What a great OP. There definitely seems to be mass confusion over the difference between a coaching failure and a failure on the part of a player to execute. I get it. We like the players, they're there out on the court, entertaining us, winning us over, so the tendency among fans of any sport is to redirect blame for mistakes onto the coaching staff instead. But players are just human beings. They're not perfect. They miss shots. They miss defensive rotations. They don't box out. The principle challenge of coaching is to try to reduce those player mistakes down to where they happen less frequently. It's to put players in a position where they can do more good than bad. It is impossible, without actually being in the huddle, being in the practices, attending the tape sessions, to know where the line can be drawn between a failure by the staff to prepare those players for games and to minimize errors vs. the players simply making mistakes themselves, as human beings do.
Thanks for writing this. This is exactly my point that I was trying to make in a similar thread that was not as well thought out, and spaced properly. It ended up showing the hatred that exists not only with our coaches, and players, but also the hatred/derailing of threads that people think is so funny. Good post. I agree we don't have the best coaching staff, but they are doing fairly well. Last year they did pretty well with what they had as well. I don't like everything Mchale does, or has done. Rotations is one I don't agree with on every point, but it is what it is. Thanks for sharing. A long while ago CF was a place of ya overreaction, but it's far worse now. Oh well though. Most of us here in the forums are ROCKETS fans. Not just some X only fan. The bashing of not only our team, but the posters as well is a great point to make. Thanks for sharing. I wish I'd have put more thought into writing mine instead of just writing off the top of my head. Great thoughts, and ideas. We all have had problems with every coach that has come here. Even late Rudy T days we complained about ISO. I just want everyone to be a Rockets fan. Stop the hate guys. Love the Rockets! That is why we are here right?! Great analysis!
The vast majority of those blasting McHale (then blasting Sampson and begging for McHale to return, and then blasting McHale again) are Jeremy Lin fans, primarily focused on Lin's play and scapegoats are everywhere (McHale, Sampson, Harden, Douglas, Morey, Carmelo, Felton, opposing point guards, the Knicks organization and grass being green). In my view, this is a young, rebuilding team --- development is primary, wins/losses secondary. Both are important, but I don't think a tough loss means the coach needs to be canned. I don't usually think a coaching change should be looked at seriously unless there is a major issue or the talent to contend is there and they are underperforming for whatever reason. So long as the Rockets are continuing to look to the future, I'd evaluate McHale when his contract is up.
I'm not a LOF, but playing him and Asik so few minutes....? If we want to develop players, then develop them, and quit playing Harden 16 minutes a quarter (yes, I know there are only 12, it's hyperbole) until his ankle is mush hoping he'll save the game when all the other team has to do is (a) pack the paint (b) dare us to shoot from 3, because Morey has brainwashed the staff that the midrange game is useless. Agree with your post, and McHale knows the game, but he's a placeholder coach. I hope.
Neither am I, but I like to call it how it is, and that is that he sucks hard balls and has no business being anywhere near any NBA team.
That's a strawman argument. I don't see that many posters blaming the coaching staff for the poor execution of the youngest team in the league. Many are, however, blaming the coaching staff for things squarely under their control, like their baffling rotation decisions. That is not ridiculous at all. Midseason coaching changes are not something to be taken lightly. However, if we see something like the gross negligence of the Dallas game again, then all bets are off. Poor coaching performances and occasional decision backfires are one thing, systematic gross negligence and plain "whatever" attitude is quite another.
1. Right now, Lin fans are the ones complaining. But there are always a group of fans blasting the Rockets' coach (and the Rockets GM, though the "why is Rockets not fire Murray" crowd has been quieter after the Harden deal) pretty much every season for whatever the reason of the day is (usually comes after a few tough losses). 2. I agree there is no point in firing the coach right now. I mean, who exactly would replace the fired coaches and what exactly will they do differently and achieve differently? The current staff has a very young roster-- the average age of the team, weighted by actual minutes played, is the 2nd youngest in the league at 24.3 years (only the Hornets are younger). And they are the only team among the 5 or 6 youngest in the league that is not just plain terrible. The players seem to be fighting hard every night (even if they are mistake prone) and are genuinely working on getting better. Not sure there is much more we can ask for. 3. One thing fans tend to question regarding every coach is player rotations (why coach hates ___, why ___ plays over ___). I guess this is because most fans don't really know the finer details of the x's and o's being run. The thing is a lot of the substitution patterns stuff is subject to second guessing because it's an experiment-- that a particular 5-man unit will do better than the alternatives-- and sometimes your hunch doesn't come out favorably. It happens. This early in a season, with this inexperienced a team, I don't think it's that fair to yell at coach for playing time decisions. It's not like they are deliberately putting out lineups that are well proven to suck.
better link http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/12/popovich-believes-sampson-is-suited-for-an-nba-coaching-job/
Being a Libra, I tend to try for equanimity in my posts. Too much so. Your post rings true. We're stuck with him for now. Just wish he'd quit playing Harden so many minutes. The guy'll wind up sitting out 10 games with bad knees.
Morey himself has already said he doesn't believe in firing the HC mid-season, so... Anyway, some good points in this thread. I'll try to add some myself and quote myself from a few weeks ago: I'm not a huge fan of McHale's, but I do believe that much of the criticism is unwarranted. The greatest offensive and defensive schemes won't help you if the players won't or can't execute them and your best players don't fit with each other. I think you could replace McHale with 10 or 15 different head coaches and the end result would be largely the same.
Yes, this is what I was going to say, but you have already said it, and did a much better job than I could have. Fans think they know so much about coaching basketball, and what rotation would be best. I think it's a little harder than it all looks on TV. It's so easy to criticize an in game decision after the fact. The Rockets have exceeded my expectations up to this point in the season, so I'm happy with the job the coaches have done.
