in a shocking development, the first time Eddie gets significant extended minutes all year (despite playing on a team that has lost 15 f'ing games in a ROW) with 30 and 40 minutes in back-to-back games, he produces, big time, providing scoring, rebounding and interior defense, 3 things that this team has been sorely lacking. Eddie should have been playing a minimum of 25 minutes per game from the beginning of the season. At the very worst over the last 2 weeks he should have been playing 30+ minutes per game. My question: when the hell is Rudy going to be held accountable for anything? When is someone associated with the team or in the media going to stand up and say, hey, this guy is r****ded? The things he does do not make sense. His team continues to make the same mistakes over and over and over. The last time the Rockets scored after a timeout was Dream's tip-in of the Drexler miss in Orlando. This 15 game losing streak is not why I'm asking this. My opinion of Rudy hasn't changed much since, honestly, he took over the team. He made the same moronic in-game decisions before and during the championship seasons as he has since, including not playing younger, more talented players until absolutely forced to, in the process costing the team games (remember Scott Brooks and Sam Cassell??). He did a good job of piecing together what were actually some very useful players around the most dominant player in the league and won 2 championships -- but think about it. The 94 team struggled mightily to defeat a far less talented Knicks club in the Finals (Ewing, Starks and Oakley?? Give me a break) and only an incredible Olajuwon block at the end of Game 6 and equally incredible choke job by Starks in Game 7 saved the title for the Rockets. The next year Rudy lost control of his clubhouse and stumbled to a 6-seed, only to be saved by a series of truly magical moments and complete and utter domination by Dream in the playoffs. In the post-title years, he was unable to win consistently with a still very effective trio of Olajuwon, Barkley and Drexler. Under Rudy's tutelage, Stevie has shown some very limited improvement but still seems light years away from truly understanding how to play basketball, and Cuttino has if anything regressed to, as many have rightly said, a "wannabe star." Last year's awesome second half was preceded by a first half that was typical Rudy -- stubbornly refusing to consider all of the talent available on the roster and pissing off Dream by completely disrespecting him. He was then nearly saved in spite of himself thanks to an incredible second-half run by a rejuvenated Olajuwon which provided the much-needed inside presence to go with the young guards. So what does he do? He exiles Dream, basically deciding that he did not want him back at any price because this team needed to go in a different direction, conveniently ignoring the fact that the team and his youngsters had played absolutely amazing ball only when Hakeem joined the mix, was allowed off the bench in the fourth quarter and even got to shoot occasionally. Not wanting to be tied up by a 2 or 3 year deal with the aging and injury prone Hakeem, he trades for another Walt, except with an even longer, uglier contract, in fact, one about twice as punitive as anything Dream would have required. And even the good moves, like the trade for Eddie (which, as anyone who watched the video of the Rockets' war room knows, he didn't have much to do with), he screws up. When you have a team that clearly isn't ready to compete for a title anyway that loses its starting power forward before the season even starts, wouldn't it make sense to give the guy you traded 3 #1 picks for some serious PT? Instead it took Rudy 2 months, nearly 20 losses and an injury to KT before Eddie really saw the floor. And now the absolute joke that Rudy was being exposed as earlier in the season, with absolutely no adjustment either offensively or defensively to the new rules, is going to be excused by the rash of injuries. The sycophants who keep calling this guy one of the top 5 or 10 coaches in the league conveniently forget that the Rockets were 2-6 in their last 8 games WITH Steve and Cuttino and Kenny and were hardly setting the world on fire prior to that despite a decent start, record-wise. I call on the blinded Rudy fans to recognize that in fact this coach has no clothes and should not be allowed to run this franchise, or any talent-laden, underachieving international teams, for that matter, into the ground any longer. Rudy's a great guy to have a beer or 8 and smoke a pack of marlboro lights with. But he's a ****ty coach.
That 94 Knick team wasn't a worlbeater, but talent wise, they were close to the Rockets, no doubt about that.
i could not agree more. as crispee will testify, i have been saying these things (specifically regarding griffin) since the beginning of the season. rudy is a moronic "coach". even though kt was playing well before his injury, you MUST find a way to get griff 20-25 minutes per game. and now, with all the injuries, he should be playing at LEAST 35 minutes every game. should he continue to perform as he has the past 2 games (never mind the offense...just defense and rebounding alone) he should be starting. but you won't see that... cause rudy is a moronic coach.
Best rant of the year... I second everything said and also you forgot to mention his substitution patern of leaving people in for way way too long and costing us at least 5 games a year. In his defense we did over acheive last year... We had other coaches during the Dream years from 85-00 and we didn't win a championship until Rudy became coach. He can get more out of a team than you think. I say keep him but get him an offensive coordinator kind like Tex Winters of Lakers and a substitution coordinator someone smart like Van Gundy. I think he is an awesome head coach but he should just be a figure head.
Nicely written but I disagree. He's not that much fun to drink and smoke with. I think he quit drinking, actually -- good call. Plus, he's a good coach, good judge of talent, and players tend to like him. Other than Hakeem Now It's Me Who Is Dreaming Olajuwon, players have good things to say about him. He makes mistakes. He is accountable for them. He learns. No big deal. If you have not gotten used to him yet, consider this a patience-cultivating exercise. CBFC
I've already provided the statistical breakdown to verse. Since Francis went down, Griffin averages around 5 shots a game. When he makes 1 or less, he gets 17 mpg. When he makes 2 or more, he gets 23 mpg. We he makes 10, he gets 40 minutes, apparently. Griffin shot 17% on the same number of shots in his 17 min games as in his 23 min games. Rudy is merely choosing Griffin minutes based on how he produces...just like any other bench player. Torres minutes go down and up based on production, too. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that Rudy is easing him in, and choosing successful games to get him his most minutes. And it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that Kenny Thomas has had better games than Griffin. Rudy haters can really have incredible blindness to see even the simplest, most common coaching techniques around. Yeah...this really undresses the coach.
good try crispee. Your logic doesn't come close to absolving Rudy of his sins. Wouldn't a coach trying to develop a young player find opportunities in the 25 games of a 7-18 start to play him 30 minutes in at least a handful of those games if nothing else to get him acclimated to being on an NBA court? Doesn't the normal veteran substitution rationale -- playing time correlated to recent performance -- have to bend in the case of a 19 year old phenom that you thought was good enough to trade 3 #1s for and brings desperately needed interior defense to the court? Isn't it logical to assume that had he gotten more minutes earlier in the year, the LA game wouldn't have been his first outstanding, and, on many nights, game winning type of performance? It's amazing how the Rudy lovers can continuously defend him in the face of a mountain of evidence that he can't coach.
Out of context, but rudy has changed since his first year. He used to be so emotional in the game. You could gauge him at a glance. With every shot, he'd lean to the left lean to the right. I remember a rudy who'd fall over the scorer's table. The game just doesn't seem to be fun for him anymore. I feel for him. :sad:
This is simply not true. In a pre draft radio interview, Rudy was posed with the question "If you had the first pick, who would you draft?" Rudy listed 3 players: Eddie Griffin, Kwame Brown, and Eddy Curry. Griffin was high on Rudy's list all along. Eddie had not merited much more PT than he was getting. He's simply struggled shooting, and was getting outplayed by some. As crispee has stated, Griffin's minutes are a function of his play, specifically whether his shot is faling. I feel Griffin would excel most in the paint, but when we have a healthy Francis, and an explosive Mobley, rather than no Francis, and a gimpy Mobley, Griffin should be able to rain wide open mid range jumpers all day. Also, the PnR he runs with Mooch is probably designed for Francis, who is so dangerous in that range, while Moochie can be rather predicatable. I mentioned it in chat, that during a timeout, I saw Rudy talking to Tierre and Moochie, and pointing to Eddie, clearly mouthing "get this guy the ball". Moochie is the one waving off Eddie in the post like Eddie is Shandon Anderson, and he's Steve Francis. The guards simply aren't comfortable with Eddie. MJ had the same problem in Washington, where he didn't fully trust Rip Hamilton, and Alexander, and the team struggled. He gives Rip some confidence in him, Rip explodes, and Washington runs off 7 in a row. The true test will be to see how Steve responds, getting to watch how annoying it is for Mooch to "dribble dribble dribble" and see how much of a help a legit front court scorer like Eddie can be. Then again, 19 year old pieces of the foundation rarely just merge in without missing a beat. Rudy designed this offense to be run best by an explosive point guard, a shooting guard who could break anyone off the dribble, and PF with a sweet touch from 18 feet, along with guys who can hit the open 3, and collect garbage buckets when the defense collapses or falls asleep. He did not: A.) Plan on Francis missing extended time. B.) Both of Mobley's ankles swelling, totally taking away his first step, one of the best in the league. Cat probably should be on the IR, but we don't have room. C.) Losing Mo Tay for the year D.) Acquring a piece like Eddie Griffin E.) Rice sucking/being hurt We're playing with a former CBA PG, that is used to being used as a shock trooper and mainly playing <20 MPG, now he's playing 40, and being backed by the 3rd string rookie from a small college, a hobbling Mobley, a rookie fresh from Venezuela, a 3rd year mid 20s pick that was expected to be a backup, and the great Cato. Our bench consists of that 3rd string undrafted rookie, a 2nd year 2nd round pick, a rookie 2nd round pick, the nuclear cockroach that is Walt Williams, a highly talented teenager that needs to add muscle, and a musclehead roleplayer who's a few ticks shy of 40. Meanwhile, we have both of our starting forwards, our franchise PG, and Jason Collier in street clothes. Lots for Rudy to work with.
Rudy is a fine scout, a good motivator, and he would make a great GM. Unfortunately, he is seriously lacking in X and O coaching abilities. I'm all for "promoting" Rudy to GM, and hiring Calvin Murphy as coach.
OUTSTANDING take JR. You're point about the Rockets playing their best ball last year in the 2nd half when Hakeem was getting significant (and late) minutes with the kids to provide diverse threats on the floor has been forgotten by too many of those on this board with amnesia and selective memory. The personnel move to obtain Rice was predictably horrible. He had not been effective for over 2 seasons when obtained by the Rockets. Whether it was Rudy or CDs call (or both), their should be hell (in addition to $27MM over the next 3 years) to pay. He is (and was) no upgrade to Walt, and is just a redundant overpaid part. I'd have been ok with taking a risk on the deal if Rice had a one year commitment left on his deal, but to have 2 more years after this year at $9MM+/year is gonna be painful! Those that say EG shouldn't have been playing much due to KT's play ignore the fact that EG should be playing some at the 3 for now. It's not clear he is a 4, particularly when Mo T is back with KT behind him. With Rice hurting (and not producing), Walt playing inconsistently (and not in their long term plans), and the Rockets not in a position to contend, EG should be getting major minutes to gain experience. Finally, evidence of Rudy's lack of adjustments to new rules could be seen clear back in the Olympics. With a "dream team" Rudy struggled to beat just about every opponent. His team was totally out of sync on both offense and defense. He seemed clueless how to attack a zone on offense, and how to leverage his huge talent advantage on defense. In spite of this headstart playing against zone defenses, Rudy still didn't adjust well going into this season. In his years of coaching he still could call plays with ONE binary bit - that's 2 total plays for the unenlightened. The 2 plays would be: 1) The Olajuwon/Barkley Play - pass it to the left low block - if you don't get a double team, take it to the hole. If you get a double team, pass it to the guy that's man left to double team. The four guys not in the left low block all stand like statues on perimeter spaced apart. 2) ISO - give the ball to Cuttino, Francis (or Sam Cassell in earlier years). Everyone else clear out and stand like statues on the perimeter far away from the ball. Roll to the hoop if you're so inclined. Those were successful (albeit boring) plays in the days of "illegal zone defenses", but no longer are effective... I am not a Rudy hater. I think he's a class guy. In general I think the players play very hard for him. I do think he's subpar as an X's and O's coach, and is average at best at personnel moves as demonstrated by the Rice trade, Moochie contract, Maloney contract, Cato contract, Olajuwon debacle, etc. For the record, I predict the streak to go to 17, with the Rockets getting a "W" in Stevie's expected return at Golden State.
Again, the facts are there. Your logic doesn't come close to blaiming a coach for not giving a player scoring at a 17% clip more time than 17 minutes. sorry dude. You are blind to how bad Griffin was producing offensively in his learning curve. Rudy gives him time on production. It is proven in the stats.
Well said Crispee. Why is it that no one can see the obvious... Didn't JR get shot? I guess they didn't kill him, just shot him in the head and gave him brain damage.
Which, incidentally, is exactly what happened with Olajuwon last year. Get schooled by the likes of Olowakandi, and find yourself on the bench in the fourth quarter. The Lakers game was a good start. Let's just hope it presages some consistency from the 'kid.'
Quite staring at him in the shower, I think that's illegal. I understand frustration, but now things are getting foolish. As for Eddie Griffin, I have maintained that he should be starting, but even I can see that from time to time, he was botching plays on offense, simply because of inexperience with the game.
you're slipping crispee. I answered your objection to my take with a reasoned argument -- essentially, why not give a young player time on a team as bad as this one? I never said Griffin was kicking ass earlier in the year; he was playing poorly, but he wasn't playing enough given the circumstances. This team is not the contending TrailBlazer team that didn't need to and couldn't risk playing Jermaine O'Neal. Try reading and responding as opposed to parroting your earlier post. Same goes for you NIKEstrad -- regardless of the injuries, Rudy has made poor decisions, such as not getting Griffin as much time as he could physically handle.
