Batman, Silas been on the market for several weeks? Why didn't Cleveland land him earlier and instead pursued Gundy (as reported by several sources)? IMHO, Paxon & Co. thought Gundy was a better choice than Silas, but they decided not to wait for his answer (or they were pissed that Gundy wanted our team more than their's), so Paxon hired Silas. Maybe the Rox looked at Gundy as a better coach than Silas too.
To reading the disappointment displayed in the posts in this thread. Or how about 41 games * 2,000 season ticket sales directly attributable to hiring Brown * $20 = $2.5m. If you don't see a difference in advanced ticket sales between Brown and Dunleavy (who is the now the least expensive and most likely option), we'll have to leave it there. It's a no brainer IMO.
Something's fishy with the Silas thing. At the very least we interviewed him as a PR move or for leverage or something. He wasn't on the radar, wasn't considered a contender for the job, forever. And then suddenly we interview him. Why? And why, after Silas calls the Rockets job the superior one does he immediately take the Cavs job? Fishy. I think he got the feeling we weren't interested first when we didn't call him and then later directly after the interview. If we thought Gundy was the better choice and we thought we could get him, why interview Silas? And if we either suddenly thought Silas was a good choice or thought we might have trouble landing Gundy, why'd we let him go? Especially since we didn't even ask him for an interview until Brown started to bolt. We're not getting the whole story on this.
Read your post again. Do you see your ridiculous leap in logic? If you cut a player, you still have to pay him. This isn't the NFL. Further, Les has even gone that route before (see: Maloney, Matt). Please name me one team with a ~3.5 mill trade exception, or 3.5 mill in cap space that would take Moochie Norris off of our hands. Hell, name me one team that would take him off of our hands period. You said it yourself, Moochie doesn't bring much to the table. With cap space as valuable as it is, you don't think other teams realize that? If you're the Denver Nuggets do you: (a) take Moochie's terrible contract off the Rockets' hands, or (b) go after Gilbert Arenas with your cap space? After you do that, then trade Glen Rice, Kelvin Cato, and Mo Taylor for Kevin Garnett. We just got out-maneuvered. Joe Dumars won exec. of the year for a reason. But, I wouldn't be surprised if this contract came down to incentives. Hypothetically, suppose Detroit and Houston both offered 5 mill bases with the same incentive packages, the greatest incentive being say 1.5 mill for reaching the Finals. One team just came one series away from doing so, and has the #2 pick overall in the draft. They are a Jason Kidd change of scenery from being able to waltz through to the Finals. The other team didn't even make the playoffs, and would still have to go through Kobe/Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, CWebb, Nowitzki, et. al to get there. If you're Larry Brown, are these contracts equal in value? Not really. If they report the incentive clauses,we'll find out for sure, but the Pistons will have a much easier time getting a high seed, winning playoff series, and making it to the Finals than we will. If I'm Larry Brown, I'd certainly ask the Rockets for more guaranteed money than I would from the Pistons because of this. It's also worth noting, according to HoopsHype figure, Detroit has 15 million less in committed salaries for next year than we do. Chalk it up to Dumars' shrewdness or CD's lack thereof, but I don't think this is a case where Les is to be criticized for not spending. Detroit clearly had a lot more to spend, especially coming off 2 playoff seasons. I really hope that now we take the time to re-evaluate the situation. Bring in Carlisle. Now that Nelly is out of the playoff picture, start wooing him. Doc Rivers. Maybe even check out Mo Cheeks now that the Blazers have released him to talk to the Sixers. If we go through that,and Dunleavy or JVG manages to come out on top, so be it.
I wish all the people wining about the money issue with LB would shut the f**k up. Brown has not said, "I chose the Pistons because the Rockets low balled me" or anything of the sort. The bottom line is that the Pistons have offered money PLUS the easiest path to the finals in the Leastern conference. If the money was equal then I would still choose the Pistons over the Rocks because I would only have to worry about 3 teams versus 9 in the West. They had the best record in the East plus the number 2 pick. Why wouldn't he go there? The role of the coach is greatly ovestated as Feigen so eloquently put it in his article in the paper on Sun. I don't blame Les one bit for not paying LB 8 mil per year. HE AIN'T WORTH IT, NO COACH IS!!!!!!!! I would much rather have Les drop that kind of cash on another player. Plus, factor in the fact we still owe Rudy T. Why waste that much jack on a coach. It's the players that make a difference, spend money there! Schemes are great, motivation is important, zen philosophy might even be warranted in certain situations, but I don't know one coach that can defend Shaq in the paint, or one that could devise a scheme to shut down MJ or Hakeem for that matter. We will be fine. We will end up with a good coach, I think that there will be some roster moves, and I think that we will make the playoffs. Everyone freaking out needs to get in touch with EG and find out who is dealer is so they can calm down. I keep reading these freaking stupid posts about how now we aren't going to get any players because this is a sign that the Rocks aren't going to spend any money on players etc.. Ridiculous! These are the same people that are b****ing about us OVERPAYING MoT, Cato, and Mooch!
It is either penny pinching, or Les thinks that Larry Brown is NOT WORTH what he was paying a mediocre coach in Rudy. Fire CD as well and free up some money.
15 million less in committed salaries. True. But that won't last long. Richard Hamilton will get a Mo Taylor-sized contract. Those other youngsters will ask for the dough-re-mi soon. Still, Dumars gets the credit. While CD and Les piffle about, Dumars interviews and hires Larry Brown, then fires Carlisle right before making the announcement. The man will have a team to stand up to the West in about two or three years, and very little cap flab.
Well, we've still got Posey to resign. And we have 2 youngsters of our own, one of which will be getting a Steve Francis-sized contract (Yao), and if the other (Griff) ever starts reaching his potential, may be in the same realm. If it comes down to resigning a guy who at least IMO is a key piece like Posey, or being able to spend the "extra" to get a guy like Brown vs. a guy like (hopefully) Carlisle or JVG, I'll take the player over the coach. TheFreak might agree.
seems to me like this is another case of an owner saying what the people want to hear to cause a buzz, but not actually planning to go hard at the best coach. that is the way les made it seem. he says he wants the best coach out there and gets everyone excited just to say they couldn't get him and settle for a lesser coach with a lesser price tag. oh well les just killed his championship chances.
I can't believe this. Les gets his new arena and then goes Drayton McClane on us with one of the most important decisions in years. If there was anyone out there that could get the most out of our talent it was Larry Brown. After all the stupid money we've spent on Maloney, Moochie, Mo Taylor, Cato, etc. I can't believe we're passing on someone who's finally the smart bet.
All I see in my original post is missing information. I did not mean to come off as if Moochie has any trade value which is why I said Moochie AND ANTOHER PLAYER. I knew damn well that other player would be a Mo Taylor or an Eddie Griffin and personally I think that would have been a wise move to get Brown in the fold.
Good take. No way that Pistons team gets past the first round in the West. Larry Brown has given himself the chance to ride Wallace and Rip into the NBA Finals. Once he's there, he thinks that all bets will be off, and that the title's his for the taking. It could get especially easy this summer if Kidd goes West, leaving the East completely dry. Next season, Larry Brown will be coaching his 7th team. That means he has coached 22% of the 31 NBA teams. He's been to the Finals once, and got torched by the Lakers. Big f'n deal. He wants $8 million for that? I swear, some people on this board think that having Brown is the equivalent of having Jesus Christ himself leading this team.
I would say Dunleavy or whoever are a new set of eyes and would implement some sort of offensive strategy that currently doesn't exist.
That's how I interprut it as well. I feel Les took the approach that the Rockets was the best job and that Brown should "imrpess" them. Look what Detroit did really, they offered Brown the job without an interview! Clearly they loved Brown from the get go. Brown must have loved the fact that this team was that much in love with him. Conversely the Rockets didn't show any love. Where's the love? ....
I haven't posted much on the subject of coach hunting in the last few days. Maybe I don't know who is really the best coach. Maybe I don't care. From the way people react to the "losing out on Brown" thing, it is clear that how much one blames Les/CD generally (not absolutely, I know) reflects how much he/she like Brown. I, for one, am glad that the Rockets didn't engage in a "bidding war" on a coach. I mean, bidding wars on players were bad enough to warrant some limitation (the Cap) in the CBA. Now you want teams to throw out ludicrous money to get the hyped "free agent" coaches? This is why the past few days were so nauseating to me. All those firing and hiring hypes. Evaluating values of players is difficult and unpredictable enough. With players, at least you have the statistics to get some sense of objectivity. Now we are talking about how certain it is that a coach will help a team when 80% of a coach's job is unknown to the public. Give me a break! We are talking about money that is worth a star player's salary. Is a coach's impact worth a star player's? I seriously doubt it. I know, the coach's salary doesn't occupy cap space. (In fact, the way it is developing, I am for counting coaches salaries in a larger cap--yes, Cuban, including assistant coaches!) OK, I digress. If you ask me to point a finger, I blame those who campaigned for Rudy's firing. Les made the decision. But I bet he's under quite a bit of pressure from the fans who said Rudy was the reason we didn't get to the playoffs. Those people never considered how the monetary ramification in Rudy's remaining contract would affect our ability to land a coach who is clearly superior to Rudy (if there was indeed one). Now we know. OK, I have vented. I feel much better now.
Not to mention doing away with that garbage ISO basketball. Seeing that new Nike commercial with Jermaine O'Neal playing a pickup game against Paul Pierce reminded me of the Rockets under Rudy.
Did you read Clutch's article? And even if you hate Larry Brown it still should disturb you that we might not be able to get a top-tier coach because of Les' budget, especially after firing Rudy.
Mo Taylor? Funny. I didn't know teams had 12 million in cap space to blow on a backup PG and a PF coming off a major injury, is a borderline starter and on signed to a high dollar contract for the next 1/2 decade. Griffin, maybe you're onto something. But you still haven't found me the team with 6 mill in cap space or trade exception that would be able to make it happen, and would have any reason to do so.
