, James is fully aware that the woebegone Cavs are now his team. Go ahead, name another current Cav. Point made. That said, LeBron, show me what you got: Tell Cavs owner Gordon Gund that the best decision he can make for the future of the franchise is to hire Paul Silas as the team's next coach. Jeff Van Gundy? Sure, he's the consensus front-runner. A "great" coach and teacher, according to his colleagues. And he has spent the last year-plus selling himself while wearing a headset on TNT. But one thing makes me curious: Why has Van Gundy received a pass on deserting the Knicks? I mean, he flat-out quit. He walked out the door 19 games into the 2001-02 season with no explanation -- at least no viable one, except, "I'm tired." Cynics would say he was also smart, knowing that the Knicks were tumbling toward mediocrity and worse. For the Cavs, who have averaged only 27 wins over the last four seasons (with just 17 last year), mediocrity would be a blessing. Is Van Gundy clearly the best guy for the tough times the Cleveland franchise will face? People forget that the year after they won (wink, wink) the Patrick Ewing lottery in 1985, the Knicks stunk, going 23-59. It took that team years to become contenders. Will Van Gundy high-tail it out of town again, when a team built around a teenaged wunderkind struggles, as it inevitably will, to live up to expectations? Nothing in Van Gundy's résumé tells me he's the guy. And yet he has been anointed as The Chosen Coach for The Chosen One. Following the lottery, James said he'd have to "feel comfortable with our coach." That's a clear signal to Gund that he'd best let his new franchise player in on the decision-making process. Silas should be given more than a token look; he should get the job. (Cavs GM Jim Paxson was quoted as calling Silas, "Lenny Wilkens 10 years ago." Uh, what exactly does that mean, Jim?) During six seasons as the head coach of the New Orleans (né Charlotte) Hornets, Silas guided his team through more drama than any coach should have to endure, including the tragic death of guard Bobby Phills in a car crash in January 2000. This season, the Hornets reached the playoffs for the fifth straight season under Silas, and yet he was unceremoniously fired by ownership, which still hasn't told anyone why it let Silas go. James might be criticized in some circles for inserting himself into the hiring process even before he signs with the team, which he cannot do before the June draft. (Remember when a rookie Magic Johnson was trashed for daring to state that he could no longer play for then Lakers coach Paul Westhead, which led to Westhead's firing and the hiring of a yet untested bench boss named Pat Riley?) But before he is run through a gauntlet of NBA veterans eager to test him, pound him and introduce him to a game played by men rather than pimple-faced boys; before he discovers what three-games-in-four-nights-in-three-time-zones does to even his young body; before he learns that despite his obvious and wondrous skills he'll have to get even better in many facets of the game -- this is exactly where he needs to be. In the room. In the mix. In the midst of the decisions that will affect his future. The Cleveland Cavaliers are LeBron James' franchise now. Gordon Gund knows it. And LeBron knows it. Neither man can afford to wait too long to begin acting on it. Roy S. Johnson is an assistant managing editor for Sports Illustrated. His "Pass the Word" column appears on SI.com every Friday. Catch Johnson on CNN Headline News every Thursday at 3:40 p.m. ET.
its so mixed for me.. im so sad that Rudy will step out as coach. its gonna take some time before i get used to not see rudy t in the sidelines. but at the same time i do believe its time to change and have a fresh start. but the thing is, Jeff Van Gundy, Larry Brown, and Paul Silas are three great coaches. i cant seem to pick one to help the rocs on the championship road again. i hope the rocs org pics the right coach coz im so sick and tired of hearing excuses!
He's the only one that can uproot the attitudes instilled in this team by the actions of our guards. Let's hope he's the one.
My feelings on Van Gundy are mixed. Defensive coach = YEAH! Offensive coach = BOO! Is there a coach out there who fits?
What most agree around here is that we need a teacher. Someone who can teach our team to do the right things and make good decisions. That just about nullifies Salas for me. I don't think he is that good of a teacher. So, to me, it comes down to Brown(if he quits) or Van Gundy. Both can teach. But Van Gundy is 23 years younger. I just like the guys ways. What can I tell you. I saw him all the time and though he might of quit on his team like people say, its not like coaches don't do that all the time. Pat Riley quit on the Knicks. You mind him being your coach if he says he wanted to coach the Rocks? Thought so.
Almu - What gives you ANY indication that Silas (not Salas) cant' coach? The guy was an oustanding and unselfish player, and is a total class act and probably knows more about B-ball than JVG. I have no doubt that he can teach! What I don't know is whether he can motivate as well as JVG. My greatest concern is less about which of those excellent candidates we wind up with, but much moreso about how much S.F. and his giant EGO will torpedo the good intentions of ANY coach. Rudy had the support of management, and the other players but could not get S.F. to listen. If Rudy couldn't, then I know it's going to be nothing less than a challenge for JVG or Silas. I think Brown is only one who would have the gonads to bench Steve's aaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
benching steve would get his attention, and if Rudy didn't have the nuts to do it then that would be a good reason for him to move on. Yes, Brown would do it because he's thinking about retiring anyway so if it backfired and he was let go it wouldn't really matter. I've heard that our frontcourt like Silas and wouldn't complain about him. JVG would spend his entire day getting punked by steve who would be moking him for getting dragged around by Zo. We need to bring in a strong coach who can get things done. He's got to have a system and sell it to the players, those who don't buy sit until they figure out who's in charge... anything less and we've got no chance. For the record I still don't think Steve was the problem, if he was then Rudy should have made that clear to him. We'll not know for sure until we see how this all plays out over the summer and into the first part of next season.
This is part of what I'm feeling. I just don't see Van Gundy as coach of the Rocks. I appreciate Almu and the others who are hot to get him, but I haven't seen anything to make me believe he would give us a high scoring offense. I'm just not sold on him. And some of the others who are jumping on the JVG bandwagon are influenced by watching him on TV, imo. He comes across very well on the tube, I must admit, but I can't see him giving us a high octane offense. I would love Brown. He's always impressed me, and the job he's done with Iverson is little short of amazing. Silas has earned another shot after a great job at Charlotte. I would prefer him over JVG. Donnie Nelson would be a bold move that could get me excited. He would have a hell of a staff, lol! I doubt if we could pry him from Cuban, but it would be worth a try. What it comes down to for me, I guess, is if we're going to hire Jeff Van Gundy... why not just keep Rudy? I don't think JVG is a huge shakeup in the grand scheme of things. I would rather have given RT another season. (I have to admit that the image of Van Gundy getting thrown about, attached to Zo's leg like a little terrier that won't let go, is coloring my thoughts. I think of watching that game every time he comes up for serious discussion. It may be unfair, but there it is)
