Rudy Tomjanovich should have known he was in trouble as early as training camp when his owner, Les Alexander, said the Houston Rockets had assembled just about the finest team in the NBA. Flush with excitement over the arrival of rookie phenom Yao Ming, the owner wasn't just premature, he was dead wrong. The Rockets have some nice pieces, but not enough to complete a championship puzzle. Still, that didn't stop him and his director of operations, Carroll Dawson, from creating a set of crazy expectations for the Rockets. And when the Rockets missed the playoffs, Alexander and Dawson aimed their disappointment at Tomjanovich, who resigned with a nudge to his back.

Yes, Tomjanovich will apparently stay on in Houston; the Rockets at the very least owe him that for spending an entire career with one club, as a player, scout and coach who led the team to a pair of NBA championships in the mid-1990s. And the March discovery of cancer on the lining of his bladder that forced him to miss the final 17 games of the season might not have allowed him to continue anyway. But Alexander's absurd expectations and Dawson's perception that the Rockets' younger players weren't developing as rapidly as they should led as much as anything to Tomjanovich's resignation.