They won the first two games and Harden had 37/12 assists during the first game, and 45 the second game.
It's McHale's job to name the replacement. He and Sampson are good friends, so, viola. If it's managements job to name a new coach, then look for Finch's name to come up. I know a few people that know Finch pretty well and they had nothing but good things to say about him. I look forward to the day that he's the Rockets head coach.
The poster was commenting on the first two games. Yes, after those games the offense wasn't able to add any variety to the offense to open up other opportunities to score. Lack of practice with essentially a brand new team might have had something to do with the lack of offensive opportunities, but feel free to blame the coaches if you would like to. Its there fault this team is not longer going to win 82 games.
Amazing track record??? I think not. England, Belgium or wherever else he coached. An amazing track record would be college basketball or an assistant on a successful nba team. Daryl Morey is grooming him to be the rockets coach one day. He was not apart of mchales choices for assistants. No one really knows what he'll do but his track record is very weak. Now he could be good or very bad, there's just not enough to judge him because of his previous stints.
He's only 43. Very few coaches at 43 have that kind of experience. I think you're asking a bit much. Yeah, it'd be nice if this guy had a record like coach K, but as for the time being he's a great next option after McHale leaves.
If he is so young and with no great track record, why hire him?! Hire a winning coach and let Finch learn. I don't like the fact that he is forced by the front office, must make it awkward in the coaching room.
I'm not asking a bit much because it was the poster of this thread that said he had a great track record, I just corrected him. Now to your comment: he's a great next option after mchale, how are you basing this comment? From his under whelming track record? Or do you think that most of the nba coaches with years and years of experience will not be around when mchale leaves? Or do you believe in not hiring college coaches that run successful programs at the second highest level of basketball?
He's turning Harden, Lin, and Asik into old men by throwing them out there 35-40mpg. I'm saying that no matter the result in the W-L column, they should be playing 30-35mpg with frequent subbing from our younger, crappier players as well. That's how they stop being crappy.
Harden is the only one playing lots of minutes and his primary backup seems to be Delfino. Cook could be used more to rest Harden. Asik and Lin are playing in the 30-35 minute range. I remember Lin having one game that I thought Lin was playing a lot, but that could be that it seems like Douglas is in there forever when he is in there.
Everybody knows x's and o's at this level. It's all about handling personalities and getting them to perform their hardest for you. D'antoni could never get Melo to buy into his philosophy and hence Melo underperformed. Which is why I am not sure how he will get Kobe and Dwight to mesh with their giant egos. Rudy always got the most out of the Rockets even though some on here thought he wasn't the brightest coach ( I disagree). What separated Rudy was they way he handled personnel and got them to gel and play together. I could say thhe same about Adelman as well. He got mmore out of less.
Everyone knows this about McHale. He bleeds Rockets red after every loss. But that is a bad thing why? We do know that if a player can contribute to a win, he will be played. See Parsons, Chandler. And that the rookies are studied every day by the coaching staff. I totally fail to see any reason to play a player who cannot contribute to a win. They need to get better before they play. Or at least learn more about the NBA offensive and defensive tricks and schemes. I do not believe that there are any reliable studies that say that tired players damage their knees playing. That is what you imply when you state The only real reason to play players who cannot contribute to a win is if you are intentionally tanking.
I think that the team will be up and down this season and still with potential to make the play-offs. Finch is not my choice of a coach as I do not see the players responding to him as well as to Michail or Sampson. In ideal world we would get a coach of the caliber of Jackson but I don´t think that with this roster there will be many takers.
Not sure where to post this, but since Finch and Bickerstaff are said to be in charge of the offense I figured I post this here. I like the screen the screener BOB set the Rockets went to against the Knicks (similar to the '11 Hawks and '12 Nets BOBs). <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FZzH5LDK-Og" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Much better than that staggered screen play they used to run. Most teams had that one figured out a long time ago. I'll never understand why some teams run so simplistic BOB plays when it's an open shot every time if you only you're a little creative. I also like the early offense side/slot p&r/handoffs the Rockets are running. Hard to defend if you're not quite set yet and the "formation" they start in enables you to put in various options and wrinkles. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5xGzE3jv_ug" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The Magic ran something very similar under SVG: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6qnoa2JJlyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> As do the Spurs (they run a lot of early offense variations): <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HOyfWtHC5-s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> If the defense anticipates the sequence and tries to cheat, you can go backdoor like the Rockets did here: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qb6LQg0wFLs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Or the Knicks did here: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sQappRCq9wA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You could also go to an early side pick&roll like the Knicks did against the Mavs (again, off the same starting formation): <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RW_OTzQ3epQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Or go to an early slot/high pick&roll like the Rockets did here: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-H7abcngPpk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Or the Spurs did here: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SIGC7isl1U8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> And if you want to change it up some or are really pushing the ball you let the wing cut through to the other side and go to a two man game: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xf1_jsByjCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Or an early post-up, if you have a post threat: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h1v3Dz1VvUg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> So many options... On another note, I also liked seeing the Rockets putting in some dribble pinch for Harden. When Harden was with the Thunder I always thought the dribble pinch and pinch post sets they ran for him were two of the best, if not the best sets for him. Just puts him in position to use his craftiness and take advantage of his offensive skills without defenses being able to key in on him like they would be if you'd call a straight ISO or p&r. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/34Zoy0gqHrs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yObNDS4dFiA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Rockets have implemented some good sets on offense these last few games. I like that dribble pinches for Harden now seem to be fully integrated in the offense. Just makes Harden awfully hard to guard. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1z-7qRZwuW4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PHi9yrExbm0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/V41FqqTGwFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> They also implemented a few nice flat cut options, some nice misdirection plays - bringing Harden off screens or setting up a two man game with Harden. The spacing has been pretty good for the most part as well and as I've said before I think they're doing some good things on early offense. <iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ofSe3YMpHmE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s73BFUjnJ9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OyKfOX1VkmE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HxcJ52T35JU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lM_fjf8NvUs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Flat cuts has become a trendy action these last few years. I like the action because it's simple and you can implement a lot off different stuff out of (nearly) the formation, which makes it hard for the defense to key in. It's like a rich man's horns. FWIW the Spurs (nearly) ran the same BOB screen-the-screener play as the Rockets did the against the Knicks, while the Rockets ran the delayed pick&roll out of horns with both bigs the Spurs so often run. Looked like the Rockets did it with slightly different spacing though. Overall, the Rockets offense obviously is not close to the well-oiled machine that is the Spurs offense, but it'd be unfair to expect it to be and whoever put in these things for the Rockets certainly knows his stuff.
Let's put this thing into perspective about being head coach by making an analogy....If I were to say we have a good player who played well in Europe and then led a team in the Dleague to a championship and won MVP, and then said he should be our franchise player, what would you say? Most would say this player would be worthy of coming off the bench or at best be a role player in a starting lineup, but not being the franchise player. I'd rather go with a proven NBA coach.
So you believe that NBA coaches are destined to be NBA coaches due to natural talent that cannot be overcome by by hard work and experience? Really? You are comparing a job that requires mostly experience, smarts, and people skills with those that require you to have otherwordly speed, height, strength, athleticism, hand-eye coordination, and other physical tools not innate to 99+% of the population? Once upon a time, there was this guy who coached in the Continental Basketball Association. Did pretty well too, even won a championship. He then became an assistant in the NBA. Two years later, the HC was fired, and he became the Head Coach. Do you believe the above person would never have a chance to succeed in the NBA due to his background?
Thanks HMMMM for the analysis and clips, wasn't able to get through the whole post as I've got to go to work, but thought I'd give a quick thanks for the effort.
even if the rockets were planning on replacing mchale (which is hopefully soon)...they wouldn't do it under the current circumstances, with his daughter and everything that is going on, that would just be heartless
