Walton hits the nail on the head. From David Barron's article in Monday's Chronicle: The Big Redhead on suggestions that Rudy Tomjanovich should be fired: "This is not a time to change coaches. It would be different if this team was more mature, but this is a young squad learning how to play. What the Rockets need is veteran leadership and better and tougher players at the wing position to go with Yao Ming."
what is wing position? is that small forward only? or both sf and sg? kinda hard to add any stars when the rox have zero cap space,zero draft picks this year,and trade bait has plumeted. is odom tough enough for you guys? like gater said,we will not get brand unless steve is traded. are there any small forwards that can help out there?
Not to worry. Walton obviously has no clue with what is going on with the Rockets. Half of his remarks just make no sense. He should go back to smoking the pipe.
...something that is definetly true. Changing the coach would really hurt our young team. Rudy is not finished just yet. .....what do we have to look forward to this summer? We owe our first round pick the grizz.....
I agree with that so much. Its like raising a family, you have to keep things normal, and stable! Look how they responded to Larry Smith!
I agree. Stability is what this franchise needs. They've missed the playoffs four years in a row with Rudy as their coach. Why not continue that trend next season?
go back to??? When did he stop? Rocket River "Walton had the best [mar1juana] in the league . . " - a former Portland player
I agree with some of the things Walton says, but not this one. I think Rudy and the team for some part have leaned on the excuse wagon too long. Don Cheney was coach of the yr in 1991 for the rockets. During that following season, the team struggled, he made excuses and he was fired and Rudy was hired. 2 yrs later, the Rockets won back to back rings. Sometimes coaches words get stale and the players tune him out. Del Harris was fired from la after a 50 win season and Rambis didn't even get to finish an entire season. Phil was brought in and the team is on its way to another title maybe. Alvin Gentry did a credible job with the Hill led pistons, but after hill left and they got a couple of unproven players, he was fired. Rick Carisle was brought in and now the Pistons have been in the playoffs 2 yrs in a row. I think he should be given a position within the organization because of his association with the Rockets, but this isn't a supreme court judgeship. Coaches get fired when they don't perform and young or not, this team nor coaching staff didn't perform up to standards. The team has been in the lotto 4yrs in a row and has 2 winning season and 2 horrible seasons. Why should Rudy be the only coach in the history of basketball to survive 4 lotto trips? The Rockets probably lost the least amount of games to injuries this yr, so what was the excuse.This circle of ineptitude has to stop or the barrell will keep going over the hill. Most people thought Utah would be done by now, but they proved bball iq can beat atheleticism. Most people thought Minny and Portland would fall also , but Minny has a bonefide, unselfish star and Portland just has talent. We knew it would be a battle with Phoe,Sea and GS for that 8th spot, but what wasn't know was that Marbury wouldn't let his team lose when it counted, a high schooler would have that big of a impact , and Marion is the best player noone knows about. The worse part of it all is the 5 man offense lasted 1 month and the 1 game the rockets missed the playoffs by could have been avoided by beting either the bulls,clippers,heat(without Eddie Jones) the knicks,Grizzlies,Cavs, or Hawks in some of those lay down performances the team and coaches vowed to try to win.
I think Rudy stays, especially now that he's made it clear that he wants to go back to work. (If I were Les he is gone anyway.) I think it plays out this way because coach is the franchise. Rudy gets a year to make up for this one. Under pressure from above he shakes things up, including assistant coaches (buh bye Mr. Mean). Of course Steve and Yao are the untouchables, but everyone else better pack just in case. So I think we get half of what we want...well those of us who want head coaching and player changes anyway.
I like Walton, but this particular statement is hypocritical. Anyone who has heard Walton announce a Rockets game this year has surely heard Walton criticize the Rox for lack of ball movement (1on1 style play). Adding another veteran to stand at the 3 point line changes this? Is there anyone here who thinks Walton would turn down the Rockets coaching job if it were offered to him... Les: Bill, I'm moving Rudy upstairs and would like you to take over the team. I think you'd be great working with Yao. Walton: Sorry, Les...what this young team needs is stability and now is not the time to change coaches. I think I'll pass on the job. Yeah, right. Like that would be the quote from Walton.
Gater is not the General Manager of the Clippers or the Rockets, so I suggest that you leave all options open regarding Trades and Changes in the Rockets Roster! Especially as all this type of discussion and speculation is only fantasy talk after all!!Tougher AND BETTER I thing our wing players are MO Taylor and Ed Griffin.
Excuse me, but there's a certain beautiful irony here when you support Walton's comment supporting keeping Rudy T.
thank you Gater, I was thinking the same thing. This attitude seems to contradict his attitude before when he was really critical of the way Yao Ming was being utilized, the lack of ball movement, and the way the offense was run as a whole. He cant have it both ways.
So you blame Rudy for missing the playoffs last year? You blame him for only winning 45 games 2 years ago? Or what about when Francis was a rookie? You blame Rudy for them missing the playoffs then? When they routinely started Matt Bullard, Pig Miller, and Walt Williams on the frontline and still won 34 games?
Freak, We won 45 games 3 years ago...and STILL DID NOT MAKE THE FREAKING PLAYOFFS !!! I'm sorry, what was your point again? DD
TheFreak: have you considered that maybe francis and ming (and to a lesser extent mobley/griffin/kt) have been talented enough to accomplish more than they have, had they been put in a better offensive environment? have you contemplated how good those players (esp. francis and ming) would be in a cohesive offense where players actually moved with an orchestrated purpose/gameplan? truthfully, that's been my complaint all along, that rudy does not put his players in situations (read: offenses) that complement their strengths... do you disagree?
So you blame Rudy for us missing the playoffs that year? The point is if you bring up the team not making the playoffs for 4 years in an effort to slam the coach, you must think they were good enough to make the playoffs during that time. I'm trying to figure out which of those years that the team was supposedly good enough to be in the playoffs.
Well you are crediting him with championships....hell yes I blame the coach....this team has some of the best individual talent I have ever seen, who shall we blame that they play as individuals and not as a team? Yep, the Coach...that is HIS job....if he can not get through to the players, then he can get hit in the A$$ by the door knob on the way out." Good run Rudy, glad you have found peace in your life. Let's get someone in here who can reach these guys. DD
