Mchale doesn't design the defense, also, defenses get better with familiarity and experience. Clifford like Thibodeau was a defensive assistant, so they design their own defense, we had Sampson (who left late in the season, then we had no one..), now we have TR Dunn (who made what should have been one of the leagues worst defenses last year, Minny into 15th) Even in preseason, you can see the defensive lapses have greatly reduced, but i dont know if thats because of the coaching (the scheme looks better), experience together or just the personnel (Ariza is a major upgrade to the team defense and the bench isn't a giant zero wall to wall defensively)
The overwhelming majority of people want McHale gone, but that doesn't really change how piling onto him is just a display of dead horse beating. You look at it in your dark colored glasses as all the things McHale is doing wrong and then call people who are against you his supporters, no calling you wrong isn't about supporting McHale, it's about you being wrong. McHale doesn't really do much wrong, but then he doesn't really do much right, and that's because he doesn't really do much at all, but you're the type of person that looks at someone sitting down in the park and b****es about all the things they could be doing with their time, it has many descriptions, and most get wiped out by the profanity filter. He's a gray zone coach in a world where too many people see it in only black and white, was I one of the people that wanted him replaced? yup, he does however have one strength as a coach, that's player development, he's far better than most and amongst the very best for front court players (which is why i laugh when i hear about how carlisle will make chandler great, he's a great veteran coach, he can utilize people that have been misused better than most, but he couldn't develop a caterpillar into a butterfly), but people can't help themselves, they must project, project, project, must simplify world for lousy intellect, espn can help you with that too. So I can at least see the use of keeping McHale, there's no one who would drastically increase our performance, but at least this way, all our young players may look better, and as far as the team goes, probably will even be better by the end of the year and given the names floated, none of them are really coaches you want to give a team with 2 starters and all but 1 likely bench rotation with 2 years or less nba experience to.
Ok, you're right .... Bev was also playing through injury. A lot was on the players. But when the players are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I want a coach who can be a steadying hand. It wasn't any one decision, but McHale just didn't look like that coach to me.
lol Mchale got us one of our best records with no bench or PF's. Give the man something to work with and if he fails then crucify him. He did a great job with what he had.
i've skipped over your expected personal attacks in order to cut to the chase and focus on these 2 statements above. so you contend that a coach who "doesn't really do much at all" is pretty much the same as a coach who would actually prepare competent gameplans before games, actually call plays and make adjustments in games, and actually direct appropriate defensive assignments and game strategy at the end of games? there's no one who would have drastically increased our performance in the 1st round of the 2014 playoffs? no one? GTFO
McHale aplogists and supporters are clueless. They can't really cite anything positive about him as a coach so resort to attacking other posters who actually call him out for what he is - a liability to this Rockets team and an overall bottom tier coach in this league. You say he develops big men? Which one exactly? TJ? DMo? LOL. Has he designed enough plays for the low post big men? It's all a mess. You cite his W-L record. That doesn't mean much when you're bounced off in the 1st round of the playoffs by an inferior team and outcoached and humiliated by the great Terry Stotts. It is all about the playoffs in the NBA (as a championship contender with 2 of the best players in their position) when more than half the teams make the playoffs and when it comes down to the key plays required to win games in playoffs, McHale will inevitably come 2nd best.
Here's where we're different. For me, it's all about the Rockets, not all about the playoffs. So you will be complaining for the full 2014-2015 season, while I will be enjoying the Rockets. And guess what? All your complaining and unhappiness will not change the Rockets' record. My team will have the same record as your team in 2014-2015. But you will be unhappy and complaining and cluttering up the board with useless complaints for 82 games, because you think that is what a winner does. And I will be loving every Rockets game, because I think that is what a fan does. In fact, what separates us is that you think you are a winner and other fans are losers; while I think I will enjoy this season and you will be unhappy for 82 games.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"It's as close to pickup basketball as there is in the NBA" -- anonymous NBA scout in SI on the Rockets</p>— Mike Meltser (@MikeMeltser) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeMeltser/status/526560101096632320">October 27, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"They are the easiest team to scout because they have the smallest playbook and are lackadaisically coached."</p>— Mike Meltser (@MikeMeltser) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeMeltser/status/526559982620139521">October 27, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Nothing new here. But the Mchale apologists will come up with some sort of gibberish like "who is this random scout" etc to defend his utter incompetency and cluelessness. Imagine how much more potent Harden and Howard and as an extension the Rockets would be with a real coach.
It's interesting that we were so easy to scout last year that we were one of the best offensive teams in the league. The small amount of playbook we had is what gave the other teams fit because we scored a lot on dynamic situations. They could not get a good read on what we were going to do.
What happened in the playoffs when Portland virtually shut down our most potent offensive player and #1 option in James Harden? We were incapable of coming up with different plays to get him some easy looks and get him going.
Lamarcus Aldridge happened. He was unreal. He couldn't miss. We almost beat Portland with lillard and lma going ham. Personally I love read and react offense, and i feel this scout is just pissed because the front office wanted his report on their desk by Friday and he didn't get it finished.
One thing I wonder about our offense though is that the bench in the preseason seems to have much better flow in the offense despite lacking consistent scorers while the starting lineup when it isn't being fed to Dwight looks like a bunch of headless chickens.
Exactly, Portland had us figured out from the start, especially Harden. None of our players were any surprise to them nor did any of our players go off on them, except Howard who just forced his will upon the game! We had no clue how to guard their 1-2 punch.
I don't have any problems with the offense. Harden had a bad series, and that's on him. If Dwight can "force his will upon the game", then so can Harden. I do have a problem with the defense though.
They did what they could to take away his driving, but he simply just missed shots that he made all season. Like someone already said, if we are so easy to scout than how were we so good offensively? Carlisle was quoted as saying that an offense with next to no set plays is unpredictable and harder to defend. A 1 series sample size, that featured our best being colder than he has ever been and their best player being hotter than he has ever been, isn't enough to discredit an entire season of elite offense.
