Axeman, you've made some valid points for keeping Rudy, but c'mon, at least a couple of them border on ridiculous. - The wolves sure as hell don't have more talent than we have. They are better coached. There's no way around this one. - Saying that we already have won more games than last year and that's a great sign of improvement is untrue. Last year we spent the entire season without Mo, Rice, and we were also without Francis during that loooong stretch of losses. That being said, Rudy should stay, and a trade will happen, sooner or later. Mobley is the odd man out, and now that Francis has stated that he would like to play the 2, a pg is an absolute must for this team. I'm still hoping that we can at least end up with either Miller or Grant and at least fix one of our roster problems.
PS. I sincerely hope that this Petition is not going forward under our Forums name, for no good can come of it!
come on dude! rudy t is a class act and i love the guy to death. he doesnt deserve that. if we miss the playoffs again than i think it would be time for him to go. but honestly, barring a TOTAL collapse i bet he keeps his job, playoffs or not. i doubt les would let him go as we are going into a new building and all. i would love to see rudy stay and go out on his own terms, but if we miss out again than it is time for him to go. i just hope it is done in a manner in which he deserves, which is with class and dignity. IF he must go, i would hope he would be allowed to step down rather than be fired. i dont offend easily, but calling rudy t osama bin laden is just a total dumb ass thing to say and it bothers me. that is totally tacky.
Nope. Kevin Garnett by himself is better than Francis, Mobley, Griffin, and Posey COMBINED. The Wolves have more talent than the Rockets.
Rudys not goin anywhere ya'll. Even if the Rockets miss the playoffs this year, i doubt he'll be gone after this season. Les loves Rudy and I dont think he will be blamed for this teams short-comings. Gauranteed though, if this team fails next year. Rudy is gone and this team will definitely have to question its identity...not that it already does'nt...
Did you ever consider that Griffin just isn't that good of a player? I guess the fact that he hasn't improved yet cancels out the improvements of guys like Mobley, Kenny Thomas, Cassell, Horry, Harrington, etc? I guess Rudy gets no credit for those guys, right? But since Griffin isn't getting it done, it's all Rudy's fault? I see how it works.
If that is so, we might as well give up for good, since nearly our entire roster isn't better than Garnett - who has led his team to five straight seasons where it failed to advance past the first round. "combined"... a lame excuse just got a helluva lot lamer. Saunders is a better coach than Rudy because he does more with less.
Update: I have received 22 emails for a "Save Rudy" petition. Only 3 more and we cancel out the other one.
RRU, first of all, to compare Kobe with Eddie is just ridiculous in the first place. Kobe could end up surpassing Jordan as the best there ever was, while Eddie's best case scenario would be the equivalent career of, say, James Worthy. Kobe is just a better player, period. But another stat to keep in mind is that Kobe only started 8 games in his first 2 years, which Eddie has surpassed by a ton (62). How much worse would you consider Eddie's progress if he hadn't even broken into the starting lineup by now? Also, I noticed you didn't mention the other guys' stats I referred to: T-Mac: 19 starts in first 2 years 1st year, 7 ppg 2nd year, 9 ppg J.O'Neal: 18 starts in first 4 years 1st year, 4 ppg 2nd year, 4 ppg 3rd year, 3 ppg 4th year, 4 ppg and I'll throw in this one for a bonus... Nash: 78 starts in first 4 years 1st year, 3 ppg 2nd year, 9 ppg 3rd year, 8 ppg 4th year, 9 ppg Top ten picks do not automatically improve to all-stars in 2 years. Part of it is luck, part is determination, part is coaching, and part is circumstance. Eddie WILL improve, and if the Rockets lose patience before he does, then someone else will benefit from our mistake (ie, Phoenix losing Nash, Portland losing O'Neal, and Toronto losing T-Mac).
Yetti (and to Clutch, Jeff, etc). I would NEVER credit any organization as sponsoring or advocating a position on anything without the express consent of the organization in question (Something I learned in Journalism 101)! When I did submit the petition to Sports 610, all I said was that the petition was started by me on a local BBS: ClutchCity.Net. In no way did I intimate that CC.NET was responsible, or in support of the petition. I did suggest that anyone interested in doing so should visit the site to view other threads which are also critical of Rudy T. Presumably, if they visit the site, they will also see the numerous threads and posts in support of Rudy as well!!
Codel - please add my name against the Fire Rudy Petition- I cant get to use your E Mail.Thanks Yetti
The Mavs are better than the Rockets at this point in time. Do you think that if we had a different coach we would have beat them? It took Don Nelson 5-6 years to get his players to play at a consistent level. In Dirk's, Nash's and Finley's first full season together they were 40-42. Should Don have been fired? This is the first season the Rockets are actually playing together. I believe the nucleus (Yao, Francis, Griffen) of the rockets is good. We just need to keep them together and gain more experience as a team. No need to fire Rudy.
OK, at this point I am ready to reevaluate the two championship years. The players won in spite of Rudy's ineptness, and if Hakeem and if the Rockets actually had a good coach, they would have won more than two championships.
Thanos, I'll grant you the "combined" arguement is weak, but I would still argue that the 'Wolves are at worst equal to the Rox talent-wise. Garnett blows away our PF's, of course. Wally beats Mobley with a much better FG% and 3pt%. Then of course we have Francis and Ming over Hudson and Nesterovic. SF could be considered a wash pitting Posey/Rice vs Gill/Peeler. On the bench, Joe Smith puts up Cato-esque numbers, and Mo Taylor shoots 41%, only 12% worse than Gary Trent. So I guess I don't see the advantage we have in talent.
There you go chief. I sumitted my email to you. I doubt this will change anything, but at least Les will get some idea what some of us fans think. Way to go.
Wally was injured for most of the season. Joe Smith is injured right now. Posey/Rice/Tmo is a better rotation than Gill and Peeler, and we have two potentially dominant players in Francis and Yao, while the Wolves have only Garnett. There IS an advantage in talent. Oh, and I almost forgot this: look at all the turmoil that has surrounded them the past years. The team changes every year. Marbury and Gugliotta (he was good back then) left, Sealy died, Brandon broke down, their picks were TAKEN, Smith left and came back, and STILL they make the playoffs every damn YEAR!
if stockton had not hit that damn 3 over barkley than we would have had 3. WE WOULD HAVE BEAT THE BULLS-ARRGHH THE AGONY!
ok, obviously we disagree on this, but the point you made was that Rudy's not a good coach because we have alot of talent and aren't winning as much as Minn, right? Well, 11 games ago, we had the same friggin' record as Minn. Don't you think with the ups and downs of the season, we might actually end up ahead of them anyway? Would that suddenly transform Rudy into a good coach? My point is that a few wins or losses does not give evidence to a coach's ability. It must be measured over a period of years, and be based upon what he does with the talent he's given. To me, Rudy has shown an amazing ability to win with a crappy team over the last couple years. This year we finally have a nice, healthy nucleus of talent, and since we can't win 70% of our games, you guys want to scrap Rudy's plans and have the team learn a whole new system. The key here is patience. We WILL be in the WCF's by 2005. And Rudy will still be the coach. And you will love him.
