Now, let's see if the Rockets can translate this to an actual on-court performance. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1254866 Rockets try to turn rare practice time into improved play By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Rudy Tomjanovich had been waiting for these days. They had jumped out from the schedule the way Michael Jordan's first game against the Bulls or against Phil Jackson's Lakers leaped from his. But Tomjanovich did not worry about winning games or making a run at the pack of playoff teams on the other end of the standings. For three days, the Rockets would not win, guaranteed, and he would not mind. This would be the week the Rockets would have three consecutive days -- and four in five days -- with no games to play. Tomjanovich finally would have enough healthy, NBA-caliber bodies to push and push hard. For the first time in weeks, he would pick out a few problems and try to solve in them in something once known as "practices." "That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Tomjanovich said. The plan has not entirely worked out. After a long, tough practice that Tomjanovich almost celebrated Monday, the Rockets had to go without Steve Francis on Wednesday while he fought migraine pain. But there were still enough healthy bodies to put to work Wednesday with two of the Rockets' most glaring weaknesses this season in mind. "Just our overall defense, we have to improve in that area, and our running game," Tomjanovich said. " ... Nothing makes a coach feel better than having a good workout and getting some things ironed out. It's not the same doing things on the blackboard." The Rockets had been blackboard bound, with the exception of one Sunday practice, for a month. Even when the schedule allowed full workouts, the Rockets did not have enough players to work with five on a side. "Of course, the fast break or defense has to be worked on because teams are working on stopping us offensively, defensively," Cuttino Mobley said. "Right now is a great time to learn. We haven't had that in a while." But retooling the defense and ironing out the fast breaks need full complements of players. The Rockets rank 28th in the NBA in opponents' field-goal defense. Beginning with consecutive games in which their fast break was scoreless, the Rockets have averaged 9.8 fast-break points per game in their past 12 games. Even that is misleading in that they had been wildly inconsistent, ranging from five games with eight or fewer fast-break points to two with 19 or more. Stepping up defensively and on the break would seem to begin with a mind-set change. "It's got to become a way of life," Tomjanovich said. "We had situations where we've been shorthanded. When you're shorthanded, guys get winded and you're intensity level, because you don't have the manpower, goes down a little bit. We've been so close, you can't coast." Said Rockets guard Moochie Norris: "There's no reason to pace yourself. I'm glad he made the statement, `if I see you're not doing it, I'll pull you out, give you rest and put you back in.' " But Tomjanovich also said effort and intensity is only the start. He cited the emphasis on overplaying on inbounds passes as one area in which the Rockets already had benefited. Mobley's late steal of a Grant Long inbounds pass sealed the Rockets' victory over the Grizzlies on Tuesday. But even getting a running game to click will require more than Tomjanovich standing in front of his bench shouting "push it." He wants more production from "early offense" when the Rockets do push the ball. "You don't know exactly where the defense will be, but you have the principles," he said. "When you make them have to make decisions quickly, they aren't as good as when they have time to react. If they don't have time to react, with our athletic ability, we got a couple real nice ones we took all the way to the basket. "We've been doing that for a month whenever we had a practice. We're focused in on doing a couple things in that early offense." As with the start of training camp, the Rockets were all for emphasizing improvement in their defense and running game, even if it meant longer, harder practices leading into Saturday's game against Orlando. Tomjanovich's hope is the Rockets will "buy into" his demands to run at every opportunity, even if the efforts don't always lead to fast-break baskets, the way they embraced his re-emphasis on defense. "You have to bust your butt every time," he said. "You have to have some principles. Getting it done efficiently is hard work. And you have to know eight out of nine times you're going to run and not get the ball. But it's a sacrifice-type thing because the guys who run and don't get the ball are just as important as the guys who get the ball because they are occupying the guys on the opposite side of the floor." To do that, particularly in practice, requires enough running to train for a marathon, and the Rockets haven't even had the toughest practice yet. But they did notice the change Monday. "The first day back, we were talking about how much we were doing (in practice)," Norris said. "But it worked out for the best. Our shots weren't falling (Tuesday). But the most important thing and most positive thing is we saw how we can do things defensively. Rudy said we were letting teams shoot 47 percent on us, and we've got to knock that down to 41, 42. We did that right out of the box the first game. Now we have to keep up that pace. "We have to work on defending guys one-on-one. ... Now we have to give the break more effort." If it works, Tomjanovich can start looking forward to when the Rockets start playing actual games again.
I know this was said in jest, but you are completly wrong. It is the opposite that is true. If he first started to coach NOW then his arse better be fired. But of course Rudy have been coaching all along, but how good can it get when you have to pull people in from the streets if you want a full practice squad?
I just could not believe what I was reading. It helps that I have known (followed) Rudy for some time and I am aware that he has had teams before playing top defense and running. I have been calling for all the things he is now talking about putting in since preseason. I said then the rotation should be long and no player should play more that 30 mins but they should increase their per min production by pressing and running. The thing is RT went away from that in the early part of the season when he had his backcourt leading the league in minutes played. They both subsequently went down with injuries. I think he lacked faith in how deep his team was and seemingly forgot how long a campaign the season is. As it turned out he was then forced to play OT, Tmo and EG due to injuries and the team is better off as a result. So in retrospect he should have stuck with his guns and gone with the long rotation early. To me, that is the fundamental difference between us and NJ. If you look at it RT had a better squad that NJ at the start despite the fact that Rice was hampered. The both teams had effective point guards, we had a better shooting guard, we had better 5's, KT and Kenyon are comparable and they worked in 3 rookies as we have eventually done. The only difference is that they stuck to running and it worked out. As a side note, looking back on it, we should have kept Jones instead of Brown. We may not have gone 1-18 without SF.
We have heard numerous times this season and in seasons past that the Rockets have not been able to run as many practices as they'd like because of the schedule or injuries or because Rudy wants to keep their legs fresh. I don't think Sloan's ever had this problem. Does this bother anyone else? Here it goes, my first comment ever even vaguely critical of Rudy's style: why doesn't he work his players harder?
It appears to me that someone is just now realizing that Rudy has been coaching. As was stated in the article the chances for the Rockets to really practice and correct problems have been zero, because of schedule and injury.
Just because Houston's one paper says it, doesn't mean it isn't true. There is logic in the comments and the Rockets have mentioned it before now. Where in the NBA travel schedule, games, etc. would you find time to practice with 10 healthy Rockets? I would like to see the Rockets problems fixed just as much as everyone else would, and maybe more. But that doesn't mean there is the time to have the practices needed to do it all. And even if they were able to put those changes into place, due to injuries the line up changes again and the team is back scratch.
i have a hard time buying into the injury/schedule excuse. crispee tried that excuse a long time ago and it still doesn't fly with me... #1) ALL NBA TEAMS HAVE INJURIES. granted, we have been hard particularly hard, but when is that NOT the case??? it seems we always have players injured (hakeem, barkley, clyde, francis, rice, mobley, etc.) that said, the players that ARE on the court often look completely confused, and that bothers me. since when was practice only for your "star" players? the last time i checked, ALL players participate (if able) in practice, and thus should never appear LOST on the court. having a lack of talent or ability would be excusable, but not knowing what to do is not. #2) SCHEDULE, SCHMEDULE...THERE'S ALWAYS A DAMN SCHEDULE. as an nba coach, you have to find time to practice. do you know there are hockey teams that VOLUNTEER to practice on holidays? that's dedication. and, does this mean that all other nba teams are not able to practice due to schedule, also? or is there an nba scheduling conspiracy against the rockets? dedication to the team has to be there in order for us to succeed. and that means finding time to practice. i wonder if rudy cannot grasp that concept, seeing as how he has always been blessed with veteran superstars (hakeem, clyde, barkley, elie, etc.) that understood the game of basketball, therefore not needing as much practice time. now that he must actually "coach" (which implies a certain degree of teaching) it appears that he is not nearly as comfortable, nor successful. #3) TRANSITION HAS BEEN A PROBLEM FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS. what does practice time have to do with that? that goes beyond practice time. that goes into your players not executing what you're teaching. and in that situation, either the players need to be disciplined or the coach needs to be fired. well, our players are hardly disciplined correctly, IMO. a) oscar torres has been phenomenal when given 20-30 minutes per game. but in the past month, his playing time has been drastically reduced in favor of TMO????? what is rudy reinforcing by doing that? b) moochie "The Little Dribbler" norris has dribbled the freakin helium out the ball more times than i care to remember, yet is constantly rewarded with crucial 4th quarter minutes. c) steve francis has repeatedly not pushed the ball when given the opportunity. now, i'm sure rudy talks to him about it...but at some point, you have to put some bite into your bark. if he's not pushing the ball, pull his ass out! he'll get the point (pun intended). point guards push the rock, not skip with the rock! d) our offense is still predicated on isolation. this despite blatant league attempts to deter this kind of offense. when was the last time there was weak side ball movement within the first 10 seconds of a possesion for us??? i can't remember when. yet, we wonder why "good shooters" become "average" or "subpar" shooters when they get here...well, hello, it's rather difficult to shoot a high percentage when your point guards (d)(1) don't push the ball (d)(2) dribble the spalding off the label (d)(3) kick it to you with 2 seconds left on the shot clock still, we have made very, very mild improvement in getting into an early offense. these are not schematic difficulties. these are things as simple as getting your team to run up and down the court, and get either a quick strike/quick post or get into a quick, passing, motion offense where our slashers (cat, steve, torres, etc.) are best utilized. to blame those things on a lack of practice time and scheduling is BS to me. i can understand us not achieving perfection...but i've have seen only MILD, MILD, MILD improvement in some areas (involving griff) and serious stagnation in others (the little dribbler, not pushing the ball, not getting into the offense early). these appear to be philosphical problems, not repitition problems.
Can someone point to me a time in the Chronicle where a writer has questioned Rudys coaching style? Injuries hurt teams, and maybe the backups cannot perform as well as the starters, but there is always a resemblance that at least some plays are being called. Now you can argue that maybe the players don't attempt to excute them, and if thats the case... they need to have their arse on the trading block or cut. I just want to see some movement on the offense, even if a bad pass is thrown oout of bounds. At least its showing me Rudy is designing some plays.
I agree with you on Moochie's dribble addiction, but I think having him in crucial 4th quarter minutes isnt a bad idea at all, just as long as he isnt running the play. How many times has Mooch nailed a 3 to force OT or win a game this year? If anything, I think that in itself warrants a little PT in the closing minutes.
