"Dave Hardisty" talking about coaching staff on "610"

This and the fact that "if he is the guy, why not just hire him now." -as stated by Fran Blinebury. Just because they want Finch's input into the coaching, doesn't really mean they are viewing him as the head coach. It might be possible that they want him to have more experience actually managing NBA personalities and the primadonna wannabe superstars that can destroy the franchise.

I believe they want control of the coaches that are put in place. They didnt have that luxury with Van Gundy or Adelman. They had to take assistant coaches even if they didnt bring anything to the table. I dont blame them at all for looking to do it the other way this time. If this is Morey's chance to finally put a coaching staff together then he deserves the chance to hire it the way he sees fit rather than having one hand tied behind his back.

If you want to hire Mike Brown, but you have to hire his brother who is living on his couch eating potato chips off of his belly, then obviously I see where the apeal would be to start from scratch and build the full staff just like Indiana did with Larry Bird back when he was first made head coach and they put a bunch of hard working X's and O's brains around him.

Its obvious here that McHale is being viewed as the motivator, communicator, and mentor to the team while the surrounding coaches like Joerger, Finch, etc. handle drawing up plays, running practices, etc. As long as they work together and not against each other than I believe this is a fantastic formula for a successful coaching staff. But judge the results at the end of next season.

 

I don't know about strengths and weaknesses, but Finch gave Morey an "in" with the Adelman staff. Bringing someone who is completely onboard with analytics and on the same page as Morey to the table.

I have a different take. I think they were only forcing Finch onto QUALIFIED coaches. There is no way those guys would let you pick out their entire staff, since they usually come with an entourage, so the compromise is to let the one guy in. Management insisted on this because they wanted more influence on the direction the team was taking, not necessarily for Finch to take over eventually.

Now since no highly qualified coaches were down with that, they now want to build the ENTIRE staff for a less qualified coach. The upside is that they can now have full influence, not just more influence, on the team's direction. That is why guys like Joerger is popping up and causing the confusion.

I think what it came down to was management's desire to have more control. Including the way the team was coached. Not necessarily because they see Finch as the next big thing.(not that that can't happen) Personally I don't have a problem with that at all. The Rocket's front office is known for their off the beaten path type approach, starting with the hire of Morey himself. That might not match with old school coaches who are already ingrained in their thinking. And dissension between the front office and coaching staff would hinder the team's progress. I agree with you that not all of the front office's thinking is PR-friendly, and there could be plenty of spin going around. The question is which part is spin.

EDIT:

Looks like most of what I am saying is already covered by you guys. Damn you slow fingers and distractions.

 

As others are indirectly confirming, the Rockets appear to be seeking continuity in the team's direction.

Bring in coaches consistent with their philosophy, then, with changes in staff, there is less upheaval and team direction remains.

Do you like Adelman's offense? Finch has been running it in the d-league.

Did you like team defense? Joerger can bring that philosphy.

Need a motivator and leader to bring it all together? McHale

I'm optimistic.

 

Yeah. this is how I'm understanding it as well reading through this thread.

So by getting parts we are hoping to get a whole in a coaching staff and McHale is basically the glue guy with the players, new coaching staff, and the front office. It all sounds a bit convoluted but it sounds like a GM to a GM.

While it makes sense on some level, that's a whole lot of reading between-the-lines in McHale's hiring.

Call me a sucker but I'll bite and see what the outcome is. At the very least it's keeping my interest piqued.

 

Alot of interesting points.. Adelman got reality check slapped in his ego. The new trend is new young hungry coaches willing to adapt to any situation.
Morey was really trying to add/subtract Adelman staff but Adelman didnt think it needed change, so he got fired. Im excited already for the season to start. Hopefully these coaches are putting in work ASAP

 

Whenever I get to hear Dave (Clutch) I come away being a bit more hopeful about the team. Always an insightful analysis.

 

One and only? Probably not. They don't even know if he'll make a good NBA head coach, which is why he's being forced onto the new head coach's staff. He could flame out, he could be a star -- but it makes no sense to tell people that he's their future when they aren't even sure if he can do an adequate job.

Ridiculous to think they like him as a future HC? Not at all. I don't hear about too many assistant coaches who are forced on head coaches.

 

If the Rockets hire Joerger than that puts lie to the idea that Finch is the next head coach in waiting.

 

The logic in that statement is that because Chris Finch isn't the lead assistant, that means he isn't being groomed to be a future head coach. I can't come to the same logical conclusion.

I'm not saying it's 100% that Finch is our head coach in three years, but you would be foolish not to at least heavily read into him being placed on the coaching staff. Rick Adelman would still be our coach if he accepted Finch on his staff; I have a hard time viewing Finch as just another assistant.

 

Besides the Celtics, there is also the Lakers in the 00's and Bulls in the 90's.

Phil Jackson loved the Triangle offense so much, he asked for Tex Winter to spearhead a revamp of the Bulls offense around the triangle. They threw out the former head coach Doug Collins' offense and gave Tex Winter control.

When Phil moved the Lakers, he requested Tex Winters on his staff to redesign the Triangle offense with Shaq and Kobe as the focus.

I would say he was pretty successful. He stopped coaching in 2008 and was only a consultant in 2008-09. He had a stroke and other health issues.

Tex Winter's rings.
1991
1992
1993
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002

Lakers are still employing the tactic of having an offensive coordinator for new head coach Mike Brown.

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lakers/tag/_/name/brian-shaw

 

You could say the same thing about Joerger. Adelman would still be our head coach if accepted Joerger on his staff. I believe the stories are saying that Morey wanted to pick all the assistants not just one assistant.

 

re: your prior post--

Not the same situation, as you said yourself Phil Jackson wanted Tex Winter on his staff. The Rockets are forcing their next coach to take on Finch -- it isn't up for negotiation.

I can't say the same thing about Joerger because I never heard his name mentioned once during the Adelman discussions/articles. Finch's name was mentioned. I don't think I've read one story that said Morey wanted to replace all of Adelman's assistants, but rather he wanted Finch to be brought on board with Rick's current assistants. Rick took exception to adding Finch, and he was not retained.

If you have a link to the article talking about Morey wanting to completely revamp Adelman's assistants, I'd like to read it. That's even worse than what I originally thought if true.

 

As for the Joerger interest only.

April 21st Houston Chronicle.

Along with Dave Joerger, they also had interest in another top D-league head coach, Quin Snyder.

Over a month ago, there were rumblings about Joerger, so a Memphis show asked him about Morey. Of course, he could not answer at the time. Things were still in the works. The rumblings may have come from Feigen's article that indicated Joerger was on Morey's short list.

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1829883&forum_id=52

The first time I heard about Chris Finch was actually Rocketterps' thread. Maybe Feigan mentioned him before Dave Joerger and I missed it.

 

As for teams with an assistant forced on coaches, there were the Cavaliers(Lebron Era). They forced Kuester onto Mike Brown in 2007.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2008/12/brown_credits_assistant_kueste.html

 

So why doesn't morey just coach the team himself? Les has completely turned this over to dm. It's all on him and if he doesn't have success this year he needs to be fired.

 

1 year with the new regime after a complete turnover of the coaching staff? That would be a disaster.

 

Wow! You're going to give him a whole season to rebuild with a new coaching staff and no star players? HOW GENEROUS OF YOU!