This bit of great news in these strange times makes my eyes water. I was getting worried he wouldn't get in while he was still alive. Yesssssss!
A little Lakers-related story about Rudy Tomjanovich, the two-time championship winning head coach with the Houston Rockets who was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee today (thread): Tomjanovich signed with L.A. in 2004 to replace Phil Jackson. He was paid handsomely - $30 million over 5 years -- but was given a near impossible hand in trying to replace a legend in PJax and coach a team that just traded Shaq while appeasing a fan base that expected rings He was 56 and coming off of a bout with bladder cancer and the season took its toll. Even though the Lakers were 24-19 -- not bad considering the starting lineup was Kobe, L.O., Caron Butler, Chris Mihm and Chucky Atkins -- Rudy stepped down on Feb. 1st. LAL played its last nine games without Kobe at that point, as he was out with a severely sprained ankle and the Lakers were treading water in his absence at 5-4 While longtime trusted Phil Jackson assistant (and Syracuse legend) Frank Hamblen stepped in, there was worry about Rudy. "The other day at practice when we saw him, he looked kind of disheveled a little bit and everybody was concerned," Kobe said at the time. Both sides negotiated a buyout. Rudy was to stay on as a consultant through the 2006-07 season. He ended up staying with the organization in a consultant/scout capacity through 2016-17. A recovering alcoholic, Rudy was open about his mental health long before it became something the league was open with the way it is today with support and resources for its players and coaches. “It’s always been the hard road," Rudy T said around the time of his last days coaching. "It hasn’t been like a superhighway where I’m in a limo and I’m going up to the mountain. It’s like I’m in the jungle and I’ve got a machete and I’ve got to find a way through it.” As a player, Tomjanovich was a bonafide talent. A five-time All-Star who averaged north of 20 ppg four times, his career took a turn in a game against the Lakers, of all teams, in 1977 when he was punched in the face by Kermit Washington. It was a devastating hit. Author @JFeinsteinBooks wrote an excellent book about the incident, "The Punch," in which he reported that Tomjanovich's skull was fractured in such a way that he could taste his spinal fluid leaking into his mouth. He also had a broken nose and jaw. The punch came on Dec. 9, 1977. Tomjanovich was done for the season. He was never the same after that, playing three more seasons before retiring at age 32. He went on to guide Hakeem Olajuwon and Co. to consecutive titles in 1994 & 1995 -- embracing 3-point shooters surrounding his gem in the middle -- and delivering a timeless speech after the win in 1995.
Honestly, I thought it was an April's fool joke too. So much bias against the Rockets, it's unbelievable. The Knicks defeat still stings them enormously.
About time. Also the last time I'm calling the election committee a bunch of blind assholes who don't know basketball.
A look back at Rudy T's trip to the Worlds TOKYO - These days, Team USA crisscrosses Asia as part basketball team and part rock-'n'-roll band, bathing in adulation every time it enters an arena. Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James are the kinds of faces that would be chiseled into a Mount Rushmore of today's NBA stars. Back then, the players who wore "USA" across their chests did a whirlwind tour of Europe as if they were a group of vacationers with cameras dangling from around their necks. Wendell Alexis, David Wood and Kiwane Garris are the kinds of faces whose photos might be hanging only in their parents' living room. In 2006, no expense has been spared, nothing has been left to chance as USA Basketball has recommitted itself under managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski to reclaiming a position of prominence at the World Basketball Championship in Japan. Americans such as Shane Battier, Chris Paul and Elton Brand have their own chefs, people to carry their luggage, even someone to wipe their chins if necessary. In 1998, it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation led by Rudy Tomjanovich that just hoped to show up at the right gym at the right time and then scrap for a measure of respect at the World Championship in Athens, Greece. Americans such as Michael Hawkins, Jimmy Olivery and Jason Sasser toted their own luggage and would have laundered their own uniforms just for the opportunity to be on the court. "Different worlds? Yeah, you better believe it," said Brad Miller, who was a 22-year-old center fresh out of Purdue in 1998 and is now 30, an eight-year NBA veteran and the only player to be on both teams. "You know what it's like to watch those old reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies walking around their mansion? That was us." It was a team that was thrown together out of necessity when a labor dispute between NBA players and owners turned into a lockout and all of the big-name stars who were supposed to go to Greece backed out of their commitments. "I loved it," said Tomjanovich, who was supposed to be drawing up plays for Scottie Pippen and instead had Trajan Langdon. "If you love basketball and it's in your blood, that's as good as it gets. It was the game at its purest level. Get your players and build a team." Rudy T had less than a month to choose a roster from a collection of names that included a few former NBA journeymen, some Continental Basketball Association veterans, some Americans who had played in Europe and a handful of collegians. "We had 30-plus guys that we had to look at and get to know," Tomjanovich said. "For two or three days, we did four sessions a day and tried to pick guys who'd work together." 'Dreamers' get their day From that came the 12-man roster of wannabes who would try to take on the world. In place of another NBA Dream Team, they became known in some circles as the "Dreamers." In other circles, they were called much worse. It was said they didn't stand a chance. But Rudy T was willing to stand by them and take his chances, even if it meant a dent to a résumé that included two NBA titles with the Rockets. "I can't say enough about Rudy and what he meant to the team and to our program at that time," said Jim Tooley, USA Basketball executive director. "As soon as word hit about the lockout of the NBA players, I picked up the phone and called Rudy and said, 'This isn't what you signed up to do, and we understand if you want to step back from this.' Rudy didn't hesitate. He said he was in without a doubt, and from that minute on, he made us proud." The roster Tomjanovich took to Athens was more representative of blue-collar Middle America than a band of high-paid NBA dunkers. "I still thought that we could do well," Tomjanovich said. "Honestly, I didn't realize how good those international teams were. But we had some chemistry as a team. We had Brad Miller. We had some guys who had played in Europe after college. Our MVP was probably Wendell Alexis, who was a tremendous shooting big forward, like a (Matt) Bullard. That's the style I like to play — open the floor up. Every time somebody threw a zone at us, he and Brad Miller picked it apart." No deep pockets The players came together around Tomjanovich because he rallied behind them. He never treated them as scrubs or overachievers. He didn't coach them to make a good showing. He told them they would win. "It was one of the most fun times I've ever had playing basketball," said Miller, "and that was mostly because of Rudy. Some of us were kids; some of us were just guys kicking around the game. But he treated us in a first-class way. He treated us like men." A lot of them were men with families at home and no cushy contracts. "What was funny was we trained in Monaco, because the whole itinerary was set up for the NBA players," Tomjanovich said. "There's the Grand Casino and all the wealth, and here's these poor guys who have no money. They're standing in the lobby eating McDonald's." And they played hungrily. The U.S. team went 5-1 in the first round, losing only a two-point game to Lithuania. The Americans beat Italy in the quarterfinals, then played Russia to advance to the gold-medal game. After Serguei Panov drove coast-to-coast to give Russia a 66-64 lead with four seconds left, another Russian grabbed the ball and set it down away from the Americans while the clock kept ticking. "You're not allowed to do that," Tomjanovich said. "It's a rule. It was unfair. But those things happen in these events." Still, the U.S. got the ball in for a desperate heave by Alexis. It went in, but clearly after the horn had sounded. Showing their mettle "Here's the thing I was really proud of," Tomjanovich said. "We were down because of that, and there was some fear that we weren't going to get a medal, and those guys already had been beaten down because of all the publicity that they were no-names, that they couldn't compete. "So we played Greece, and it was the Greeks' first opportunity ever to get a medal at one of these major competitions in basketball. On their home court. And at about 3 in the morning, looking at the tape, we spotted something in their offense in a key player, where if we could deny him the ball, we thought we could disrupt them a little bit. ... We wound up having a double-digit win and won a bronze medal. "I actually told those guys, 'This has been one of the greatest moments in my basketball career.' ... I mean, it was just what I love about the whole sport. We created a team." Two years later, Tomjanovich coached Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton and other NBA stars at the Sydney Olympics, the last gold medal won by the U.S. in a major competition. "That was a great experience in Australia," Rudy T said. "But Athens will always be special." Because there are Dream Teams and there are dreamers.
You know why he went to the lakers and never moved back to Houston same reason Dream went to Toronto same reason the two trophies went to Florida same reasons of idiots making blind analogies @Reeko @Jontro
@Clutch As a sign of respect to Rudy T Can we banish all the NON BELIEVERS on this board? Anyone who doubted the Rockets Championships and Dream fit this qualification. I would love to see you decimate their accounts to dust. @Os Trigonum
Great stuff. Wonder what the guys at the Olympics and on that Lakers team thought and still think of Rudy. This man is more than worthy!
Olujuwon always made right plays and so did the other play makers. CASSELL led the bench as a rookie. If you was a video gamer, you was surprised CASSELL outplayed nba jam 'Stark's and Harper'. Everything was just natural and never forced! Tough defense.
Very happy for Rudy, but the hall of fame is a lame user experience, it needs a massive multi media makeover. Here is Rudy on ESPN. DD
Cassell was a vastly better player than both of them Unbelievable career of taking teams into the playoffs like the bucks, t wolves and clippers
