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McHale's offensive philosophy shaped by Morey, his own beliefs, or personnel?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by loveofthegame44, Jan 17, 2013.

  1. loveofthegame44

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    First thread if it belongs in another thread just merge, but wanted to know what clutchfans thinks about our style of play.

    Do you think Mchale's offensive philosophy is shaped by what Morey finds through his statistical data? ie. corner 3's and layups(duh) are the most efficient way to score. Or are we playing with pace and volume 3s because of the personnel? I remember hearing when Mchale got hired hearing something about Mchale being flexible I thought it was because of the Chris Finch situation but did it have more to do with a style of play?

    So does this philosophy dictate FA we go after or do we just try to get good personnel and let that dictate how we play?

    I think most rockets fans agree that the style of play the rockets are using is a gimmick(although when clicking very fun to watch) and I think our personnel is dictating this to a certain extent. But is an upgraded stretch 4 a must have for the rockets to be the best team they can be or is the front office and coaching staff more open-minded about how to make this team a contender?

    And another question for you basketball minds why is it we never run pin downs for harden or plays they used for kmart using the double screen and let harden curl for a mid range shot?
     
    1 person likes this.
  2. loveofthegame44

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    Guess I should have just posted pictures of the dream team and ask how that starting five would look might get a response.
     
  3. jocar

    jocar Member

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    We run b/c youth is one of our few team advantages.
    We have limited and simplistic plays b/c of player and coaching's inexperience and unfamiliarity (I hope).
    We live and die by outside shooting b/c all of the above + no post up players.
     
  4. Mr2Hos

    Mr2Hos Member

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    lol i think a lot of people are still stumped by the term "Mchale's offensive philosophy" cos i for one, never knew he had an offensive philosophy.

    However I know McHale 's Morey's B****.
    He took terms that no other coach worth his playbook would take. Morey handpicked his assistants, something Adelman refused. He is willing t fully incorprate morey's stats into his rotation, something Adelman was only willing to do on a case by case situation.
    Also, McHale knows Finch is going to succeed him when his contract is up.....wait a minute, no wonder he is not trying hard at all
     
  5. cheke64

    cheke64 Member

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    Mchale loves it because even a caveman can coach that.
    Morey loves it because 3 is greater than 2.
    Les likes to see them run and gun.
     
  6. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/q_with_chris_finch_2011_11_10.html

    [rquoter]
    JCF: I’ve heard you labeled as a bit of an unconventional thinker. Do you agree and, if so, how does that apply to the game of basketball?

    CF: It’s funny, because I’ve always thought of myself, in the purest sense of the game, as more of a traditionalist in terms of the principles of the game – winning with defense, etc. But I’ve also opened up my thinking to various approaches – certain things we use here with the Rockets – which also kind of dovetail with my own philosophies: I believe in a lot of player freedom on offense and basically no level of freedom on defense; high levels of accountability there.

    Going back to what I was sort of saying before, I’m really looking more to just tweak things. I don’t think we’re really inventing anything new in coaching; a lot of times it’s just combining things that we see. I’m just trying to always stay open, particularly on the offensive side of the ball where I think we can be far more creative just by combining various things that are working for teams and players all over the world.

    So, again, I try to approach things just from a basketball point of view from the standpoint of, “What can we do that’s different?” Not necessarily new, but different compared to what’s being done now that can make the teams preparing for you prepare for something different. It’s not something that we’ve invented but perhaps something we’ve taken from a different style of play or maybe even from a different era.

    JCF: Why do you believe in player freedom on offense and not on defense? Is it because inherently on offense you’re initiating the action whereas on defense you have to be far more reactive?

    CF: Well on the defensive side of the ball I believe in a high, high level of accountability. The less gray area there is, the more people know exactly what their job is, how they’re going to do it and who’s responsible when it’s not done because defense is like anything else that involves a lot of hard work: people tend to want to take shortcuts there. So I think as a coach we have to be very specific defining that and keeping it simple and keeping it tight. We’ll give our players a little bit of choice in certain circumstances but I think we as coaches will decide what is best tactically to do defensively.

    On the offensive end, I first of all believe that it is the most fun way to play if you have freedom. Players are going to tend to want to do what they do best, so why shoehorn them into something that they’re not that comfortable with? They’re going to look bad, you’re going to look bad, and everyone is going to be frustrated. It doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all, and it doesn’t mean it’s anything goes. Shots will still be defined as good and bad, we still have a structure, we still have a system, we still have rules, but those rules aren’t handcuffing necessarily.

    I believe offense is attack-minded and it’s not something where people can over-think. They start over-thinking and then they become slow, doubt creeps in and all that type of stuff. And I also believe that if you want to play up-tempo, then you have to give players the freedom to do that. You can’t be asking them to run and then wanting them to play as robots at the end of that because that’s going to impact their ability to run and be aggressive early.[/rquoter]
     
  7. mario_v

    mario_v Member

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    McHale's philosophy is very simple. Spread the floor with shooters and run a pick n roll, pick n pop with your playmakers. It's the most basic form of basketball. It's pretty much "pick up basketball". There's hardly any plays being called.

    From an offensive point of view, its like going from filet mignon (Adelman) to Mcdonalds dollar menu cheeseburger (Mchale).
     
  8. AggNRox

    AggNRox Member

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    i like CF's philosophy. it seems he will be our head coach in a year or two.
     
  9. loveofthegame44

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    Since Morey is the GM does he go out and get an upgrade stretch 4 because he believes that is the best way to complement Harden and JLin or does he try to acquire anyone that he feels is that All Star level? I guess it will be interesting to see.
     
  10. brick

    brick Member

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    I have the same feeling. I guess Morey has some ideas from his statistical analysis, and he needs a coach who agree with him to develop the details of the offensive system. I think it's a good strategy but a good strategy perhaps only increases a few percentage of winning chance. The dominant factor toward winning a game is to fully utilize the talents of your players, not just one or two of them. Coaches are not doing well on the latter part recently. They over simplify the offense, take away in-between shots completely, and essentially eliminate the freedom of players and the role of a play maker. The result is an offense like in a fantasy game which has been figured out by every opponent.
     
  11. NotChandlerParsons

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    Knowing Morey, probably the best player available. But most of the best players available right now are 4s.
     
  12. Mr2Hos

    Mr2Hos Member

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    crazy idea
    how about asking harden for a list of players he would love to play with and seeing if any of them are available. He's the superstar right?
     
  13. mccfail

    mccfail Member

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    Well Said!
     
  14. dobro1229

    dobro1229 Contributing Member

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    I agree that Chris Finch's influence on the offensive end has had a huge affect on how they game-plan. Not saying for sure that McHale wouldn't have applied the same small ball techniques that Finch and the front office believe in, but its safe to assume that given their backgrounds, the small ball offensive philosophies come from Finch and/or the front office.

    Im not 100% sure if Finch is getting his philosophies handed down from the front office or not, but its safe to say that they are aligned pretty closely.

    McHale seems to be bought in pretty well to game-plan that has been put on the table even though Im sure he would much rather play big man basketball since that is what he knows more than anything.

    I do think that if you gave McHale the right roster, he could be a very, very good big man coach. Alot of people here are glad the Gasol trade was vetoed, but there is a part of me that really would have loved to see what McHale could have done to highlight the low post games of Gasol and a healthy Nene. Gasol and McHale would be a match made in Heaven.

    But here we are 13 months later and the Rockets have a roster that suites a totally different style of play that what would have occurred otherwise.

    Its great that the front office did hire someone like Finch to go along with McHale as well because without the small ball philosophies being applied to the gameplan, the Rockets might be losing a lot more games than they are today.
     
  15. cheke64

    cheke64 Member

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    Mchale was a beast on the low block as a Celtic.

    Meme pic.



    Coach doesn't run any sort of post plays.


    I wonder how he coached for the wolves. Like I figured it before, he got hired to be a yes man.
     
  16. THELANDLORD

    THELANDLORD Member

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    he loves it because its all our team can do.... you think the hard nosed hall of famer who lived in the post wants to play run and gun? at least our coach is not trying to fit a circle in a square peg like other coaches who only know one way to coach... I actually give him a lot of credit for that
     
  17. gate470

    gate470 Rookie

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    Earlier in the season, I thought Sampson said that Finch was the guy that ran the offense/was the offensive guy and he the defensive guy. Does anyone remember this?
     
  18. hocash

    hocash Contributing Member

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    Despite all the crap that Asik gets, I think McHale (or whoever) is doing a great job with him. Asik's offensive games has grown leaps and bounds this season. Before, he was just eating rebounds and doing almost nothing on the other end. Now he's actually someone you need to watch on the other side. Could be why his minutes are cut as he's getting winded or whatever. In any case, kudos to the coaches front office on Asik. He's doing great.
     
  19. FanSince93

    FanSince93 Member

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    No self-respecting NBA coach who has a coaching philosophy will work for Rockets under this condition. Yes, McHale was hired because he agreed to be the Yes-Man. Morey is good at identifying talents, cap management etc. and he should be concentrating in those areas and not dictating the actual game/coaching philosophy.

    For our current game paln(aka pickup game), you don't need a coach for that... no wonder RA had to leave. Since no established NBA coach will allow Morey to interfere with how games should be played.... hello Chris Finch!

    When posters here mention something like - Chris Finch's coaching philosophy...
     
  20. hocash

    hocash Contributing Member

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    Heard some interesting analysis today during halftime of the game in London. Isaiah Thomas talked about half court offenses vs. more freewheeling run and gun. He was criticizing Lawrence Frank for having a young team but forcing them to play too many half court says. Thomas believes players with 3 years or less experience can't run a half court offense correctly due to lack of experience and game knowledge. Says it's better to let them just run and gun so they can learn where their game needs improvement and also they win more games this way.
    Not saying Thomas is definitely right, but I think he is. I'm sure Lin and Harden (as well as others) have a laundry list of things they KNOW 100% they have to improve on in the offseason. Harden really struggles finishing when his legs are tired. Blocks, strips, etc.
    Lin struggles with his shooting, left handled dribbling, and finishing at the rim (depends on getting fouled too much).
     

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