Well wishes for Rudy T

Tomjanovich's attitude will help him back to good health

The proper time to write this kind of tribute is before someone has a medical problem; otherwise, it tends to look like a pre-obituary and that is definitely not the case here. If there's anyone who can beat the odds, after all, it's Rudy Tomjanovich, who Tuesday night missed his first game as coach of the Rockets (a 100-94 loss to the SuperSonics at Key Arena) while recovering back in Houston from an evaluation and biopsy of his bladder lining which revealed a superficial tumor.

Tomjanovich hopes to soon rejoin the team, whose road trip continues through Monday with games in Portland, Golden State, Sacramento and Los Angeles (against the Clippers). That is a nightmarish swing for a team fighting for a playoff spot -- and the Rockets get the Lakers when they return home next week -- but it's not nearly as bad as hearing that Rudy T has cancer. Against the Sonics, Houston players wore red headbands in honor of their coach, though Tomjanovich no doubt had one thought as he watched the game on television: Man, that didn't work.

The prognosis for Tomjanovich's type of cancer, which is treated with medication, not surgery, is promising if found early, as Rudy's was. There's every reason to believe he'll return; he's already made one astounding comeback -- 25 years ago, when Kermit Washington's horrifying punch pulverized Tomjanovich's face and nearly killed him. The following season, Rudy was an All-Star, and the grace and courage with which he handled that incident defines the man. He is one of those quiet fixtures of the NBA, a perma-presence, reassuringly old school yet always on top of his game.

But I noticed something different about Tomjanovich in January when I went to Houston to do a story on Yao Ming. The coach still had those rugged good looks and that captain-of-the-team head of hair, but he looked younger and healthier. He had lost some weight and finally kicked his long-time smoking habit (tobacco is the No. 1 cause of bladder cancer) but, more obviously, he was mentally recharged. I remember commenting to somebody, "Man, Rudy's like a 21-year-old kid." He smiled when I told him he seemed like a new person.

"I'll tell you, I'm really enjoying what's going on around here," he said, his eyes darting around the Rockets' practice facility. What was going on was a fair amount of chaos. It was the day before the Rockets would host the Lakers in the first Yao-Shaquille O'Neal battle (the one in which Yao blocked five of Shaq's shots as Houston pulled out a 108-104 overtime win) and more than 100 reporters were elbowing for space around the Great Wall of China. It was the kind of scene that would've driven most coaches, particularly veterans like Rudy T, wild with worry. What about our preparation? What about our game face? How's all this attention going to affect Yao's mental state?

Tomjanovich did have some of those concerns, and, indeed, had already decided that access to Yao would be reduced in coming weeks. But Rudy also knew that this was a happening and you have to let happenings happen. Anyway, he was glad to be part of it and talked about how Yao had energized him personally and even helped him grow.

"Looking at Yao go at things in a different way, to approach this game from a different culture and a different personality, has taught me a lot," said Tomjanovich. "He has the competitive demeanor, the passion and the pride, but that doesn't mean you can't look at things a different way. Watching him has helped me accept the way I am."

Tomjanovich described with delight an incident in a timeout huddle when Yao suddenly grabbed a clipboard and sketched for a teammate the proper foot position for defending an opponent in the low post. "I'm all for that openness, that communication," said Tomjanovich. "And when players hear it from a peer, it means so much." Watching Yao's teammates extend to him that kind of acceptance provided Rudy with what he described as "goose-bump moments." Tomjanovich recalled one game when he approached his quicksilver point guard, Steve Francis, and asked what he would do in a certain situation. "Steve looks up at me and without hesitating says, 'Throw it to the big man.,'" remembered Rudy. "That really got to me. Because for most young players it's all about, 'Me, me, me.'" Francis talked about his coach after Tuesday's game, remembering how Tomjanovich had supported him during his battle with Meniere's disease last year.

When you've been around as long as Rudy T has -- he's been a Houston Rocket as a player, scout, assistant and head coach for the last 32 years -- you're supposed to act like you've seen it all, or, at least, act like you have nothing more to learn, especially when you've won back-to-back NBA championships, as he did in '94 and '95. But on that January afternoon, and through most of this season, Rudy T was just the opposite, a turned-on, adrenaline-hyped kid watching something new and different and getting a charge out of it.

I hope he comes back soon and gets to watch it again.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.

 

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