Rudy T or JVG - who is a better coach?

This is an excellent post. Thanks - For a fair and balanced analysis- discussion - these are good- valid points.

I voted Rudy as the better coach- but to be clear - I support Van gundy because I am a fan of this team.

Go Rockets!

 

See- IMHO- this is the crux- JVG cannot or will not adapt to changing situations. He will grind out Yao to death away from the basket-for example defending smaller players- ridiculous.

Rudy had a unique talent at changing game plans to play to Rockets Strengths- see '95 Suns series at "butt kicking time". This set of circumstances should rank as an all time coaching masterpiece.

 

Rudy went through a twelve step program. To his great credit he has successfully been sober for 9 years plus. Few people in normal lives successfully quit alchohol. In the spotlight this is much harder.

Great success and hapiness to you Rudy T!!

 

You can just credit that to Bob Sura and T-Mac- not one bit to Van Gundy....

 

You really do not need to go there. Rudy successfully got his life back and straightened out. To his credit he is a good man with a lot of strength.

 

Aside from the two championships, I would say Rudy T is not a superior coach to JVG.

Rudy T was fortunate enough to have a few things bounce his way, as do ANY championship runs need a certain amount of luck, also lets not forget he also had Hakeem.

I don't think its fair to automatically say Rudy T > JVG just because of the two championships..

It was a different time in basketball and the Rockets were a different team.

Let's just say Rudy T was a great coach for the THOSE Rockets, and JVG is a better coach for THESE Rockets

That said, JVG is ALSO a great coach.

 

Do not feel bad DaDakota- Langhi fooled me too. I thought we had something special in that summer league- he was shooting lights out and moving so well without the ball. I thought we had a 6' 10" Reggie Miller.

I will never judge a player by summer league play again.

 

I do not believe for a minute that Clyde would call Rudy "inept". If the Lakers let him go - that brings up the Rockets firing Rudy- Rudy handled that with class.

Before you predict Van gundy getting rings- he needs to get this team past Jerry Sloan- and he failed to do that in the Utah game sunday in the 4th Q- Van gundy was out coached.

 

Don't you thing JVG is the de facto GM- see Charlie Ward, Charles Oakley, keeping Juwan.....

 

Excellent post - thank you - balanced analysis.

 

DaDakota- My vote is for Rudy.

I respect Van Gundy and support him beause he is the team's coach-my first loyalty is to the team.

go Rockets!

Rudy had less to work with than Van Gundy. Rudy was a supreme innovator and di the most wit hwhat he had. IMHO there is no doubt in my mind that Rudy would have had us in the '05 playoffs had he not been fired.

Rudy would have been thrilled at the chance to coach T-Mac with Yao. Ask Yao what he thinks of Rudy......

 

Yeah, Yao would probably say that Rudy T was a great coach. But do you really think he means it. He is Chinese and many Americans don't understand Chinese customs. He would probably say so as to not disrespect Rudy. If Rudy is still the coach Yao would probably still be getting 5-10 shots per game and Cat and Franchise would still be around to irrritate us.

 

francis and mobley should have been taking most of the shots IMO. Yao was not ready to lead the team, and he still wasnt Mcgradys first year here.

Rudy T has 2 rings, JVG has none..... and you can bet rudy would have found a way to get bonzi wells into the offense.

RUDY T >>>> jvg

 

His first year, he coached the pre-TMac Rockets. They got to the first round of the playoffs and lost to the Lakers. So this is actually year 4 for the team under JVG.

 

Mark Jackson, Rod Strickland...

 

Which Rudy are we talking about? Is it the one that was blessed with a healthy Hakeem in the prime of his career, and the man that simply called all the right shots come playoff time, was a master at getting his team motivated enough to believe, and had a knack of finding role players who were able to overachieve?

Or are we talking about the Rudy who became very fixed/simplified in his coachiing style/x's and o's, who showed too much loyalty to players who didn't deserve it (and approved the massive horrible contracts to go along with it), who decided to waste the athleticism of Scottie Pippen in favor of the stagnant Barkley, and who failed to make the playoffs the last 6 years he was coaching, despite having one of the highest payrolls in b-ball?

I see very two different eras of Rudy T's time here... and the latter one is the reason he's not here anymore. Unfortunately the latter one is also the more recent one... and its also the one that doesn't possess one of the TOP FIVE to TEN PLAYERS EVER TO PLAY THE GAME BEFORE.

To say the championship years were more because of Rudy than Hakeem is being very irresponsible. To say JVG wouldn't get out of the first round if he had an MVP Olajuwon playing for him is also irresponsible. And to say Rudy is the only reason Olajuwon became an MVP is just as irresponsible as saying that JVG is the only reason Yao is dominating now.

To paraphrase Rick Pitino... "Hakeem Olajuwon isn't walking through that door... Otis Thorpe isn't walking through that door... and Rudy Tomjanovich, god bless him, isn't going to be coaching the Houston Rockets (or any other team)."

I understand its fun to be nostalgic, but when you start longing to go back to how things used to be... and you start letting it effect how you're always going to feel about how things are now... you're never going to be happy again with your life.

 

Just like how can anybody think that TMac is the rockets saviour and best player!

 

It is not the coach's job to give players freedom to satisfy their own ego. It is his job to ensure that everyone is on the same page and where they stand in the team's pecking order or else there will be chaos and disharmony in the team.

What you mean probably is that Rudy T is a weaked willed coached prone to coddle the super egos of players like Cat and Stevie. I for one am glad that he is gone. Yao will probably still be an unaggressive perimeter shooting big man unser Rudy because Stevie was God to him.

I am not a JVG lover. Far from it. I can't stand his demeanour and politicking. Do you think JVG believes that TMac is unselfish? The reason he keeps on saying it to the media is that he hopes by saying it often enough TMac would also buy into that idea and act accordingly. I think he succeeded to a certain extent until Yao got injured and they were winning games without Yao. I notice since Yao's return TMac has been taking a ridiculous number of jumpers right from the tip-off. There is no more inside out game anymore. Just go and review the past 3 games. Yao is back for almost a month now and the excue of working him back into the offence is no more valid. Sorry, I digressed from the topic. Please excuse my rant.

 

Think if JVG had Hakeem he would be a much better coach. Hell if I had Hakeem I could make a nice living in the NBA.

Actually, I don't think either is a great coach.