I feel like this team is the Mark Jackson Warriors of 2013-14. They made the move to bring in Kerr, and suddenly that team became a juggernaut overnight with a nearly-identical roster (added Speights/Livingston/Barbosa to bench). Now, even with Luke Walton on the sidelines, the Warriors look like they might be better than last year. Clearly it was not Kerr's in-game offensive or defensive play-calling/style/system that instantly morphed this team into the NBA's best. Rather, Kerr's major positive impact was in his ability to: - convince his superstar Curry to commit on defense full-time, and by doing so, become the MVP-caliber leader his team needed him to be - optimize the rotation by convincing 2 established All-Stars (Iggy & Lee) to come off the bench in favor of 2 emerging young stars (Barnes & Draymond) - create an overall selfless team culture where no one was worried about minutes/stats/roles and trusted eachother Popovich and the Spurs mastered this 'culture' of selflessness a long time ago. The Hawks won 60 out of nowhere last year by embracing this style with a team devoid of a singular megastar capable of carrying a team. More than anything, we need a coach who can push the right buttons to get max effort from EVERYONE every game. It would also be refreshing to have someone who can CHANGE the course of a game/series/season with on-the-fly adjustments. I think the strategic side of coaching modern NBA offense is drastically over-rated. ALL the best teams now use free-flowing offenses that emphasize pace, spacing and ball movement, rather than 'sets' or called plays. The ISOball of the early 00's is thankfully almost dead, and when Harden and the Rockets are at their best, it's when they are moving the ball, playing fast, and not stuck in the halfcourt. Defensively, good coaching strategy is mainly about in-game adjustments and matchups, rather than the execution of some type of well-rehearsed 'game-plan' like in football. Since most teams now call very few offensive plays, there is much less for the defense to 'prepare' for in advance. Guys just need to be mentally disciplined, hustle to cover for teammates, and remain locked in all 48 minutes. Morey has always shown, in the past, that he is willing to adjust the style of the team to match the talent on the roster. I really think Thibs could become our Rick Carlisle. Either way, after 4 years, we have seen that this roster is incapable of maintaining it's own consistent effort with the 'nice guy' approach of a player's coach like McHale. Time to make the classic 'opposite' coaching move, and bring in a tough, no-nonsense guy with a proven track-record of success that will DEMAND the full attention of everyone on the team from start to finish.
LOL SERIOUSLY? I feel sometimes I live in a different world like some here. "Clearly it was not Kerr's in-game offensive or defensive play-calling/style/system that instantly morphed this team into the NBA's best." Clearly? LOL how about changing from all iso to a sharing the ball read and reach system? Same for Bud. It's HIS system that makes him a great coach. And it usually takes a full whole year for a player to learn it.
I don't think McHale is nearly as bad as Jackson. Jackson was literally sabotaging his own staff and badmouthing his own players so he could take credit for every Warriors success. McHale is a replacement-level coach. He won't take a borderline roster and put it over the top, but I don't think he's to blame for the Rocket's skid. He certainly hasn't steered us clear of the storm, so if someone like Thibs is willing to step up I think it'd be worth a shot, but I don't think we should fire McHale unless we have someone ready to replace him. Mid-season coach firings rarely go well.
I want Thibodeau. Bad. Baaaaaaad. I love defense. I love effort. I miss JVG so much. Watching this current Rockets team with their low effort and defensive lapses makes me want to shove knitting needles into my eyes. Thibs would help this team so much. He'd have the players' respect from his record and his team USA experience. He'd completely change the culture, which is totally tainted with what appears to be large gooey layers of Kardashian stank. I know he is not a great offensive coach, but, just as Rose was the offense for the Bulls before his injury, Harden and Lawson can be the offense. What matters is getting this ultra-talented team to freaking try, put forth some effort, and play some defense. Our schedule has been VERY easy so far, and we are 4-7. We need to make the change now before we dig too large of a hole and then have to try to dig ourselves out against much tougher competition.
i wonder if you call this rockets team "ultra-talented", how are you gonna describe the talent levels of teams like the spurs, gsw or the cavs. my feeling has always been that this team has a lot of talent, but not to the extent that we have an edge over other teams.
I would say they are also utlra talented -- whether they are more so or less so than the Rockets would have to be determined on the court.
Tibbs, JVG or even Scott Brooks all would be an improvement over this trainwreck. Also wouldn't even mind just dumping McHale now, promoting Bickerstaff -- he seems to care --- Kind of a Rudy T type move.
Actually this team is just as talented as the other teams. What holds this team back is an incompetent coach and stupid Moreyball without elite shooters. I think Moreyball has been emphasized because of McHale's lack of ability to run anything or devise plays for easy buckets. So our best hope is run, run, run and jack up 3's Going into the season: Top SG Top Center Top 10 PG Top 10 SF One of the best low post PF (when he is back) Great defensive back up PG Emerging Center backup One of the better PF backups Shooter in Thornton and JET Do it all in Corey 2 deep in every position with seasoned vets.
Hmmm, I think Bickerstaff is the defensive coach at the moment LOL and the Rockets defense looks like the worst in the league.
detailed rankings aside, i agree with the "as talented as the others" assessment. i just wanted to stress that we're aint as talented as many think that we actually hold an edge.
Our offense wasn't great last year. We were good because we had a defensive mindset. I'm all aboard the Thibs train.
Spot on. I think Thibodeau could adjust though. Bring him in as the head coach and have an assistant that could align Thibodeau's coaching methods with Morey's philosophy and we have a winner. This is exactly what they did in Golden State last year. Steve Kerr's Coaching methods with Gentry's defensive philosophy. McHale is not the coach for this team. The lazy passes, the undisciplined half court sets, the poor rotation all points to coaching. Mchale has assets that he doesn't even use. Case in point: where was Thorton last night? Why give KJ McDaniels all that money and not play him? Either he plays basketball or get someone that can. He complains about chemistry but starts Ty Lawson vs. Pat Beverly. Ty could have been a six man candidate and lead the second unit where the chemistry could be developed vs. throwing him into the first unit to destroy chemistry that has developed over 3 years. McHale needs to go.
So what. What the hell is this Dwight Howard every other day thing anyway? Either play him until he falls apart or go get someone else. Enough of this crap.
He's got what I have. Fat within his torsoe cavity crowding and putting pressure on his organs. I wouldn't be surprised if Thibs also suffers from hypertension on and off and is on meds.
Yes ... seriously Kerr's hire showed that it is possible (though rare) to INSTANTLY transform a B-level West contender into a championship team simply by a coaching change Jackson's Warriors played their last game in the 1st round of 2014 as a #6 seed after winning 51 games They did this with a top-5 Def team, but a middle-of-the-pack offense built around ISOball of Curry (as you mention) Last offseason, the only changes they made were at Head Coach and PG (Livingston for Blake) From nowhere, they come out of the gate last year 21-2, instantly establishing a new level of play on OFF & DEF that took them to 67 wins and the title So CLEARLY it is possible, with the right coaching hire, to significantly improve a talented, under-achieving team in much less than a full year with minimal roster changes As to the nature of Kerr's impact, I don't disagree with your point about "changing from all iso to a sharing the ball read and reach system" as a critical advancement in the Warriors In fact, I mentioned this - "create an overall selfless team culture where no one was worried about minutes/stats/roles and trusted eachother" My point is that the team's improvement due to Kerr's new 'system' was not about drilling his players into a robotic, pre-planned, micro-managed system, nor was it about him barking out plays from the sidelines Many here seem to think this team needs that from its coach to succeed The brilliance of Kerr's system was that, just like the Spurs have done for decades, he got a bunch of very talented stars to buy into a team concept that was built on selflessness, max effort, and trust in one another on the court Instilling those qualities in a team successfully is much more important in a coach (and rare) than finding a guy who designs good plays It wasn't Kerr calling plays from the sidelines, or creating elaborate game-plans which were executed to perfection The system Kerr instilled on Offense is nothing more than a beautiful, well-orchestrated symphony of free-flowing streetball It works so well (like the DEF) because ALL his players are FULLY COMMITTED to both ends every second they are on the court If it was Kerr's sideline, in-game presence/adjustments/play-calling that made the difference last year, how could the Warriors somehow be BETTER this year with Luke Walton handling all of those duties this season? To me, that CLEARLY shows that a really great NBA coach's greatest influence on his team has relatively little to do with anything happening once the ball is tipped That is all
