I am for Van Gundy. Really. I think he is the best fit. But you get the feeling here, don't you? About the Rocks? That...they aren't gonna step up to the plate like the big boys should? I mean, Larry Brown is the ultimate quitter in my opinion. "Good riddance to bad rubbish" say the Brits. But I am a little scared here. Because all signs point to some stupid shiznet happening over dere in HTown. Supposedly, Les Alexander wanted Brown so bad that he was willing to do sexual rituals with the Aflac Duck to get him. Les wanted Brown to do for him what Brown does with everyone who hires him. That is, streamline operations, increase productivity and increase revenue. Brown could of done all that. Though not my top choice, he was a choice. And if Alexander wanted him, he should of made him think TWICE with an offer that he could at least say "Damn that Houston for confusing me! Damn! Damn! Damn!" Now basically we have one more coach out there who has the admiration and respect of its peers. Someone left that can be here 10 years to mold this team. Thats Jeff Van Gundy. This whole thing is reminding me of what happened to the New York Mets this summer. They wanted really bad to get Lou Pinella from Seattle but because of a measly minor league player, they passed on him. Settled for Art Howe. Nice former Astro. Good job in Oakland. But not a NY guy and not the first choice. The THIRD choice because their second was Dusty Baker. And they didn't want to pony up the dough for him either. Seen the Mets lately in the standings? Back to basketball....I just got this funny feeling that we gonna get Dunleavy here. Sure. Nice coach. Good job somewhere else. But not the guy to lead this team. Van Gundy is a teacher of discipline. Dunleavy is a players coach. Oh, don't we just love those "player coaches". Why don't we just do what that other guy up in North Texas does? Do you think Jerry Jones goes and interviews 40 coaches before he decides on who he wants? Or does he get the BEST ONE out there for the money no matter what? When the man wants a coach, he just offers him whatever it takes and gets the job done. "How much? Here." Thats it. If Les wanted Brown as much as he said, write the check and shut the funk up. You got a new arena, a worldwide figure bringing you more money than you could ever imagine in Yao. And you can't eat a measly contract? Wanna compete with the big boys, this is how you do it. Look at the Lakers. They got their man. Look at the Pistons. They got their man. Look at the Cowboys. They got their man. Look at the Bucs and WHAT THEY GAVE UP to get their man. Their is a saying in the Dominican Republic that says "Sometimes being cheap costs you alot." But Dunleavy gonna give Houston that discount so he will land here. Nice and cheap. Instead of getting the Mercedes Benz, we gonna settle on that nice Honda Accord who will get us there just the same. Nice....and...cheap. Yao! Write check!
I agree with the premise of your post except I am for Van Gundy. Let me add, though, to all those you are crying to re-hire Rudy. Rudy sucked as a coach this year. A Houston sports ICON, no doubt, we couldn't possibly have continued with Rudy. Dunleavy may be the most like Rudy, in the respect that he isn't as much of a disciplinarian as the other guys, but Dunleavy is NOT Rudy. He is someone else, someone who has shown he can work with a talented big....scratch that, HUGE post player. And he has dealt with player discipline in the past. Personally, if Dunleavy is our coach, I'm just as excited as if Brown became our coach. It's someone different, for goodness sake, and, disciplinarian or not, as I said in another thread, what has Brown done? I'm more excited about Dunleavy revamping our offense than Brown would have done. And the same applies for Dunleavy vs. Van Gundy.
I don't feel like pouring through a million coach threads, and I don't want to start a new thread, so I'll ask this here. Hope you don't mind, Almu: How about Scott Skiles? I read an article on ESPN today (now I can't find it) stating that he wants to get back into coaching. I can't remember much about him other than that he had a damn fine record as the Suns coach.
Since all the guys from New York seem to support JVG, THAT'S A GOOD SIGN! Jeez.....I think that the Rockets are gonna get Dunleavy too. Whatever. Maybe we were expecting too much......at first....there was no Brown! Only Van Gundy and Dunleavy...and John Lucas. I just want the Rockets to play simple basketball like a normal team with ball movement and cutting and screens and team play and exciting and good team defense. Simple basketball. And win games. And just be more consistent and beat the crappy teams. I want Eddie Griffin to not suck anymore.
Excellent post. I agree with you on van Gundy. He is well respected by his peers which is why he was high on Cleveland's list as well as ours. Sounds to me like maybe CD wants Dunleavy, and Les just isn't sure yet...
Maybe Lex should consider me for the coaching job, why? Bacause: 1. I have experience, not only as a player, but as a coach for many teams. 2. I know how to win games, and how to use the team the best. 3. I had won the Rookie of the Year, and MVP. 4. I love this game, it's the best game. 5. I don't think there's anyone out there that has the same level of thinking and skills that I had in NBA LIVE 2003 .
That's just stupid, Rudy more than any other NBA coach has shown he knows how to coach a big man to greatness. And he would have done the same for Yao. Hakeem said that Lenny and Toronto had no Idea how to work the low post. He said they did not understand how much work was involved in working the ball down low and getting it inside, not like Rudy. Use some other reason to trash Rudy but to say he doesn't know how to coach big men is just dumb.
No, Yao is very unlike Hakeem. He is very like Sabonis. I never saw Rudy successfully implement any sort of big man offense other than get the ball into Hakeem in the low post. The problem with Rudy is that he never developed any other offense than that. I'm glad he's not here to do the same with Yao, because Yao has a different skill set, although one that can be just as successful.
Isn't it Van Gumby that drives the Civic? Not one person in the entire BBS has made a good case against Dunleavey. He has had success with the Lakers and Blazers (a pretty tough team to coach). I think he's the right combination of a disciplinarian without alienating his players. He also is a good x's & o's guy. I also think that being an ex-Rocket should carry some weight. Van Gumby sounds to me like he doesn't want to coach. He has priced himself out of 2 teams already. He said recently that he is 50-50 on tv vs. coaching. Sounds to me like he could pull a Larry Brown and bail out after 2 years. About the only thing he'd be good for would be to see him try to take down Karla Malone during a game. That would be fun.
You know what? I never thought about Skiles. I liked him as coach...good player...good PG! I remember he had some discipline in him when he was coaching though he was gone too soon. He would be ok. Better than Dunleavy no doubt.
Almu - I am somewhat neutral between JVG and MD. But the minute Clutch started the thread about money being an issue in the Larry Brown situation....I knew it was Dunleavy. JVG will go back to TNT before he'll work that cheaply.
Exactly Gater. Some posters have mentioned that if Rudy T wasn't owed the money, we could pay whatever for a coach. Listen, I love Rudy T. But business is freakin business. Les should of demanded to Rudy that if he didnt want to coach, then get bought out. Money should NEVER get in the way of championships. NEVER. I got a feeling that we are coming of real bad during this process. Lack of organization. Lack of focus. WTF!?! Listen, if I said if before I will say it again. The BIG BOYS don't mention money as an obstacle. The old school Big Boys (Lakers, Bulls, Knicks, Yankees, Braves, Cowboys, Raiders, etc) and the new Big Boys (Bucs, Mavs, Rams, etc) don't never, EVER let anything get in their way to a championship. Especially when you got a NEW stadium and a Marketing Dream Chinese version of Micheal Jordan!! Like my friend Jack McCallum said "The Rockets are blowing it." About the only right thing he said to me during those famous 20 minutes.
I'll take that one step further. Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss is on record that he doesn't want to go over the Luxury Tax level. But 4 seasons ago, Phil Jackson's starting yearly base salary was $10m. Larry's Brown's true value (or true intentions) could be argued for months, but the Rox didn't even make a counter offer to look good from a PR standpoint. Even though I was not that big on LB, I found that disappointing. I actually think that with a strong offensive assistant/coordinator, JVG could be even better than Brown (he's 20 years younger and rested) but this isn't about X's and O's it's about $'s. The Rockets will hire Dunleavy because he is $1m-$2m cheaper than Van Gundy.
Where did I say they did? Go read the post by Almu about what the BIG BOYS do and then re-read what I said. Buss is concerned about costs, but hiring a high profile coach is not a problem. Just like the other "BIG BOYS" in Almu's post.
unless the luxery tax is seperate from the cap then that is what this is pretty much saying. Jerry Buss doesn't want to go over the Lux Tax level. But he gave PJ $10. Soulds like you're saying PJ will affect the cap to me. Were you trying to comment that Buss was being conservative with player salary but is willing to spend big bucks on the coaches. Is this your way of refuting Almu's statement that the big boys don't ever let money stop them from getting their coach? If so it was confusing.
Ok...let me ask everyone a question. Lets say the Rockets don't draft ANYONE else. No more trades. Nothing. Honestly...if you have a coach that will teach this team how to play hard, defensively and at the same time, figure out that he has THREE main offensive weapons with TWO of them being franchise players...can this coach make the difference between 44 and mediocre and 60 and great for the next 5 or 6 years? I vote yes. So, I say WTF! PAY HIM and make the money back when you hanging rafters and selling club merchandise for petes sake! Van Gundy drives a Honda. But the man is a Mercedes when he coaches. If CD or Les don't believe it, ask the league. Ask them who is the best young coach out there who has a chance to be great in a few years? Van Gundy will get the vote. Then, its up to YOU to make him forget NYC and build him a MINI NYC around his freakin house if you have to with Rats and a subway!! God, Les. Please don't let this be about money. A NEW FREAKIN BUILDING! YAO MING! ONE BILLION PEOPLE BUYING ROCKET TSHIRTS AND SHORTS! Am I naive or is it really that complicated like they make it out to be?
