Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Rudy is Ill, Call Dr. Phil
Rudy T's resignation is now official and the story is now supported by a few more quotes and details.
So I guess the storyline their selling now is that the daily grind of NBA coaching proved to be too much of a physical strain on Rudy T, a cancer-survivor. He found that, for whatever reason, his body was not cooperative with the rigorous demands and pressure of an NBA season.
I guess I can buy that. That seems believable to me. I feel bad for him that his body is basically forcing him out of his life's passion. The story says he will remain with the Lakers as a consultant and I hope he finds satisfaction in that.
Some of you (one or the other) might be looking for some sort of retraction or apology from me, but you won't get it. Of the many ways in which I listed Rudy T to be at fault yesterday, all of them were predicated on the notion that he was quitting for any reasons other than his health. I stand by the comments I made about what now appear to be confirmed as hypothetical situations.
After Joe and I debated this for a good half-hour last night, we moved on to discussing the Lakers next head coach. He asked if I thought Phil Jackson was a possibility and, like Stephen A. Smith on NBA Fastbreak, I said absolutely not. After all, Phil made it very clear that Kobe was the main reason he left the Lakers in the first place. It made no sense why he would even consider coming back to them now. Since this is the Lakers, I should have known better.
By the time I plopped into my cubicle this morning, reports were already circulating of a meeting between Lakers owner Jerry Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak, and team captain Kobe Bryant about the possibility of asking Jackson to return. Apparently, Kobe gave his approval and Phil actually said he would "mull it over" via an e-mail from Australia.
If this actually happens, the Lakers will officially have become a daytime soap opera, eligible for ratings comparisons and daytime Emmys. If Phil comes back, Laker Nation will throw up its collective hands and smile a collective grin of surprise that even after last summer, the Lakers still have the ability to shock us.
Oddly enough, I think Phil Jackson is the best man for the job. Even after Kobe and last year's team nearly drove the Zenmaster to therapy, who would be better suited to taking command of this team and getting this runaway franchise back on track? For this job, there is Phil Jackson and no one else. I just hope Dr. Buss can do his best impression of a wife-beating alcoholic and convince Dr. Phil (I'm giving Jackson an honorary doctorate in the science of team psychology) to "just give him one more chance to make it right." Maybe he should actually wear a wifebeater to the meeting just to really get "method" with the whole thing. I can see the trailers now....Jerry Buss is Stanley Kowalski in "A Laker Coach Named Must-Hire."
Would Dr. Phil do it? If you really think about it, he just might. What are his other options? Retirement? No way, you can bet your budha he's not gonna give up yet on topping Red Auerbach for the most championships. The Knicks? I seriously doubt the homecoming factor is enough to cancel out the fact that Stephon Marbury is still on the roster. Plus, how well would Phil's ho-hum sideline demeanor hold up with the New York media and fanbase when the Knicks still suck next year? Portland? Jackson may have coached Kobe and The Worm, but he's not brave enough to try coaching a whole team of Rodmans and Bryants. L.A. with its yoga, juicebar lifestyle is the best fit for the Zenmaster. Not to mention that, of the teams thought to have coaching vacancies, the Lakers give him the best chance to win that elusive tenth title. Maybe not this year, but if they get a couple free agents to sacrifice like Payton and Malone did and if the team actually listens to Phil, the Lakers could easily contend next season. And what of the pride factor you say? Why would Phil return to a team that practically told him he was no longer their best option and to coach the player that was supposedly whispering that fact in the owner's ear? Because it would prove he was right all along.
Can you imagine how Shaq would react to Phil coming back? He might act blase at first, but he's never been known as The Big Restraint when it came to voicing his feelings. Sooner or later he would crack. Shaq seems to have put himself and Phil on the same bus out of Lakerland last summer, unifying the blame against Bryant for his and Jackson's departures as if they were two parts of the same decision. Shaq would crap a size-22 Reebok if Phil sided up with his (and as he presumes their) archnemesis again. Aside from the positive outlook it will give the Lakers, I'm pulling for Phil to return just to see Shaq's bravado taken down a peg.
Sports matchups are really peeking these days. We've seen Pedro vs. Clemens in a Game 7, and now we have the potential to see Schilling vs. The Big Unit, and Kobe and Phil vs. Shaq. Now if we could only find a way for USC and the Patriots to square off...
Laker fans get a bad rap as being soft because they show up late and don't make much noise, but I think it's time to come clean, the truth is we're all on Ritilin. It's the only way we could have survived this long. Can you imagine those wimpy suburbanite San Antonio fans enduring this kind of constant controversy and upheaval?
The real gem in this whole story is that Phil Jackson is vacationing with Luc Longley and when asked if he would consider returning to the Lakers, Phil said he's "mulling it over" and then followed by saying "Luc and I are going swimming in the Indian Ocean this p.m. (afternoon)"
Only Phil.
|
So I guess the storyline their selling now is that the daily grind of NBA coaching proved to be too much of a physical strain on Rudy T, a cancer-survivor. He found that, for whatever reason, his body was not cooperative with the rigorous demands and pressure of an NBA season.
I guess I can buy that. That seems believable to me. I feel bad for him that his body is basically forcing him out of his life's passion. The story says he will remain with the Lakers as a consultant and I hope he finds satisfaction in that.
Some of you (one or the other) might be looking for some sort of retraction or apology from me, but you won't get it. Of the many ways in which I listed Rudy T to be at fault yesterday, all of them were predicated on the notion that he was quitting for any reasons other than his health. I stand by the comments I made about what now appear to be confirmed as hypothetical situations.
After Joe and I debated this for a good half-hour last night, we moved on to discussing the Lakers next head coach. He asked if I thought Phil Jackson was a possibility and, like Stephen A. Smith on NBA Fastbreak, I said absolutely not. After all, Phil made it very clear that Kobe was the main reason he left the Lakers in the first place. It made no sense why he would even consider coming back to them now. Since this is the Lakers, I should have known better.
By the time I plopped into my cubicle this morning, reports were already circulating of a meeting between Lakers owner Jerry Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak, and team captain Kobe Bryant about the possibility of asking Jackson to return. Apparently, Kobe gave his approval and Phil actually said he would "mull it over" via an e-mail from Australia.
If this actually happens, the Lakers will officially have become a daytime soap opera, eligible for ratings comparisons and daytime Emmys. If Phil comes back, Laker Nation will throw up its collective hands and smile a collective grin of surprise that even after last summer, the Lakers still have the ability to shock us.
Oddly enough, I think Phil Jackson is the best man for the job. Even after Kobe and last year's team nearly drove the Zenmaster to therapy, who would be better suited to taking command of this team and getting this runaway franchise back on track? For this job, there is Phil Jackson and no one else. I just hope Dr. Buss can do his best impression of a wife-beating alcoholic and convince Dr. Phil (I'm giving Jackson an honorary doctorate in the science of team psychology) to "just give him one more chance to make it right." Maybe he should actually wear a wifebeater to the meeting just to really get "method" with the whole thing. I can see the trailers now....Jerry Buss is Stanley Kowalski in "A Laker Coach Named Must-Hire."
Would Dr. Phil do it? If you really think about it, he just might. What are his other options? Retirement? No way, you can bet your budha he's not gonna give up yet on topping Red Auerbach for the most championships. The Knicks? I seriously doubt the homecoming factor is enough to cancel out the fact that Stephon Marbury is still on the roster. Plus, how well would Phil's ho-hum sideline demeanor hold up with the New York media and fanbase when the Knicks still suck next year? Portland? Jackson may have coached Kobe and The Worm, but he's not brave enough to try coaching a whole team of Rodmans and Bryants. L.A. with its yoga, juicebar lifestyle is the best fit for the Zenmaster. Not to mention that, of the teams thought to have coaching vacancies, the Lakers give him the best chance to win that elusive tenth title. Maybe not this year, but if they get a couple free agents to sacrifice like Payton and Malone did and if the team actually listens to Phil, the Lakers could easily contend next season. And what of the pride factor you say? Why would Phil return to a team that practically told him he was no longer their best option and to coach the player that was supposedly whispering that fact in the owner's ear? Because it would prove he was right all along.
Can you imagine how Shaq would react to Phil coming back? He might act blase at first, but he's never been known as The Big Restraint when it came to voicing his feelings. Sooner or later he would crack. Shaq seems to have put himself and Phil on the same bus out of Lakerland last summer, unifying the blame against Bryant for his and Jackson's departures as if they were two parts of the same decision. Shaq would crap a size-22 Reebok if Phil sided up with his (and as he presumes their) archnemesis again. Aside from the positive outlook it will give the Lakers, I'm pulling for Phil to return just to see Shaq's bravado taken down a peg.
Sports matchups are really peeking these days. We've seen Pedro vs. Clemens in a Game 7, and now we have the potential to see Schilling vs. The Big Unit, and Kobe and Phil vs. Shaq. Now if we could only find a way for USC and the Patriots to square off...
Laker fans get a bad rap as being soft because they show up late and don't make much noise, but I think it's time to come clean, the truth is we're all on Ritilin. It's the only way we could have survived this long. Can you imagine those wimpy suburbanite San Antonio fans enduring this kind of constant controversy and upheaval?
The real gem in this whole story is that Phil Jackson is vacationing with Luc Longley and when asked if he would consider returning to the Lakers, Phil said he's "mulling it over" and then followed by saying "Luc and I are going swimming in the Indian Ocean this p.m. (afternoon)"
Only Phil.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:48 PM 
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
I'm Back and Rudy's Leaving
I'm not sure if either of you noticed, but I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been pretty busy at work, but that hasn't really been the reason for my absence. Believe it or not, I haven't had anything I wanted to write about. It's been sort of a slow week for sports, at least as far as blog-worthy controversy goes. Since our policy here at SBS is not to step onto the soapbox unless we have something to say, I haven't stepped up. Until now...thanks to the espn.com report that Rudy Tomjanovich is going to resign from his position as head coach of the Lakers after tonight's game versus Portland.
Why on earth would Rudy T resign just three months into a five-year contract? According to Ric Bucher, it's because of health reasons and his dissatisfaction with the way the Lakers are playing. Since the Lakers are currently a playoff team and his only known ailments amount to little more than a cold and flu, it's logical to go fishing for the "real reason."
Gee, I wonder who they're going to blame? The certainty of the blame falling on Kobe is sufficient enough to make a drinking game out of this whole thing. From now on, I do a shot every time I hear or read someone blaming something on Kobe Bryant without a shred of evidence. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts I'm either dead or in rehab by Valentine's Day. I understand why Kobe will be blamed for Rudy T pulling a Rick Majerus on the team. He has a firmly established reputation of having friction with teammates and coaches. Phil stated plainly in his book that he refused to coach Kobe in the 04/05 season. So it has to be Kobe's fault, right? He must be the fuel that's driving all the good coaches away from one of the greatest basketball franchises in history.
I beg to differ (please let me differ, please let me differ!). First of all, there's no way Rudy T didn't know what he was getting himself into with Kobe when he took the job. After Shaq and Phil making a summer hobby out of publicly trashing their franchise player, I find it very hard to believe that the Lakers, as business people, would not make absolutely certain that their next coach get along with Kobe before he is even hired. They knew exactly what the issues between Phil and Kobe were so, of course, they would ensure that these issues would not rub Rudy T the wrong way. This is just common sense.
Secondly, why would it come to a head now when Kobe is barely involved with the team, not even practicing much less playing? A clever smokescreen to make an excuse more believable? I doubt it. They'd have to be keen enough by now to know that the media pitbulls would not chase that red herring. No, if this were about Kobe, it would have followed some sort of heated exchange, the kind that could only come after a game or practice in which Kobe was directly involved.
Also, has anyone heard a negative peep about Kobe from a Laker this season? Are you going to tell me the team is under some sort of gag order? Please, even if that were true, it wouldn't matter. Reporters don't need quotes to write these stories anymore. Lead with an observation of Odom slumping his shoulders after talking with Kobe, insert a few paragraphs and quotes about the situations last year and you've got a firestarter fit to print. If the current Laker coaches and players had any problems like last season's crew did, we would know it long before it got to the point of forcing Rudy T to step down.
It's all too easy to blame Kobe Bryant these days, and maybe that's why everyone seems to do it so quickly. I am not a Kobe loyalist. If you'll recall, I had no qualms about calling Kobe out after the Karl Malone incident. I'm just trying to consider things fairly and rationally. There are three sides to every story, and it seems to me that a lot of people just go with the first side they see on TV. Kobe is to blame for his sexual assault trial. Kobe is partially to blame for Phil and Shaq skipping town. He is not, however, to blame for Rudy T resigning. The haters are gonna come out of the (hard) woodwork and I wouldn't be surprised if they're blaming Emmitt Smith's retirement on him before this is all said and done, but they will be wrong to pin this one on Number 8.
Even if Rudy T and Kobe did butt heads, you cannot blame Kobe for this. Rudy T should have known as well as any of us what he was getting himself into with Kobe. His successor wrote a memo about it and left it for Rudy T to read at every Barnes & Noble Bookseller across the country.
The fact is Rudy T is quitting on the team, plain and simple. If he has serious health problems, that's one thing, but all I've heard of as of now is a sinus infection and a stomach flu. Take two aspirin and call me at the All-Star Break. If it is simply dissatisfaction with the way the team is playing, that's just inexcusable. This is a young, wildly inconsistent team, but there is talent there and it's a coach's job to guide them to their greatest potential, not to bail out because they haven't figured everything out before the season's even halfway through. What kind of message does that send? What kind of a general abandons his soldiers before every battle has been fought?
Where do the Lakers go from here, I wonder. Without proven leadership, will they crumble or will they rise to the occasion and rally against a huge challenge, making Rudy T a martyr in the process? Who will coach in Rudy T's place, Frank Hamblen or will they swoop in somebody with a higher profile? Right now, this report poses more questions than answers, but there are two truths that are already evident here, Rudy T is acting like a quitter and you can't blame that on Kobe.
|
Why on earth would Rudy T resign just three months into a five-year contract? According to Ric Bucher, it's because of health reasons and his dissatisfaction with the way the Lakers are playing. Since the Lakers are currently a playoff team and his only known ailments amount to little more than a cold and flu, it's logical to go fishing for the "real reason."
Gee, I wonder who they're going to blame? The certainty of the blame falling on Kobe is sufficient enough to make a drinking game out of this whole thing. From now on, I do a shot every time I hear or read someone blaming something on Kobe Bryant without a shred of evidence. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts I'm either dead or in rehab by Valentine's Day. I understand why Kobe will be blamed for Rudy T pulling a Rick Majerus on the team. He has a firmly established reputation of having friction with teammates and coaches. Phil stated plainly in his book that he refused to coach Kobe in the 04/05 season. So it has to be Kobe's fault, right? He must be the fuel that's driving all the good coaches away from one of the greatest basketball franchises in history.
I beg to differ (please let me differ, please let me differ!). First of all, there's no way Rudy T didn't know what he was getting himself into with Kobe when he took the job. After Shaq and Phil making a summer hobby out of publicly trashing their franchise player, I find it very hard to believe that the Lakers, as business people, would not make absolutely certain that their next coach get along with Kobe before he is even hired. They knew exactly what the issues between Phil and Kobe were so, of course, they would ensure that these issues would not rub Rudy T the wrong way. This is just common sense.
Secondly, why would it come to a head now when Kobe is barely involved with the team, not even practicing much less playing? A clever smokescreen to make an excuse more believable? I doubt it. They'd have to be keen enough by now to know that the media pitbulls would not chase that red herring. No, if this were about Kobe, it would have followed some sort of heated exchange, the kind that could only come after a game or practice in which Kobe was directly involved.
Also, has anyone heard a negative peep about Kobe from a Laker this season? Are you going to tell me the team is under some sort of gag order? Please, even if that were true, it wouldn't matter. Reporters don't need quotes to write these stories anymore. Lead with an observation of Odom slumping his shoulders after talking with Kobe, insert a few paragraphs and quotes about the situations last year and you've got a firestarter fit to print. If the current Laker coaches and players had any problems like last season's crew did, we would know it long before it got to the point of forcing Rudy T to step down.
It's all too easy to blame Kobe Bryant these days, and maybe that's why everyone seems to do it so quickly. I am not a Kobe loyalist. If you'll recall, I had no qualms about calling Kobe out after the Karl Malone incident. I'm just trying to consider things fairly and rationally. There are three sides to every story, and it seems to me that a lot of people just go with the first side they see on TV. Kobe is to blame for his sexual assault trial. Kobe is partially to blame for Phil and Shaq skipping town. He is not, however, to blame for Rudy T resigning. The haters are gonna come out of the (hard) woodwork and I wouldn't be surprised if they're blaming Emmitt Smith's retirement on him before this is all said and done, but they will be wrong to pin this one on Number 8.
Even if Rudy T and Kobe did butt heads, you cannot blame Kobe for this. Rudy T should have known as well as any of us what he was getting himself into with Kobe. His successor wrote a memo about it and left it for Rudy T to read at every Barnes & Noble Bookseller across the country.
The fact is Rudy T is quitting on the team, plain and simple. If he has serious health problems, that's one thing, but all I've heard of as of now is a sinus infection and a stomach flu. Take two aspirin and call me at the All-Star Break. If it is simply dissatisfaction with the way the team is playing, that's just inexcusable. This is a young, wildly inconsistent team, but there is talent there and it's a coach's job to guide them to their greatest potential, not to bail out because they haven't figured everything out before the season's even halfway through. What kind of message does that send? What kind of a general abandons his soldiers before every battle has been fought?
Where do the Lakers go from here, I wonder. Without proven leadership, will they crumble or will they rise to the occasion and rally against a huge challenge, making Rudy T a martyr in the process? Who will coach in Rudy T's place, Frank Hamblen or will they swoop in somebody with a higher profile? Right now, this report poses more questions than answers, but there are two truths that are already evident here, Rudy T is acting like a quitter and you can't blame that on Kobe.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 6:41 PM
