So your basing this years COY and whether or not McHale is deserving of consideration off of someone from ESPN's commentary...from last season. Nothing about your opinion is based on Kevin's actual coaching ability or the job he has done this season. Good. Gotcha down.
He should be in consideration for worst coach come playoff time. In fact out of all the playoff teams, McHale is comfortably amongst the 3 worst coaches. Dude is a tactically inept clown. Regular season is fools good but he got it handed to him by Terry Stotts last playoff
Yep. You would have to believe that, if the common opinion of McHale spouted on CF was in any way logical.
What does Mchale do as coach? seems to me he's basically a manager and the time out guy. The offense in Finch/Morey, the defense is Bickerstaff. He seems good at personality management, he's come along excellently with timeout calls. Does he deserve coach of the year over someone like Budenholzer that is carrying way more responsibility within his own team? not even close, but if you're considering Kerr, ie i give the award coz they're winning? probably deserves some consideration.
Totally ridiculous idea McHale's greatest skill as a coach is his lack of ego and willingness to accept anything Daryl gives him. He has no other agenda, he is perfectly willing to implement anything the higher ups give him. That's not a bash on him, not a lot of coaches are willing to do that. That being said, there are plenty of other coaches in the NBA who play a much more active role in the scheming and play calling of a team. To me, those are the people that should be rewarded. Guys like Budenholzer, Pop, Kerr, etc. These guys all seemingly participate a lot more in the actual coaching process. McHale plays the role of a caretaker.
Look at how well Josh Smith is playing. Look at the Chemistry and the way the team sticks together. Can't tell me he is a bad coach. Maybe not an X's and O's guys but these guys know how to ball. I think he is a very good coach from what I can tell. Never understood the hate.
Harden as the NBA MVP! McHale as the Coach of the Year! Morey as the GM of the Year! Harden as the NBA Finals MVP! and Rockets as the NBA Champs!
That's because everyone knows hou is a contender, they take their role more seriously (lots of media attention - look at all that bad press rondo is getting) - their attitude is more of a result of harden and Howard's leadership and drive.
No one ever really said Pat Riley was a great Xs and O coach. Pat Riley was an outstanding manager of players. Just like Rudy was. This isn't the NFL. Player management is underrated in the NBA. For instance, Phil Jackson didn't invent the Triangle, Tex Winter's did, and Tex failed in college using it. Phil hired Tex, but it was Phil's player management that won the player buy in. There are 100s (if not 1000s) of "cerebral" Xs and Os coaches. hell, cfnet probably has 100 ppl who know advanced Xs and Os, or think they do. But if you can't manage the players, nothing else matters. McHale's ability to manage the players and put them in a situation to succeed is underrated. Many fans don't get that.
He will not win COY but he has been great considering the injuries. The whole team has been amazing! It's pretty pathetic that some people who still hates him act as if they're in the know. Your opinions are not facts.
It's comical to see fans make up their own rules and evidence of what makes a great coach. Yall can't see McHale drawing up any plays and thus he's just a monkey in a suit. Every successful team core makeup is their philosophy. Phil Jackson has the triangle, Pop is cutting and passing. You think every possession they run is predetermined on a memorized playbook? You think all those clutch shot that MJ and Kobe made were the brilliance minds of the zen master? You really think there are a playbook that exists that can cover for your superstars when they go epic choked jobs the way Harden did in the playoffs? If you think McHale is such a fraud of a coach, then why bother cheering for this team. Why praised Morey or Harden. Because they're a fool to believe in such a person and they don't really know anything about this game better than us Clutchfans. Hey here's an idea, let's campaign to get Stephen A. Smith to run this team because he is the only man to call out McHale. What did he say? Coach McHale needs to draw up plays to win the playoffs? Yeah lets get him.
Here's how I feel about the situation rationally : Like McHale, Rudy T was also not a great X's and O's coach, but the difference is how he approached the game, revolutionised the game in a way, took advantage of how they defended Olajuwon etc. McHale on the other hand is milking Harden until the last drop. I like McHale as a person, he seems like a very good man, humble, knowledgeable and very fun to be around. As a coach, he's done better than last year, I have to admit. He's definitely not one of the worst, far from it, but we need better. Allowing your team to take 40+ threes with very few good shooters is one of the biggest, mind-boggling things McHale has not addressed. Allowing guys to shoot contested threes, early in the shot clock, is also not a sign of a disciplined team. Having Harden handle the ball for 90% of the time or Howard holding on to the ball for 10+ seconds, while others watch is not smart basketball. Sure occasionally you can do it, but it just happens way too often. With regards to everybody standing around, you can say that's on the players, true, but if only Brewer makes a constant effort to move / cut and you see it pays off, a good coach would INSTRUCT his players to do the same and design plays so get even more points out of it. Rudy T also had Olajuwon on the block a lot, but as he pointed out in the recent rockets cast, he made sure he mixed it up to where Olajuwon started, were screens were set, so how he got open, and which spots on the floor he would receive it. I just don't see that with Harden and Howard for that matter, maybe I'm missing it, but it seems it's all just free styling. Conclusion: McHale is a good instructor, good enough player's coach to keep 90% of the guys happy, gives rookies opportunities whenever possible, likes the reliability of veterans and trusts them (over rookies), rewards defense (both of these were really exemplified by Garcia playing even though he was shooting like ****, which I still think was a good move by McHale), has become better at time-outs and drawing up plays out of them, still too reactionary but better than last year and still too many times where he seems clueless. Last but not least, he does show he can deal with a injury depleted roster. Overall: He's done a very good job for the regular season this year, but I still do not trust him in the play-offs to make the proper strategic adjustments and outsmart the opposite coach.
You know what team in the league runs the most complex offense in the league.... The New York Knicks. You know what team runs the simplest offense in the league.... The Warriors or the Cavs. High pick and roll, 4/5 pick and rolls, 1/2 pick and rolls..... over and over again. Go watch some Warriors highlights. Spread offense, pick and roll, dish, or shoot off the dribble. You don't get much more simple than that. at least the Rockets run some sets from the post, and do some interesting things out of Horns, or the 1/5 P&R's from the post. I have my issues with McHale like everyone does, but this whole X's and O's nonsense is just that.... complete nonsense. The best offenses in the league have the most simple concepts. Its about precision, chemistry, quick decision making, and your players.
With all these injuries and different lineup changes should state a very good case for Mchale. He should win it just on those two factors alone. But we all know Kerr will win COY because his team has the best record in the NBA. I will argue if McHale's team didn't encounter all these injuries, we would be fighting for that #1 spot.
