It’s hard to bring this up without it being accused of being Rudy Bashing, so think of it as a contingency plan... I have heard a lot of people ask "if not Rudy then who?" Sure, it may be tough to find some one available who is proven to bring to Houston, but IF (notice that is a big "IF") this year or the next couple is a disaster and they decide to go another direction what do you think of this thought: I light of some of the success of the coaches around the league who are first time coaches do you guys think about these two possibilities? A guy who has said he may want to coach one day: Kenny Smith OR Another Rocket Lifer: Calvin Murphy
Kenny? Puh - leeze. But -- if Rudy had to step aside and picked his successor from his staff, who? Boylan? Smith?
I like Calvin's game. He is a student of the game. Knows about fundamentals and how important they are. I think he would be a good choice.
I would say Boylan over Mr Mean the reason being is that I am not sure what Mr Mean would be a very effective coach when it came to offense
Let's look at Calvin Murphy's job: a) gets paid a good salary to watch basketball games b) 4-5 months off per year, depending on whether or not the Rockets make the playoffs c) gets to goof around with Bill Worrell on a nightly basis d) excellent job security (fans love him) e) free cookies and brownies sent in by fans Now, I ask you this...would YOU give that up for 60-70 hour work weeks, dealing with players/management, mental stress, and the possibility of being fired at any time? Calvin has had plenty of head coaching job offers from other teams and has turned down all of them, so I doubt he'll accept one from the Rockets Coaching is not for everyone, and it sure as heck ISN'T for Calvin Murphy... BTW, does anybody know how much Calvin gets paid? My guess would be 400-500K per year...
Rudy is the man for the job. imso, if we have problems with system and teaching Francis to run, it is an issue of replacing Jim Boylen...since he's the guard coach. Look around the leauge at the caliber of Asst Coaches ... does Boylen stack up!!!! Princeton's legendary Pete Carril is the asst behind the King's offense. Eddie Jordan who hired Carril at Sac is the asst at New Jersey who is credited with Kidd's offense. Tex Winters Donnie Nelson PJ Carlesimo at San Antonio and Mike D'Antoni just joined the Suns who coached Italian League Champion Benetton with Nachbar and Tsiki. He has 30yrs experience including Head Coach of Denver. Main thing is he is one of the best scouts of Euro talent.
So you would take an unproven coach who has never coached anywhere accept for a division 2A college and say he will get the Rockets to championships?!? Over a proven winner who has rebuilt the team and is ready for the next step. Seems a bit hypocritical to say "what have you done for me lately"( Rudy) to "what have you ever done"( Boylan).
Not suggesting that at all, I was answering the question: "if Rudy had to step aside and picked his successor from his staff, who? Boylan? Smith?" Given those 2 choices it would be Boylan for the reasons stated. What is your opinion of the 2 names I threw out there? I look at Doc Rivers & Byron Scott and hope that lightning in the bottle could happen here too "IF IF IF".
That article about the games at Westside brought up an interesting point. I wonder whether the Rockets have given any thought to bringing Mario Elie on board as an assistant coach? It may not be possible due to the "difficulties" when he left town, but then again, that is in the past, and what better way to get experience than at home, with people you are already familar with.
Boylan has been a film and assistant coach since the early 90's. Who knows how good he would be. He has been through a lot of NBA games, playoffs and should have good enough experience to land somewhere down the not too forseeable future...
Well, if Rudy had to step aside, that would most likely mean a regime change would be in order. I think a clean the house type situation would be the general line of thinking.....unless of course he was not forced out. If I had to choose between Boylan and Mr. Mean, I would choose Boylan do to his experiance over Mr. Mean. As for Kenny Smith, he is a little too full of himself to teach...IMO Calvin would not be a bad choice and his knowledge of the game demands respect but I would only consider it if he had a good experienced coach on the bench with him. You may not think much of CD but he had many years of experience coaching college teams and least not we forget that Rudy was an assistant to Fitch which is a great coach.
heypee: i've never heard that before about boylen. what else can you tell me about him &/or the other assistants?
<blockquote><hr><i>originally posted by Dennis2112</i> You may not think much of CD but he had many years of experience coaching college teams and least not we forget that Rudy was an assistant to Fitch which is a great coach.<hr></blockquote>Sorry, this one always bothers me. Larry Bird handed Fitch a championship then got him fired. Bird did not think Fitch was any good, and Fitch road that ring into Houston and our lucky coin flips and got credit for turning that team around too. Fitch has the most loses of any coach ever. And the worst winning % of any of the top 25 winningest coaches.
Fitch did coach the Cavs when they were expansion and the Clippers. That can account for a whole bunch of those losses. Both times he had a terrible owner.
I agree that he is not the greatest coach but to have coached for as long as he has and to be a viable coaching prospect for so many years for so many teams, he must have been diong something right. I was merely refering to his coaching knowledge. To be around that long he must have learned something..
Kenny Smith???!!!! WTF???!!! Oh I can see it now...Yao asks a question on the best way to drive the lane on Duncan. Kenny so eloquently explains..."You see Yao...it's like if you're driving a car...you put the gas in the car.." Please leave the treaching to those who can expolain things without having the whole country laughing at him.
If Rudy stepped aside, I would make a run at Jeff Van Gundy. He's probably the most defensive oriented coach in the league and that's exactly what we need. We allready know we can score, we need someone to teach us some defense.
I always thought that Elvin Hayes could be a good coach.He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the players and wants the team to be a winner.
