Wow, it is not even close. Rudy is a great coach and great person. I respect him very much. JVG is very good coach too, but he has not got a ring yet, maybe never get a one. You can talk what ever you want, but no ring or two rings are a huge different. As a person, no comment.
Da Dakota...err...Mr. John Kerry...with all due respect as US Senator... You can't keep flip flopping like this. Even I don't have enough ductape to continue to fix the broken ankles you get jumping on and off the bandwagon. Geez, you would think that you think I have some kind of warehouse that cranks out tape by the second!!! Mr. Kerry, can't you see you are ruining your rep on this board? Its comical how you continue to post knee-jerk reactions after every loss. And during winning streaks, we get: 1) Rockets won BUT!... 2) The team is coming together. 3) They were clutch. 4) Starting to grow on me 5) We are the World...We are the Children humming. Sir, I understand that you want team to win. But you are becoming a cartoon character. How many times do you have to state that JVG is not the coach for this team? Two billion more times? How many times are you going to react every time the team loses with senseless postings indicating the team is going to be gone in round one? Five billion more times? We get it. You don't like JVG. You know I do love JVG. But guess what? I already stated that I don't give a freaking **** if the whole team gets diarrhea and can't play round one and forfeit, he is GONE. GONE, GONE! No flip-flopping. No knee-jerks. I try to install hope and faith in the team and let the **** fall where it may. But man...Mr. Senator...your approval rating around here is Bush like. I am starting to think I was right for voting for GW! That takes massive flip-flopping for me to even consider saying that.
DD I'm very disappointed in the wording of your poll question but I think you knew exactly what you were doing in not adding for this team. This thread was just an excuse for you to incite jabs at JVG by using the icon that Rudy T is. JVG wins hands down for this team. Yao, who has been coached by both, said in pryuen’s thread during this season that he would prefer a JVG type coach over any of the coaches he’s had because he needs to be pushed and kept on his toes. Tracy loves him too and is the type of player that also needs to be pushed. And those of you taking shots a JVG listing Knick players acquisitions and him quitting on New York as blemishes, etc ... Be Fair. Where is your list for Rudy's blemishes and don't conveniently ignore them because he's won championships either because it looks bad when you start debating with your emotions instead of with reason.
People who've replied and used the " rings = good coach " theory need to understand that a lot of the best coaches have barely any rings or one at all and a lot of mediocre coaches have a lot of rings. Larry Brown, Mike Fratello, Hubie Brown, Jeff Van Gundy, George Karl, Jerry Sloan...very little rings or no ring at all. Phil Jackson, Gregg Popavich, Rudy, Chuck Daly, and Pat Riley have multiple rings. Talent matters in the NBA. Good situational luck matters in the NBA. Great coaches may not have these things and come out with the short end of the straw.
BTW, verdict's still out on Avery. Too early to say whether or not he's the real thing. He's looking like the next Phil Jackson. Could.
JVG: 85, Rudy: 80 on a scale of 100. I would score Jeff higher if he loosens up a bit, cuts down on the criticism and develops the young players more. I would score Rudy higher if he had done the opposite. Jeff is better at defense, maybe even the offensive end. Rudy did not show me any thing special. His team played good but not great defense. They depended on Hakeem to make up for the mistakes of other players. The same on the offensive end. All we did was tossing the ball into Hakeem and hope he scores or kicks out for an open look. Rudy is scored lower even with 2 rings because I feel we could have had more. We had Hakeem. I remember another poll where the majority voted Olajuwon to be the best Rocket, with 2nd place not even close. If that is the feeling then you can't say Rudy was not blessed with having great talents. The rest of the players he had were pretty good too, they all stepped up at one time or another. Clyde, Otis, Sam, Horry, Mario .... Scottie quit on his own, Clyde clashed with Barkley but the coach has to take some of the blame. If you put the blame on Jeff for not getting more out of his players, you can't let Rudy have a free pass either. Of course when he had Francis, it was simply a 1 on 1 Stevie's show, there wasn't much coaching to be judged. Jeff actually have not had a healthy team for a year yet but he is close. He does not have any more slacks. If this team does not get out of the 1st round, he is in trouble.
Uhh... it wasn't the cancer. It was the steadfast loyalty to scrub players (and giving them huge undeserving contracts). The list should read like some bizzare manifesto... Maloney, Moochie, Maurice, Cato. It was the questionable trades/non-trades that severely sapped both the possibility to contend right away (refusing to trade Rhodes for Stoudamire), or rebuild for the future (trading 3-1 Eddie Griffin). It was the inability to make the playoffs for FOUR years (and not win a playoff series in six), in a league where more teams make the playoffs than those who don't. The cancer may have pushed him out faster than he would have liked... but Rudy T failed to lead the Rockets to respectability after Hakeem went past his prime. If you transplanted this board to around the 2000 or 01 season, there would be at least 80 threads about the ineptitude of the coaching staff and management. Then again, its silly to hold Rudy (or any other coach who's won a championship before) to some era of perfection every time they're out there. They ALL have flaws... Phil Jackson isn't winning a title any time soon, and Pat Riley didn't look like exactly like a coach who had 5 rings if you just looked at his Knicks tenure (one finals appearence) or his first stint in Miami (multiple dissapointing early playoff exits). In the end, I thought Rudy the coach was MUCH better than Rudy the GM... and when you realize that the 93 and 94 team were essentially the product of Patterson and Weinhauer drafting/signing/trading... it makes the dillema of Rudy calling all the shots in the late 90's, early 2000's even more troublesome.
You are probably right - sad to say. Steve - god love him was a lost cause. I still like Cuttino though.
IMO at least JVG developed Yao. If TMac is the same efficient Mac as in 2004-2005, we'll be a serious contender soon
Judging by the way JVG treats to rookies, I can't imagine what Yao's rookie year would be like if JVG was on charge...
Popovich and Rudy lucked into it, as you said. Great coaches create their own career opportunities to be in great situations. Larry Brown went to Detroit, because of his previous coaching stints with multiple teams. Same with Pat Riley to the Heat. PJ went to the Lakers, because of what he did in Chicago. I believe Houston is a good situation. JVG should be able to make it out of the first round, despite what others say. I am rooting for the Rockets.
Easy. After yao's 0 point effort, he would have been firmly been at the end of the bench. Then JVG would say Yao is mentally weak if he wanted to go back to china.
By the way, just to answer the question for the Senator, I think X's and O's wise, very few can match JVG. But if you want to be fair, JVG has no rings. Rudy has two. Yea, he had Hakeem. But them be the breaks. You can't say Jackson is great and then do what the Senator always does and add BUT... No, no buts. Though I think Riley is better than Phil, that is probably the exception rather than the rule. If you say JVG is better than Rudy, then you might as well say Carslile is better than Rudy or that Karl is better than Rudy or that Sloan is better than Rudy. They haven't done jack. And frankly, neither has my main man JVG. I love JVG because he is young, very well respected by his peers and players and he can freakin coach. Forget the fact that Rudy is an icon, he got the job done when it mattered. Who else drew up the plays after time outs? Mr. Magoo? Give Rudy the vote here. But in about 5 years... By the way, I think I voted for the wrong dude. So, subtract one from the total. Wish I could do that with my 2004 vote!
That is a pretty impressive list of coaches with multiple rings. If JVG gets blown out of the first round this year he won't be back ~ that speaks volumes.
I think he will be back regardless. Les is a New Yorker, and I think JVG buying those seats and starting the Red Rowdies will get him a new contract even if he loses in the first round. DD
