Talked To Rudy's Wife

When JVG left the Knicks they were 10-9, if I'm not mistaken - pretty early in the season if you ask me. In either case you're right...he has no immediate past as in the past 2 years. But JVG aside for a second, my contention is that Rudy needed to be replaced. By whom is a different argument, although I am happy with the hire.

This is just a misrepresentation of the facts. The team started to falter long before Larry Smith took over. Following the overtime win against the Lakers, the Rockets were 23-15 on January 17th. They then proceeded to go 12-15 over over Rudy's last 27 games as a coach - a .444 winning %. After Larry Smith took over, the team went 8-9 to finish the season, a .470 winning %. They actually played better once Rudy T. left.

I understand injuries are injuries, but 4 years are 4 years. He had not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 years to get back to the playoffs. Sadly, you can't just fire players in the NBA. It was time for Rudy to go.

 

They were also coming off a five-game winning streak, including an emotional win over the Suns, securely putting them in the 8th spot.

I think this move is going to hurt the Rockets, both immediately and in the long-term.

 

Which means they went 7-15 in their immediate games following the Lakers win, a .318 winning %. Yet, somehow, you fault JVG for a stretch where he went 10-9.

In either case, you think it was the wrong move, I think it was the right one. We can agree to disagree.

 

It'll be a real b**** when Yao goes to play for his old friend Rudy.

I hope not.

 

JayZ,

But weren't you the one saying that Maurice Taylor was integral to this team and defending him at every turn when he got signed? You were even giddy with Rudy 2 years ago and said Cato could work out.

 

I believe I defended Mo Taylor last season when everyone was complaining he was too fat, etc., especially as I prefered him to Kenny Thomas. Sadly, Mo Taylor turned into Kenny Thomas light (i.e. - a ballhog, but not as good of one), something he was not prior to injury.

I couldn't come close to telling you what I thought about Kelvin Cato 3 or 4 years ago.

I hope I was optimistic - it's the better way to go through life.

 

look, rudy is a great guy and i hope all the best for him, but... he wasn't a good coach when olajuwon won the titles and he was a worse coach when the dream faded away. hakeem is one of the greatest players of all time, without him, no championships. rudy loves his players and basically convinced an otherwise mediocre to to follow the dream. clyde, of course, was needed for the back to back. he came to play with hakeem and for his hometown, not because rudy was a genius.

 

Rudy had to go because it was fairly obvious that his players did not listen to him. Perhaps I should say, his GUARDS would not listen to him. Every time he talked to them they looked like they were thinking "would you shut up?" Francis got to where he would ignore Rudy, and Cat did it, too. There's Rudy on the sideline yelling. There's Cat and Steve trying to pretend they didn't hear him.

Steve, Cat and Moochie are responsible for Rudy's demise. They did it. He paid for it. I sat behind the bench about 8-10 rows several games, and half the time Rudy would end up turning to one of his coaches to find a face that was showing response. He lost control.


Sometimes you have to bring in a new coach because you can't fire the team.

 

I've said it before... I think JVG is half the coach Rudy is. Free agents wanted to play for Rudy (pippen, barkley, drexler) and that will never happen with JVG. Half way thru the year when the shot clock is going off, Moochie is still dribbling, and Cat is still making poor shot selection some people will come to understand that the coach can only tell the players on the court what to do... but once they step out there and the clock is running, half the time they do what THEY want and not what the Coach wants. No one can control the prima donnas that run the NBA now, they make too much money and their egos are over inflated.

Yes I'm bitter, I'll admit it.

 

van gundy will shape them up or ship them out. yao is the only untouchable player on the team. explain to me what you don't like about van. he coached in the most difficult city to coach in- with the media constantly breathing down his neck, and came out unscathed and almost universally respected. the new york media chew 'em up and spit 'em out. he survived and escaped. new yorkers wish they had him back. l

 

I'll believe it when I see it.

How many rings does JVG have? It is not so much that I dislike JVG, I really like Rudy. Rudy has been a Rocket for as long as I've been alive. (34 years) He has always been committed to making the rockets better. I remember when he got sucker punched, I grew up watching him play. Hey I'll be the first one in line saying JVG is doing a good job if that is the way it turns out... but Rudy will always personify what a Rocket should be.

*and as a side note I think Les did him wrong the way he let him go.

 

Eh? That's bizarre.

Now, there are ways in which you could argue that Rudy is a better coach than Van Gundy.

But you picked an odd quote to counter. Rudy T was never a noted disciplinarian. He was more recognized as a player's coach who identified with his guys and motivated them.

The problem with such a coaching disposition... is that if you fail, you're left without much recourse. What happens when a positive motivator fails to motivate? Well, you've got to trade the player. But what if the player is too important? You have to get a new coach.

Tell me that JVG is going to alienate the players, if you wish. But on the matter of discipline... I think he's almost certainly going to be an improvement.

 

Haven, I'm not here to try to convince you that Rudy was/is a better coach than JVG. More than anything the point I was making in my first post is, todays players are much harder to discipline than players in the past and I doubt JVG will be any more successful than Rudy was. Hey I hope I'm wrong... I'm a die hard rockets fan and I'd watch them if Lucifer himself was coach.

And when the disiplinarian coach fails to motivate the "too important" player then what happens? Same situation different coach, IMO.

I think Les wanted Brown, dissed Rudy, got cheap, lost brown and settled for JVG. Hey I hope (like most of us do) that it works out in the long run, but it won't change me feeling bad for the way Rudy was treated.

 

How many Olajuwons did JVG have?

 

There was at least a reasonably close fascimilie in that new Rockets assistant...

 

I see that alot of the unassuming folks around here still have their lips glued to RudyT. Too bad he is GONE - wake up and move on.

He failed and there was light at the end of the turnel with him around longer than he "had to" He surely deserved the axe.

I wish him all the best.

JVG is my wish and dream come true. Common Octorber.

 

Not if you want to look at things from a simpleton's point of view.

This is so dumb. So your company would give you inexperienced, underqualified employees and expect you to perform just as well as another guy who had the best in the field under him?

 

Some time after Steve Francis was 'held accountable'.

I don't care what the standard is for coaches getting fired. Perhaps I don't agree with the quick-triggered GMs/owners around the league.

I would be interested to know 1) when you think rebuilding is 'finished', and 2) how long you think it should take to rebuild a CHAMPIONSHIP team, after losing all of your stars to retirement, or in trades where you received virtually nothing in return.

I don't have a problem with that when the coach is just another coach. I may not agree with it, but it doesn't bug me so much. However, you don't just get rid of an icon to 'try something different'. That stinks, and is way unprofessional. If there is any doubt at all regarding culpability b/t players and coach, I feel at the very least that the one that is proven and has contributed much more to the city/organization should receive the benefit. I don't see that as being unreasonable.

I think the coach that is proven should be given the slack, not the players that are unproven.

 

Right. Because coaches with rings never get passed by, too old, lose ambition, or got lucky in the first place.

Come on. If you feel Rudy T is different and that none of those possibilities apply... say so! But be specific.

Rudy won two titles in the mid-90's. That's a long time. I think the same thing about Pat Riley, incidentally.

Perhaps. But it's hard to get talent-for-talent with players, especially when the rest of the world knows you want to sell.

I would not necessarily have objected to Francis and Mobley leaving, and Rudy staying, actually, so long as decent value could be had in return. I can really see a possible past in which Francis was traded for a shooter (Francis for Peja) and Mobley for a calmp PG (Snow? TJ Ford?). You'd have the mid-90's again, assuming Yao pans out.

Let me know what you think of having tried this instead, actually. I'm sort of warming to it .

I simply think that change had to be made, and the Rockets chose the more efficient path.