Rudy Tomjanovich is a two-time champion, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member and one of the most celebrated coaches of the NBA's modern era. His run as the Houston Rockets' head coach began almost by happenstance.
"The night before Rudy took over, we blew a huge lead. It might have been to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and really lost a bad game," former Rockets forward Matt Bullard told Chron last week. "The next day, we showed up at practice, and Steve Patterson, the general manager, came in and told us that [former coach] Don Chaney had been fired, and that it was our fault as players.