With the new situation, my order of preference is: 1) Rick Carlisle 2) Jeff Van Gundy 3) Mike Dunleavy
Let's say you are in love with 2 girls. You decide to settle down and marry Ms. Big Boobs (your #1 choice). She skips town with your back-stabbing friend. Now you decide to marry the #2 girl.... are you going to tell your friends, co-workers, and relatives that girl #2 was your second choice? And are you going to tell girl #2 that you like her because you didn't want to have your eyes poked out?
Wonderful. So now the Rockets have adopted the Astros/Oilers approach to team spending. I use to say that the Rockets were the one organization in Houston that was willing to spend the money in order to get better. This news today shows me that Les Alexander post 2000 is no better than Bud Adams or Hunsicker when it comes to spending money to improve the team. So why is it that all of Houston sports owners (the jury's still out on McNair) seem to be among the biggest penny pinchers in sports? I really think in the end it's on the Houston fans. The Rockets had among the worst attendance numbers in the NBA the last two seasons. The Astros have historically seen similar lack of fan support. Houston has never really supported their sports teams except for when they win. Many would say "Yeah, and that's how it should be." Problem is, owners are in business to make money and if they see the interest is not there, they're not going to spend more money on their investment. It's very frustrating to be among the few Houston fans that really do support the teams. This is a sad day for Rockets fans. The Astros/Oilers method of ownership looks like it is now the guidelines for the Rockets organization. The Texans may be this city's only hope now.
I really like the idea of bringing in Nellie. Especially if he does have any kind of relationship with Yao. Certainly he's more credible than Van Gundy or Dunleavy. Unfortunately for us, if money really is a factor, there's no way we'll be able to compete with Cuban's pocketbook, and you can't believe that he's disappointed with Nellie's accomplishments. The good news is that now we don't have to worry about what will become of our team in the post-Brown era. It's a small consolation I know.
That really hurts. I like Dunleavy's style, and I prefer him over JVG, but I think the players will eventually become puppetmasters, just like they did with Rudy. I hope we go for Nelson "Lite" and he brings Avery over here. This way, we know there's some real toughness in our coaching staff, and you know Avery won't let anyone take it easy.
Man, you're really trying to spin this any way you can so that this ends up being Brown's fault. 1) If you are looking at one of the best ( acknowledged, hardly up for debate ) and you are expecting to get him as a bargain, you're not very smart. It would seem, according to the reports I've heard, that Brown signed with Detroit for roughly what we were paying Rudy. We hopefully intended to upgrade, else why fire Rudy to downgrade? We announced that we were only interested in "Big Names"...and you're suggesting that it makes sense that we were only interested in Brown if he was a bargain? I agree that we seem to have played him for a bargain, as it was understood that we had little serious competition, before the Detroit thing broke...and we outsmarted ourselves. If we had offered this guy market value from the get go, I'm pretty sure we'd now be eaberly anticipating the season with our beand new coach. 2) Only about money? Please...so reverse it. If Les is so only about money that he's penny pinching when he has a coach that would alost automatically make us a much better team, maybe Brown shouldn't want to work ofr him. This is how the system works...why do we only cite those examples of it working that fit with what we already want to think, in this case you and it being Brown's fault. So if we Kidd 4 million, and San Antonio offered 7 million, and he went to San Antonio, we could conclude that we don't want him here, as he's all about money? It's not like he was an old employee that owed us loyalty..he owed us nothing, and went with the best offer. I'm sure that you and I would turn down extra money from one potential new employer over another potential new employer simply because we're not about money...right? 3) Brown is the perfect combination ofdisciplinarian and teacher. Iverson had confrontations, but also said he's the best coach he ever had, and he improved under him. Many, many other players never had any problem with Brown. If you play within the system, showm up for practice, and play hard and smart, he rewards you. AND he installs systems that showcase his star players. What would have been the bad atmosphere of which you speak? He's not Bobby Knight, for God's sake.
I am really very confused now. First, management want a better coach and pay Rudy either close to or the entire amount of the $6 million he is owed each year over the next two seasons. Then management cant outbid a 5-year, $25 million deal which will be signed by larry brown. Then money was also a factor to explain why two top coaching candidates just passed on the "best job available" for other jobs. So can we conclude that we will have to settle with second-tier coaches? Then why would we replace rudy in the first place? Buy out his contract then replace him with someone worse then him?
Deucerings, Gerry Hunsicker is the general manager of the astros. Drayton McClain is the owner. He spends the money. Gerry has to stay within Drayton's budget. just wanted to clarify that.
While I don't doubt Larry Brown is a good coach, I think his stock at the moment is way overvalued. It started high and has since fed itself like a firestorm over the past week. I have not seen this much coach jock-riding since Phil Jackson went to the Lakers. Now Brown is a basketball "genius." C'mon, I don't believe it. Sure he's good and may be the best available. But, is he really head and shoulders above the likes of Jeff van Gundy, Mike Dunleavy or Rudy Tomjanovich? I highly doubt it.
Larry Brown didn't skip town. We couldve had him but we didnt want him bad enough. Like I said, I don't mind Les not spending the money. Just be straight forward about. Don't lie and concoct some story. Be honest and say you didn't feel he was worth it. I know honesty may be just asking a bit too much but hey, anything can happen.
I cannot wait to see the salary of the new coach we bring in... For the record i'm jumping on the Dunleavy bandwagon.
I have never felt that losing Larry Brown was the end of the world for the Rockets...but... I am disappointed there was not a counter offer made. Brown was scheduled to make $6m next year at Philly and turned down an $8m offer from the Wizards to sign for $5m at Detroit. I guess it's easy for me to sit here and spend Les's money, but it sure seems that offering Brown $7m-$8m ($2-3m more than Detroit) is not unreasonable given the the MLE is ~$4.5m. If the Pistons would have upped the ante beyond $7m-$8m, let them have him and at least you could publicly say you were outbid or that Brown chose them over you. Does the Rockets management not think LB would make a bigger impact than a MLE FA signing? Or are the Rockets now running such a tight ship that we shouldn't even expect a FA signing? If it's about $3m, I find it disappointing...but not unsolvable...welcome back to the Rockets Mike Dunleavy...here's hoping there's enough $ left for you to hire a good staff...
Leave to Les the "Money Grubbing Miser" to blow this opportunity to hire Larry Brown. While in his part-time, he continues to try and fleece the Minority Community with the stadium concession monies, He tries to pay Brown "Les" not "More" to coach the Rox! This is typical and the reason that the Rox will have to fight an uphill battle to get better.
The $5 million was the base salary. It was mentioned that there incentives and even if we offered the same base and incentives, Detroit has a greater chance of reaching the incentives and getting him a/some ring(s). Plus if we beat the offer, don't you think Detroit would come back with more? They didn't fire Carlisle to get MD or JVG. The Detroit group has deeper pockets than Les and Les knew it.
What would have been wrong with adding a former coach to last seasons coaching staff (+/- a few of them) Everyone else in the NBA has 2 or sometimes 3 former coaches on the bench assisting.
About this information in general... I am concerned. Given this, and the fact that it was recently discosed that the Rox have played it on the cheap for years re: scouting, it's not a great sense of priorities, IMO. Think of it this way; It's a bad investment to worry about an extra 1 or 3 million in hiring the coach. The team salary is how much? All told there is over 100 million a year invested in making this team a winner...and you stop short of putting in the best jockey available over 1 or 2 % of that investment? Would you invest 50 million in building a race car, but pass on the best driver available over 500 grand? I don't get it. It appears as if Brown is getting 5 million a year from Detroit, which in itself is an amazing bargain. Consider that he is 3 times the coach that JVG is, and JVG is asking for 7. Mind you, he won't get it, but it's not too far off. Brown makes us a winner while he's here, period. How many million would we pay a year for a player about whom you could say that if, as is the case here, we weren't constrained by salary cap? I understand that owners want to stay below the luxury tax level...and I don't call Les "cheap" for prioritizing that. But there are other ways, especially coaching and scouting, where you can invest wisely and reap the rewards outside of the cap. It appears that we have determined not to try and do that, and it's a serious concern. Off the top of my head, this is how it appears to me: We knew that Brown only really wanted to come here...the other options, Cleveland, the Clippers, etc. were not situations he would have quit Philly for. So we played it cute...we tried to out-negotiate him, tired to get him a little on the cheap. He was insulted ( by all accounts he's a very sensitive guy) but, oh well, we knew he wanted to be here, so not too much of a concern, and what with having to pay millions to Rudy to 'consult', we were looking to cut corners, even if it meant somebody's feathers were ruffled. I mean, where else was he gonna go? Atlanta? Then Joe Dumars sees that arguably the best in the biz is on the market, and acts decisivley, if possibly not all that ethically...and next thing you know, we're left holding our , er, thumbs. I don't have any factual basis to support my take, and I haven't really solidified on it, but it seems the most reasonable interpretation of the events based on Clutch's info, other info ( such as our cheap attitude towards scouting for so long) and the murmures we're hearing.
Even if Les is a penny pincher, and this news sure makes it sound as if he is, I still don't see how the Rockets couldn't at least offer Brown more than $5 million a year. It's not like their roster isn't carrying enough cuttable crap right now that they couldn't find a way to make up that salary. Moochie Norris would have been a good place to start. For you Moochie defenders are you really going to try and tell me that Moochie Norris brings more to the team that Larry Brown would have. Trade Moochie and someone else for nothing in order to make up the salary. It's that simple. As it is Houston, get ready for a downgrade at coach next year because less than $5 million will not land you guys the names I've been hearing thrown around this board. Someone needs to tell the Rockets that it is not 1985 anymore. If you want a good established coach, it's going to cost you.
If Les were drop dead sure of that, why not up the ante and make Detroit pay the price? IOW, if the Rockets were sure they weren't going to get Brown, wouldn't the PR spin be much better if they made a counter offer that was rejected?
