What the hell does Odom and Brian freaking Grant have to do with it? This is just my opinion, but I think the problem was that Francis and Mobley couldn't trust their teammates and frankly they were bad at passing the ball. They were getting better at it last year, but it certainly wasn't enough.
I was in the huddle, you're right. I heard Rudy say "I want you to dribble the ball in place for 23 seconds straight, then fire up a shot". Seriously. Then Francis said "okay, since we don't have Brian Grant, I guess we don't have much choice- sounds good".
I thought Denver was supposed to be one of those teams in the West with size that the new Lakers were going to get torn up by. You know, they signed that enforcer K-Mart.
You're insulting Rudy more than you're insulting Francis and Cuttino. If a coach can't get players to run his plays, he's not a good coach.
I'm not necessarily saying that. I'm saying that what we saw on the court may not be what he envisioned. That's not to say that it wouldn't have changed. This is a good article on that.
You're not usually prone to such ridculous strawmen. The offense with Francis was never as simple or as ineffective as this post -- and many many posters -- makes out. Resorting to such over-the-top hyperbole makes conversation impossible.
steve and cuttino did what rudy told them. rudy liked to iso as it brought about the biggest singular mismatches one could find. the personnel we had during rudy's tenure was good for an iso offense. it was a good choice until yao clogged up the middle and the zone started. thus we went to more pnr last year. in 2001 it was the perfect choice for a team with two amazing creators and other guys who weren't that good but could shoot (especially walt and bull in that respect). it won games. the lakers don't have perfect iso people because they don't have great shooters to keep the D honest and they're best ISOer won't see almost any single teams. they are quick 2-4 and possibly at the 5 now. rudy isn't stupid. thus the lakers run a different offense with quite a bit of movement. considering odom passes well and kobe is smarter and more gifted at running an offense than francis, this is a good idea. summation: everyone did what they should have and were told to, and the lakers offense fits them now. if orlando has the shooters, steve and cuttino iso'ing is probably a good idea. if they don't (and with cato and howard starting they probably don't) then they will try other things i assume like running more and having more movement. all of this of course is just imo.
Martin's the same guy that was eaten alive by Duncan when they met in the Finals. They've got a nice rotation, but I wouldn't say that they have size. They've got 3 above average power forwards trying to cover up the fact that there is no center on the team. I wouldn't call Mihm a stiff, but it should be alarming that Denver allowed him to break out like that.
it's like when i said our offense looked the same as last year. you would've thought i insulted boki or something with the response i got.
Too true, and I miss the guy more than ever. The Rox game yesterday was absolutley disgusting to watch.
Hey, The Freak, thanks for the link to the cool article. Unfortunately, I lack the hard data these days to give you any more love than that right now, sorry. But I do appreciate alternative takes on my boy Rudy... As for JVG, I don't have the hard data to attack him with, either, but I DO HATE THE KNICKIFICATION OF THE ROCKETS. Have to say it. The Knicks haven't been even a little bit cool since the days of Walt and the Pearl... imo? If you insist. Sorry, Spike. (signed, emotion-based rox fan)
This above link is very telling about Rudy. My view of Rudy.... Rudy's game plan evolved over time. But he was mainly an iso type coach when he had talented players. The thing is, he overused the iso when he did have talent. And once the player got a taste of that "iso" Rudy didn't want to change it. Keep the player happy (too nice to say "no?")! The Olympics he had average players. Thus he used more a five-man game plan. But it was VERY basic! Rudy could only do what he knew back in 92-93 (new head coach). He was limited in his offensive sets (more so back then, than now). But had to do iso's because he relied (partialy due to Rudy's greenness in coaching and his small-foward experience) on the talent of the particular player he had. It's great when you have Hakeem. But not so great when you have Francis. Drexler brought something new. His own plays. He could create where there was no play. Drexler made Rudy's plays look good because of this creativity. But it was *all* Drexler. Same with Barkley. Both Drex and Barkley were creative passers. Hakeem, not so much. But he could make it up with his dominant isos. Francis was "dominant" sometimes. So, the rules don't apply to Francis the same as Hakeem (obvious!). Well, guss what? Rudy didn't change it. The Cat (and Francis ) was already out of the bag. Plus, he was having fun watching the Francis/Mobley clearouts (he said as much). Rudy putting the offense (isos) in the hands of ones "best player" can be good and bad for a team. It just depends on how good that players decision making is. "Steve gets so competitive, sometimes he doesn't always make good decisions," Tomjanovich says. "But I've had conversations with him in the middle of the night about how guys are feeling, how he's doing as a leader. The kid has a good heart." - Rudy
