Five Reasons why Ewing will be a Great Rockets’ coach: 5) Almost universally underappreciated and misunderstood by New Yorkers. Must be an OK guy. 4) Legacy of knowledge? How about Red Auerbach and Bill Russell to John Thompson to Patrick Ewing to Mutumbo, Mourning, and OthellaMyFella. Hmm… I’m guessing someone along that line mentioned “defense” and “intensity.” Just a hunch. 3) Those nostrils (when flared) are lethal weapons. 2) Everything Yao needs to work on, Ewing learned to be great at… and, 1) In a fight, Ewing can go high, Van Gundy can go low.
I understand what you're saying, basically, Les wants to move NY to Houston. lol Too bad he wasn't able to fire Calvin for a NYer. However, it is my opinion that the bond the new coach has with his assistants is more important that the current assistants. TheFreak, CD is still here. Calvin is still here. Dennis Lindsey is still head of scouting Joe Ash is still here And Johnson looks to be here as well...although Greer might be taking his spot. So we lost Rudy and Popeye...but we gained two little eager curiosities in JVG and YoYao.
This isn't college. NBA basketball is a business. There's not a single Houston native on our roster. They've all been brought in from other places. We were fortunate to have two lifetime Rockets in Hakeem and Rudy running the show in the 90's. But it's time to move on, and do what's best for the team. Part of what makes the league so challenging is assembling a team from pieces around the world.
Personally, I would do the same to transform the whole assistant slot to fit Van Gundy instead of bring in last years assitants... we need a fresh start & a new look... Having Ewing would be a big plus to Yao, having an experienced, battle tested, hall of fame Center as an assitant will be much more valuable than someone like Ellie. Forget hiring people that is Houston bond or having a houston background... the Rocket should only consider who would be the most appropriate person for a position on the team... if that person appears to be Ewing, who cares about his past? Let his future speeak for him!
Please don't tell me you're comparing the hiring of Patrick Ewing to the hiring of a skinhead and a KKK member. You said you thumb your nose at athletes and just assume that they're not very smart. Well don't you think that you're taking your sports rivalry and dislike of a player and making it into a personal grudge? I mean when you hate a player because he played for the Knicks and denied your favorite team an NCAA title TWENTY YEARS ago, then you need to take a step back and have some perspective. And there isn't a rule that you have to have people connected to Houston working for the Rockets.
What are we the Houston Knickerbockers? I can't stand the Knicks or the Jazz...so having a player or coach from either is just crap.
<b>We now have a bench full of Knicks, and no player that's been around longer than 4 years. </b> You see a bench full of Knicks, I see a bench full of guys who happened to work for the Knicks for a living. As for not having a player that has been around for longer then 4 years it's called rebuilding.
I'm not. I was responding to the assertion that it doesn't matter what players you have as long as you win. I disagree with that. Personal grudge? More like loyal/rabid fan who takes rivalries seriously, perhaps. I'm not in favor of the hire. So what? If someone is just going to sit on the Rockets' bench and not make much of a difference (one of the defenses of hiring Ewing - "who cares, they're just assistants"), I'd rather that person NOT be Patrick Ewing. I don't hate the guy. Don't be so dramatic.
No, I see a bench full of guys I don't know. It makes it harder to root for guys I don't know. Maybe that's just me. But as hp pointed out, Joe Ash is still around, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought.
This is a great news. Ewing was a good center and also has experince of coaching. More importantly, he wants the job. He will be able to help Yao.
Ewing is in the top 20 all-time in Scoring, Rebounding, and Blocked Shots! I am not a Ewing fan but for him to come in and be a mentor for Yao is great. What will all you whiners have to say about Ewing if he does help Yao develop into a center who carries us to the Finals!! He will help just give him a chance. He is just the fourth assistant on the staff and only going to work with the big men, hopefully he can help EG and MoT as well.
"I remember when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn and we didn't have these new fangled horsless carriages." 30 going on 80, eh, Freak? I think my point is this... Change is absolutely inevitable. It is the nature of life, let alone sports. Some of my favorite players growing up were Rockets and others were not, but they are all gone now. I can sit around crying that they'll never be back and my childhood is gone or I can embrace the team now and be happy. There are kids today who will grow up with Yao and Francis and have no clue who Robert Reid was and probably won't care even if you told them. Some of them will probably grow up to complain when new players come along hopefully many years from now. But, real fans support and appreciate the team for who it is, not for who it WAS. You don't have to like everything they do. I don't. But, that doesn't mean you bail out on them. What are you going to do? Be a Spurs fan? A Mavs fan? Quit watching basketball altogether? I mean, who is more a fan, the guy who continues to root for the team despite questionable moves by the franchise or the guy who gives up when the team isn't absolutely beholden to tradition and what the team did in the past? And see, this is the problem... By making the decision that the team just isn't what it was and never will be, you run the risk of never enjoying how entertaining and good the team could be. It's easy to just sit around and say, "Oh, I don't know anyone so I don't like them." Try reading about them. Maybe you'll find out you really DO like them and you might even end up rooting for them!
TheFreak- I guess I can understand your laments about the lack of Rocket character on the roster, but what I don't understand is your disdain for Ewing for what he did to the Cougars. I can even understand not liking him for being a Knick (New York guy), or if the Rockets had blown game 7. But, Ewing hasn't done anything to deserve Rocket fan hatred on the level of Stockton, Malone, or Quitten. The guy was a pretty fantastic NBA center, and he claims he wants to teach. IMO, JVG is not going to bring an assistant on his staff just because he has name recognition- JVG coached Ewing for 5+ years, so I'm guessing JVG has confidence in Ewing's ability to become a coach.
Lighten up,Leroy! He will just add a depth in our coaching staff and besides when Ewing was on his prime he is hard to contained in the paint and he has a strong foundation on tutoring young kid called YAO! He'll be fine.
Glad to see JVG's assistant coaching staff (Ewing and the rest of them) have been signed. Now we can get down to business! As for Ewing, count me in as one that likes the move. I personally dont give a crap about Ewing being a Knick or his Georgetown team beating Houston etc etc. The past is the past, it is all about the present now. Bottom line is Ewing was a good NBA center and this is someone that Yao can learn from on a DAILY basis while playing for the Rockets. Yao can practice with Ewing on a daily basis on the court. That is huge. I would rather Yao learn things (and practice against) Ewing than Cato or Larry Smith. Agreed? Ewing is also someone not far removed from the game and has gone to war with many of the better bigmen in the game today. Surely he has plenty of tricks and tactics to teach Yao about playing against these players. Again, another plus. Ewing might even be a good influence on Cato, Taylor and Griffin. Who knows? Again, another plus. If JVG is confident enough to hire Ewing to his staff then I think it is safe to say that JVG thinks Ewing will make a difference for this team in teaching our bigmen and that's really all that matters. JVG's staff seems to be pretty experienced and one of their assistants Tom Thibideau (sp?) was even mentioned as a head coaching candidate for a few jobs this offseason. If that is the case then other teams must think highly of him and it is nice to have a "2nd in command" on the bench that is a head coaching candidate. Did we have that last year? No. So the staff looks well experienced. Isn't this something we were all clamoring for last season? The head coach and staff are in place....now onto the Summer Leagues and the Free Agents!
