What are you talking about?? All coaches rely on their players to execute their system. Some can, some can't. Its hardly a reflection of a coach's ability if a player is not able to grasp a system or doesn't posses the skills to execute it. Both Utah and Houston relied heavily on PnRs last year. One team executed it well, another didn't. So does that mean Sloan is a good coach and Rudy isn't?? Or is Stockton just a better PG than Steve is?? Its impossible for any coach to teach Steve how to be like John Stockton. Or even Steve Nash for that matter. Something to think about when you talk about relying on players. So you use this as an excuse so you can still respect Pop, but Rudy isn't afforded the same privelege??? Not sure what your point is here. Saunders had 2 losing seasons with Garnett and 3rd season where his record was exact same as Rudys during one of our lottery seasons. But thats because Garnett was young right?? And Rudy was left with a hole(s) in his roster when Steve and Mo Taylor went down (2 of our 3 best players at the time). So why is this a valid excuse for Riley and not Rudy?? Exactly. Adelman's best players weren't as good as those that were ahead of him. I think its fair to say that our best players weren't as good as those ahead of us, with the exception of Phoenix. 1) He had only Finley the 1st season. He had Dirk, Nash and Finley in his 2nd and 3rd seasons (both losing seasons). See how its possible for players to develop into winners under the same coach?? 2) You are correct. Nelson did eventually turn that core into a winner after 3 losing/lottery seasons (didn't even have a .500 record in any of those seasons). You proved my point that its possible Rudy could have done the same. You can also say, fairly, it was because Steve is not a good enough PG and/or Yao was just a rookie and was far from being the dominant player he will become one day. Just like the Dirk/Nash/Finley examplle that I cited. Takes some players a while until they become winners under one coach. By this, I assume you mean not yelling and showing up Steve and/or Cat on the court, for the fans to see?? I will never fault a coach for not doing something like this. I still don't get where you are coming from. You admit that JVG is not necessarily a better coach than Rudy, yet, consider both to be above average. Then why does one get your respect and one doesn't? So because Rudy's style no longer fit our players, then he doesn't deserve respect??? (maybe its the players who you should not respect) And JVG gets respect before we even know how the players will respond to him??? What if the players don't react well to JVG's iron fist and rebel??? Are you going to lose respect for JVG then?? That is for certain. I just can't believe that, as a Rocket fan, that 2 losing seasons and 4 lottery seasons mean so much more to you than 2 championships and 9 winning seasons that you can no longer respect Rudy as a coach. Unbelievable.
codell, could JVG have gotten us 2 champs with Hakeem and co? I guess we'll never find out. You can say Rudy took advantage of those two years but you can't say no other coach other than Rudy can take advantage of those two years. In any case, Rudy deserves respect for those two years (as a coach and as a person) but he does not deserve our respect (as a coach, notice I'm making a differentiation here) for the last four years. In any regard both our opinions are set and I see no point in keeping on arguing about this.
MFW, Could JVG have coached us to just 1 with Hakeem and co??? Well never know that either. You also can't say that any other coach besides Rudy, WOULD HAVE taken advantage of those two years. Revisionist history can be a two way street. So your respect for a coach changes from season to season regardless of type of players we have and how good they are??? You seem to be saying that a coach should always succeed despite any adversity and if he doesn't, then he loses respect and the "good coach" label until his next winning/playoff season. Is that right?? I am sure glad that most people don't give out and hold back respect the way you do.
