Talked To Rudy's Wife

we'll be fine under jvg. we needed a change. i just wanted to give rudy one year at the new arena w/ all the new facilities. i thought he deserved it. But the players did him in

 

I bet if that coach in Philly doesnt pan out, I bet he goes there.

Him and Iverson would be great for each other.

 

Rudy sucked for 4 straight years. How does him doing well on another team have anything to do with prediciting that if we just kept him one more year he would have turned it around??

 

2 winning seasons in 4 years=sucked?

 

Yeah, that 45-37 year really SUCKED. Francis' rookie year really SUCKED. And of course he should've done better with Moochie Norris, Oscar Torres, etc. starting two years ago. In a Rudy-hater's world that is.

 

Rudy really did need a break to be able get a clearer perspective of what he was doing wrong. he is still a great coach and whoever gets him will be lucky. the rockets just cant put the game on hold until he has had time to collect himself.

 

Rudy T was a great coach... i wish him good luck elsewheres.. the only thing i noticed about rudy t is that he was more a friend to his players than a coach and i thought that was bad becuz the players would take him more lightly..

 

4 years = no playoffs. If you guys are happy with that, good for you. I demand more, especially when I am told time and time again by the coach/management that they've put superior talent on the floor. Managers/coaches are judged on their ability to get to the big game, and win it. Rudy hasn't gotten close in four years. Forget the records - so what if they won more than half their games. If they did that every year it still wouldn't mean jack squat. Were their injuries? Yes...isn't it a coaches job to deal with that? And all of this isn't even starting to go into Rudy's inability to properly coach on a more detailed, specific basis. The horrific offensive schemes, complete lack of clock management, continued questionable substitution patterns, lack of (if not negative) player development...the list goes on.

Was Rudy a graet coach the last few years and just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Possibly...but from what I saw day in and day out, there was a lot of talk and not of lot of action - the team has underperformed or failed the last 4 years. Players came and went...why else did they SUCK?

 

I thought 2000-2001 was by far his best coaching year. I wish he was still the coach. Although I like JVG.

 

Simple. Future and past performance are related things. I have yet to see anything that convinces me JVG is more than an adequate NBA head coach.

Conversely, RT has proven himself a head coach capable of winning championships in the past, and future success would just reinforce that fact.

Does it guarantee the fact the Rox would've made the playoffs (or even had a reasonable regular season record) in 2003 had Les not acted in such a cowardly fashion? No, but this is the real world. You only get one chance at it. I'd rather take it with the proven winner.

 

Rudy needs a team with more established veterans. Our young knuckleheads took advantage of his niceness, so even when he tried to impose his will on them, they might agree but then quickly revert to what they think "works for them" the first time that, say, Yao didn't assert himself; or Eddie shot another airball; etc.

 

Way to be rational. "I demand more". A coach should 'deal' with his best player being injured.

Why don't you tell us how Rudy 'sucked' in each of the last 4 years? I seriously want to know what he did that 'sucked' in '00-'01, in particular. I would love to see you back that up. Is "4 years, no playoffs" all you've got?

 

Future and past performances ARE related...in a way, that's my point. Rudy has coached the team to exactly nowhere the past 4 years. I believe he would have continued to do this next year and the year after and the year after.

Conversly, furture and past performance are only related to a certain degree, as proven by they fact that even though Rudy has had success in the distant past, the more recent past he has failed (see Pat Riley for another example). I believe the more recent past is a better indicator of the more distant past, especially since so many aspects concerning the team in question have changed since when Rudy had success vs. the amount that hasn't changed from the situation where Rudy has failed (if that isn't too confusing).

In each of JVG's full seasons as a coach, on the other hand, he led his team to the playoffs, despite the fact that predominantly the same team failed to make it the first major year he wasn't coaching them.

I'm not saying NBA title here we come...although, to be honest, I am being optimistic about the situation and think we should see significant improvement. What I am saying, though, is that I am confident that the team would have continued to stagnate with Rudy T. at the helm (and I'm not being a hater just for the sake of it - I do that when I hate on the Jazz or the Lakers or Kobe Bryant or Scottie Pippen, I'm just being realistic)

 

I've already explained, albeit briefly, Rudy T's specific faults. His poor offensive schemes. His complete inability to get any more out of his players than what they bring to the table themselves. His inability to properly prepare themselves (which was most evident this past season in regular misuse of the shot clock, the team actually running worse plays following timeouts and, amazingly, the more time they had off, the worse prepared they were), very very poor fast breaks, questionable substitution patterns, questionable use of team draft choices (see Eddie Griffin), etc.

Besides, should I need more than "4 years, no playoffs" I don't know where you work, but where I work, 4 years of being, at best, in the top 49% of the workforce, will get you fired pretty soon, even if you used to rake in the cash for the firm. That's life.

 

Thanks for the news, tycoonchip.

I hope Rudy gets well, gets recharged and kicks a$$ for a team that needs instant credibility from a new coaching hire. And he would bring that... make no mistake. Rudy T is one of the most famous and recognized coaches in the country and has 2 rings won within the last 10 years. He'll get a great offer when he feels like hitting the grind again. I'm glad he's taking the break and we all hope that he gets healthy soon.

 

Damn, you're right. We should've just fired Moochie, Taylor, Cato, and the rest of them when they weren't playing up to their contracts. What do you mean we still have to keep paying them if we fire them?! I can't believe they continued paying Taylor when he should've just been getting long term disability checks!!!

I guess they must not work where we work, huh? Those bastards...

 

The problem, of course, being that you never offer a real brightline when Rudy should have been held accountable.

In my opinion, if you'd asked the majority of people how long Rudy should have been given to rebuild 4 years ago... they would have said 3 years. Give him an extra year for doing well in the past, and I think the dismissal was pretty much normal.

You always give excuses as to why he should not have been fired. And some of them are valid. But in the end, I think it becomes necessary to bring a new coach in, if nothing else, to try something different and get rid of of stale play.

In my mind, even if Rudy had been doing an adequate to slight-above-average job (I'd go with slightly-below average to average, personally)... the dismissal was still appropriate in light of the overall failure of the team.

 

JVG has no "immediate past." He's been sitting it out in the broadcast booth for almost two full seasons. When he did leave the Knicks, he was in the midst of a .526 record in the East. No reason for optimism.

Conversely, RT had the team in position when he left last season. The team had NOT "underperformed the last four seasons." Two of those seasons can be directly attributed to injuries. Nobody can coach a team of second-stringers to big win numbers. The other two were on the verge, including the fact that RT was not coaching the club when they fell apart at the end of the season.

 

Um...yes. One of the reasons that, if it wasn't for the Rockets, football would be my favorite sports. At least their contracts aren't guaranteed. Anyway, this even adds to Rudy's faults over the past 4 years. He knows how contracts work in the NBA as much as the next guy and he played as important a role in getting and retaining those players as anybody in the organization.