Actually, even with the championships and Gold Medal and all, three of the Top 50 etc etc, I just believe Rudy is one of the least rated coaches. That's not lowest rated but rated most infrequently. I just don't believe his profile carries far beyond the Loop. I believe that speaks poorly for national Rocketmania (Yao withstanding, because it seems to be a Yao Thing not Yao and the Franchiseaires).
I remember once in the RudyT radio show. RT said his philosophy was 'Give the ball to your best player and see what your opponent do. (Because your best player would most likely cause match problem or draw double team)'. Van Gandy said Rudy is always looking for mismatchs, for his scorers. These are both right basketball stategies. But the problem are: What would you do after getting the ball to your star and your opponents adjust their defense? What if your star has an off night? What if you cann't find a mismatch for your scorer? .... I don't think Rudy can answer these questions as well as Sloan, Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Rick Alderman... but of couse, that doesn't necessarily mean he's overated.
That is Rudy's complete book on coaching, ever since he started, that was all he did. Put the ball into the best player's hand, create mismatch for a score or force double-team and create a shot for another player. It was fine when Hakeem's talents made that happened. It is OK still on Steve's good nights, except Steve keeps forgetting the second part (create a shot for another player) or the other player can not complete the play.
Rudy is a good coach. But his old stuff won't work anymore. Yao is not Hakeem. Our team needs to be taught and needs to learn the game. It's a new time. His strategies don't work too well anymore. But still...that was rude of this guy. Rudy's got cancer! We need a true offensive system now. TEAM OFFENSE.
That's what happened at the start of the 94 - 95 season (after the first championship). Teams said, "We will not double team Hakeem!" Then, when he had off-nights we'd lose because none of the other guys were getting their customary open 3-point shots. And it's not like Horry, Smith or Thorpe were going to create on their own. They had no individual talent. They were good role players. But that was it. Maxwell was able to create his own shot, but he was more a shooter/slasher, than a ball handler. Cassell was very good at creating his own shot, but he was in his 2nd year. And Rudy would not give the ball to Cassell. None of this matters, because Rudy never ran a team oriented offense. It was Hakeem's ISO team. We starting losing against bad teams (Timberwovlves and Clippers) in the same week, which prompted us to go and get Drexler. He gave us that 2nd option.
THAT, MY FRIEND, IS ONE OF THE REAL PROBLEMS!! RT has been far too nice, too lenient with these derilects. Most disappointing year ever as a Rox fan. What a waste of talent & potential. The inmates simply ran the asylum. D R
So the first thing we need to do to turn this around is draft a raw but future hall of famer, wait about eight years for him to mature into a superstar, then feed him the ball until his legs give out. Don't see any hall of famers yet on this team, but give them a few years, maybe Yao if the "coaching" doesn't convince him to leave.
No, no and NO. Those teams were a reflection of Rudy. The synergy was champion level. Those teams. Then.
Since most sports writers are overatted anyways, it's really hard to read something like that without laughing. People are basing their whole assumptions on the fact that the Rockets have Steve and Yao. I doubt there's a coach out there that could have convinced the Rockets to play as a team.
The rolleyes and you restated my point, with cba/ college players Rudy won the bronze at the world championships, then came back with NBA stars and won the gold at the olympics. G. Karl gets a 6th place at the worlds (against the euros) and limps into the 8th seed in the East. Karl is much more overrated and he couldn't get Seattle out of the first round during our back to back run to boot(had to throw that in there).
What about Rudy's Olympic team of Kidd, Payton, Garnett came a 3-pointer away from losing in the semis? Not saying that Rudy's bad but I think his coaching skills were more doubted in the media since then.
