Rudy's Coaching Style Drawing Rave Reviews

TEAM REPORT
From SportsWritersDirect -- September 8, 2000
GETTING INSIDE


There might not be a player alive who has ever played for Rudy Tomjanovich without hearing a teammate do a Rudy T imitation or offering one of his own.

But now, word will spread around the league and it will come with that distinctive rasp.

With Tomjanovich coaching the United States Olympic Team, his style has already proved a huge hit and natural fit with the NBA superstars in his charge. Tomjanovich's sincere, ego-less enthusiasm for his sport and job immediately clicked. In contrast with cool predecessors Chuck Daly and Lenny Wilkens, Tomjanovich has held nothing back, starting with a raucous, emotional address at the first team dinner.

It's just a matter of time before the imitations are brought back from Sydney and spread around the NBA. He already has won over his team.

"I'll swim to Australia for him," forward Kevin Garnett said.

"He gave me goose bumps on my arms," said guard Steve Smith.

This was after less than a week with Tomjanovich.

But their reaction should not be considered a surprise. Tomjanovich has always treated players with respect and refuses to treat his job or successes as some sort of statement about himself. He would not consider even his place as the coach of the world's best basketball team as a validation of his job as a coach that in 1993 was not sure he would last a month.

"I like what I do," Tomjanovich said. "I try to do a good job at it. Opinions about how I do that job are all over the spectrum. I don't get into that."

"I'm still the guy who grew up in Hamtramck (Mich.) and probably would have worked in a factory my whole life if not for this game. I can remember watching TV as a kid and seeing those guys standing on the podium at the Olympics getting gold medals and hearing the national anthem playing and dreaming that it can be me.

"Now I'm living that dream. There are plenty of other players, other coaches who worked as hard as I do and haven't been giving the things I had, the championships, the recognition.

"Now I'm the coach of the US Olympic team. Am I the most deserving guy? I don't know, but I have a chance and I want to do it the best way I can for our country."

Tomjanovich believes so sincerely in the merits of a job well done for its own sake that he is just right for the Olympic team. The gold medal would be theirs without a complete dedication to the pursuit of their best. Winning professionally should be enough. But Tomjanovich wants more.

"In our case there is an added burden," he said. "As a team of the best players from the best league in the world, we represent the game itself. We are basketball. The rest of the world looks to us as a standard. And it's up to us to keep the bar high.

"It's every coach's dream to have this kind of talent. It's not really like an all-star game; this is to really become a team, to get to know these guys. Hopefully, we'll become a family."

It sounds like they are well on their way. Rockets players understand how they feel. But they can explain it like a bunch of NBA Rich Littles.


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In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things:
1. Don't tell everything you know.