Delete if already posted Bill and Steve start talking about Asik around the 7min mark and the Rockets around the 30min mark. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/player?id=10001397
Steve Kerr reminds me of the old guy who always scolds the young whippersnappers about how great the good ole days used to be. He can't go two minutes through a broadcast without mentioning how awesomely they did things with the Spurs. Would rather listen to Kevin Harlan/Marv Albert paired with a blender full of rocks.
For all the McHale doubters, there was another interesting point Kerr brought up about how much better Pop has gotten as a coach since when Kerr was with the spurs. I can't remember the exact quote but he said something like that back then there was really no offensive scheme, just very simple stuff and that he just preached defense and rebounding and now he has evolved into having one of the most effective and complex offenses in the league. Point being he wasn't always this mastermind that he is now. It takes time and the fact that he has been with one team and basically the same stars throughout has played a big role in him becoming the coach that he is.
He doesn't even know what he is talking about half the time. He ran the Suns into the ground and a number of the players he has praised as prospects have sucked. He just isn't that good.
I didn't listen after I read Steve Kerr. I think Kerr sucks as a broadcaster and he has always been a Rocket hater.
I'm sorry but McHale is just a mediocre coach who lucked into a stacked team. He is not a good coach, nor will he ever be a Popovich. Keep in mind Steve Kerr had Phil Jackson as a coach, so his standards were undoubtedly super high when he was with Pop in the 90's.
Aside from Pop's first year as coach when he took over a quarter of the way into the season after running Bob Hill out of town, he's always done a great job with that team. Granted, lucking into the #1 pick the year Duncan's in the draft helped. But the following season he had them back in the playoffs and into the second round. And then they won the title in the lockout-shortened season the next year. And BTW, Pop was one helluva good GM for the Spurs before he took over as coach. He got back Sean Elliott from Detroit for Bill Curley(which meant they essentially landed Rodman and Elliott for Curley). He signed Avery Johnson. And he picked up Chuck Person off waivers who actually played well for the Spurs. The one early F'up by Pop was giving Rodman to the Bulls for Will Perdue. Then again, I don't know if any other team was willing to take the Worm at that point. Maybe McHale's destined to be a great coach here. But nothing in his past performance indicates that. At this point, we're forced to sit here and hope for the best.
Exactly how did he luck into a stacked team? He was hired when our "star players" consisted of Lowry, Scola, and Chuck Hayes.
There is no question McHale will get better as a coach. If he only listens to Morey and his assistant coaches under him he will improve. But improvement is an unending journey best delivered by an open mind to change. And in there lies the problem. McHale is stubborn and old school and not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. Those combinations will slow down the improvement process. Fortunately Morey setup a system where McHale has little to do In an offense designed to allow the player to determine what is best to run on the court and a defensive system coached mostly by Sampson and anchored by Howard. Unfortunately one of Mchale's main duties is to determine who starts and who gets the minutes. Much of that decision is based on his likes and dislikes. It takes a lot to sway that. Going from Asik starting to Asik getting 4 minutes is ridiculous. Predetermining that Lin should come off the bench particularly when Lin did nothing to lose his starting job and has outplayed Bev considerably. Not considering TJones earlier to start. Even now not giving DMo any minutes at PF which is what he is. McHale is slow to learn and slow to adapt. Things that many see right away, he has to be forced by his assistants and Morey's stats to adjust to. Yes he will become a better coach but the team we have now is capable of winning now. Asik and Howard should never start together but there are situations where they can play on the court together and help the team. It's not all or nothing. Lin is the better pg whenever he is on the court. He is the better shooter he is better at running the team and he is better at getting to the basket. Bev is a better defensive player but even that Lin has narrowed the gap considerably. Lin has proved he can play on the court alongside Harden and the team is better for it. These are just some points that make him a detriment. Not a major one. So far his decisions may have cost us one or two losses. And once he makes the obvious adjustments the team will get into a groove and win with or without him but come playoff time his coaching style will hurt us. In years to come that will change but we do not have Tim Duncan to anchor the team for 15 years. We have Dwight Howard a center who depends on his athleticism to dominate. We'll belucky to get 5 good years out of him if his back holds up. Do you really want to waste those years waiting for mcHale to get better when there are much better options out there right now.
Scoreboard. All that matters. McHale takes over, we make the playoffs. Second year, we're at 8 and 4 and in 5th place in a stacked conference. Bottom line is that based on last year's results (let's face it, no one expected us to make the playoffs), he gets the benefit of the doubt. If we lose in the first round again, he's on the hot seat. If we go further, he gets credit just like the players do. KC Jones, Rudy T, Greg P in 1999, Spoelstra, Doc Rivers - all considered average to bad when they first started, all led their teams to championships, and all had superstar players. If you want to really give someone credit for the best coaching job in the past 30 years, I would say it's Larry Brown with the 2004 Pistons. Very good team, but no stand-out superstars (makes it very difficult to decide who to give the ball to in the closing seconds, etc.), and they beat a heavily favored Lakers team. That's the best job of coaching I've seen in the past 30 years - oh, and Rudy T's run in 1995 when we were the 6th seed.
TRUTH. This team has the talent to win right now. It just needs the right coaching. I do not want to wait for Mch to get his act together.
I hope all "Harden can't be a DH" talk (about the 31 min. mark) that's spreading will shame Harden to really concentrate on improving his D.
We need Lin off the bench. Who else is going to score off our bench consistently? Asik and Dwight got so much time together at the start to see if they would work. They had a what? 5 game run? That's not an extended amount of time. Asik was one of our top 5 players coming into the season. You want to play at least give them a chance to see if they work out. Asik hasn't been getting minutes as of late because he hasn't been putting in much effort when he was been on the court since the Philly game.
You know this sounds like a good post b/c it's well written, but really it's not. Some of it is just pure nonsense. The Bev-Lin comparison is silly- what Lin gives you on outside shooting, Beverly gives you on offensive rebounds, etc. The 4-minute thing is nothing myself nor OMR knows anything about - and unless coach outright states, "I benched him for no reason," I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the person who's actually there rather than the person who thinks he knows but doesn't have a clue and would probably lead us to a 3-9 record if he were our coach. None of us know reasons why- unless we're told, and we often aren't- so what do we go by? Scoreboard. I've had too many times when I've said, "Stupid decision, Rudy T or JVG or Rick!" only to find out that the play was called but the players f***ked up, or a player had to be taken out due to injury, etc. Again, none of us really know, yet we think we're smart in making judgments on coaches, but in reality we're clueless and no more qualified to evaluate a coach than Rocky or Bullwinkle. Sorry if some of this offends some of you who take pride in being "smart" about what's best for the Rockets, but that's the bubble that needs to be burst. But of course some will laugh or criticize me with, "I've watched all the Rockets games, and I would have...." And my response is the best you can give these people: "Of course you would have. Of course."
Why do people keep suggesting Jeff Green??? Gross. He's a below average PF who has a terrible contract.
Benching Lin is sending a message he is not in the Rocket's long term plan. No team put their best playmaker to the bench. It makes Lin under trade rumors. Bev. D is about energy, not because he is a smart defender. The scouting report and long schedule will wear Bev. energy down.
I agree that we as fans do say that the coach made the wrong decision and that we would have done it a different way, then it turns out the coach did make the right decision. On the other hand I'm sure many of us have said the coach should have done it like this, and our decision would have been the correct one. Of course we don't know everything and we are just fans speculating, that's what fans do. Hopefully I am wrong and Mchale is making all of the correct decisions, but it doesn't appear to me that he is. I would rather see the Rockets win and I was wrong, than to see them loose and know I was right.
