Report: Unexpected NBA team will fire coach within next couple days

I could definitely see it being Wittman. Granted, before the playoffs, he seemed like a prime candidate to get canned. But it would be somewhat surprising after making it to the 2nd round and arguably losing only because of a wrist injury to Wall. Other than him, maybe Vogel.

But c'mon, it ain't gonna be McHale. On what planet would anyone think the season he just had wasn't a success? If the team takes a step back next season, then he'll be on the hot seat. But not right now. It would take Harden, Howard, and a host of other players going to Morey and demanding he be fired in order for McHale to lose his job. And at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any indication that there's that kind of discontent in the locker room.

 

Most likely Dwayne Casey which opens the door for a Lowry trade to Houston.

 

To me David Blatt does not seem to fit this rumor. There's no chance at all that he would be fired before the finals. What if he wins the finals, and I have him as the favorite, could the team fire a coach that came from nowhere and took the championship? Not only would it be incredibly stupid, but it would also set an NBA record for generations. The best team to fit the unexpected label would be the Clippers. CP3 may have lost his patience and forced something. The team has a new owner and we don't know yet how he wants to manage his (extremely expensive) team.

 

i don't think mchale's getting fired, especially now that jopat is posting it.

but i also don't think it's illogical to say that mchale had a 'decent' coaching performance this season overall, but not a great one. and that as with players not named lebron, there's always room for an upgrade.

 

Casey getting fired makes the most sense.

 

Spoelstra? He would be unexpected after the Finals appearances and Championships...Didn't make the Playoffs, Wade threatening to walk...I feel like he fits the bill despite his relationship with Riley and the org

 

Bye Popovich.

 

I'd describe it as way more than decent. The Rockets won 56 games and arguably the most competitive division in NBA history despite a rash of injuries including to Dwight. They won 2 playoff series, including coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the Clippers.

These things don't just happen on their own. Coaching plays a major part, especially in that 3-1 recovery. McHale had to hold that group together after the Game 3 and 4 flameouts. He had to try something crazy like inserting the struggling Josh Smith into the starting lineup. He had to keep everyone believing overcoming an 89-70 score with 2:35 left in the 3rd quarter in Game 6 wasn't an insurmountable task. He had to have serious stones to leave Harden on the bench for that entire comeback.

Could the Rockets find a better coach out there than McHale to take the reigns? Maybe. But I'll say this much. I don't think any other coach(yes, including Pop) would've accomplished more with this team in the 2014-15 season than McHale given the hand he was dealt.

 

This episode of basketballholic's "Crazy Theories That Never Come True" was brought to you by Snickers. You're not you when you're hungry. Grab a Snickers.

 

absolutely disagree. with an actual offensive system in place, the pressure for james to create something on seemingly every possession would have been drastically reduced. with a sound P'nR defensive strategy we wouldn't have been one of the worst defensive teams in the playoffs this year. add to this the ~5 playoffs games that this team gave absolute zero in the effort department, and the indictments against mchale's allegedly tremendous/flawless coaching job are rather stacked -- and we haven't even touched on adjustments yet….how many games does it take to double blake?

 

I wonder what offensive system it is that people want to structure for a roster with one guy that create in an efficient manner, a 37 year old limited spot up shooter at PG, a turnover prone shot happy inconsistent at best shooting PF, a defensive ace wing that can't create and can't score efficiently from anywhere but the 3 point line and an athletic center that can dunk but otherwise is inefficient and turnover prone on offense.

Everyone talks about these teams with better offenses and blames the coach, but the personnel is the big difference. It's a lot easier to be efficient on offense when you have multiple ball handlers and multiple shooters with young, or at least relatively young legs to run around for 30+ minutes at a high level.

 

pls mchale pls mchale pls mchale

but really probably whittman or byron scott - scott did his job as an elite tanker, but no superstar is gonna take the lakeshow seriously while he is there and mitchy has one more year before he steps down if he can't turn it around

 

If it's Rick Carlisle could he possibly join mchale as a assistant to take a year of from being head coach.

 

likewise, ISO harden up top 50 times a game is the only option in town?

of course harden is the greatest mismatch we have. but player movement and screens create mismatches and open looks as well. especially when harden isn't feeling it (game 5), you need to find other ways to score. anything beats watching james struggle with turnover after turnover while mchale keeps running the same crap over and over hoping for some magically different result.

 

But how good of an offensive system can you have when you've got only one reliable ballhandler and distributor on the roster? Is it on McHale who was handed a team with only James Harden? We saw what happened when Ariza, Brewer, Smith, Bev, and T-Jones took it upon themselves to make plays. It was not pretty. If Morey acquires a decent PG this offseason and we're still subjected to ISO heroball by Harden on most possessions next year, then it's time to point the finger at the coaching staff.

As for the 5 no-show playoff games, yes I am concerned about that and I've mentioned it in the GARM. Some of that is on McHale. It's the coach's job to make sure his players are focused and ready and clearly that was a recurring issue during the postseason. Some of it can be chalked up to immaturity, and again, if it happens next year, then McHale will have to answer for it.

But keep in mind that this isn't exclusive to the Rockets. The Spurs sure didn't look very engaged in Game 6 vs the Clippers when they could've eliminated LA at home. The Bulls mailed in their Game 6 at home vs the Cavs when their season was on the line(Kyrie barely even played in that one). And their head coaches were Pop(widely regarded as the best in the business) and Thibs(who many on here would love to see replace McHale).

 

Doc Rivers

 

on your first point, josh smith is an excellent passer. but imo mchale used him incorrectly, letting him initiate the offense from the arc off the dribble basically the same way as harden. josh has decent handles for a big man but no first step or sufficient quickness to get by blake or draymond consistently. josh should have been put in the high post at the elbow and used as a distributor from there with player movement and picks. imagine him finding cutters in the lane and backdoor. picture him curling off a pick into the lane with multiple options for passouts to the corners and allyoops, straight drives to the basket, or 5ft hookshots in the lane. instead we saw him make needless turnovers after 11 dribbles all playoffs long.

2nd point, only harden and jones are young. the rest of the rotation is composed of veterans with substantial playoff experience, so i can't buy the immaturity excuse here. and admittedly, we're not close enough to the team to know the exact culprit here. i'll agree that some (and probably not all) of this was on the coaching staff.

re your 3rd para, i'm not a fan of picking up thibs. this roster needs a dynamic personality to inspire them and an offensive genius to cure their chronic cold spells, and thibs is not that guy.

 

I hope its McHale - fingers crossed.

 

This is absolutely hilarious. Chris Sheridan folks. Are you guys new to him?

This is what he does. He makes bets on things that could happen, but positions it where he's almost never wrong or has a way to climb out of his prediction.

For instance- Last Summer Lebron had two choices left to join.... Miami or Cleveland. Nobody knew for sure other than Lebron, and the people close to him that were playing it close.

Chris The Hack Sheridan went all over the internet and did radio spots claiming that his source said its 100% Cleveland. Now Sheridan was right, but look at the scenario. He had a 50/50 chance of being right, and ran with it in order to look like he was literally the ONLY "reporter" out there that had this exclusive inside info. More than likely he was just taking a gamble to boost his reputation.

And he's a complete douche who was hated by everyone over at ESPN. This is classic Sheridan making a bet, and then when X coach is fired over the next few weeks he is able to say he was right. Well no S#$% Sherlock. Its the NBA in June. COACHES GET FIRED EVERY DAMN YEAR like clockwork.

And the fact that the CF irrationals that are jumping on "Yes... It Might Be McFail".... keep dreaming. He's coming back next year so just calm down.

 

Maybe Carlisle.....