Who do you guys want as the next Rockets coach

Isn't that the point thought? That he's only average/mediocre/in-the-middle-of-the-pack and not an elite coach that people make him out to be?

 

I think most Rocket fans would have been on board with the decision to dump McHale after the Portland series loss, and were actually pretty shocked that it didn't happen.

I just don't agree that blowing up the coaching staff after 8 games is a good move for the franchise. I do think that bringing someone in who will hold these guys accountable would be an interesting move, though.

 

The next year of McHale's contract after the Portland loss was a team option, the perfect opportunity to move on. But no, it was picked up... and then extended for three more years by December.

Rockets could have had Kerr, for example.

 

Kerr would have never picked Houston over GS. Hell he might have picked New York over Houston.

 

He might have picked GSW over Houston but not New York.

 

Lol New York is just not a desirable destination right now.

 

Did Les hire Don Cheney or that was a different owner?

 

Might have? Kerr was gifted a loaded team in Golden State. We had Tariq Black and Robert Covington on our season opening Roster.

I'll concede some on New York but Kerr was locked in on GS from the start.

 

Firing McHale before December seems extremely knee-jerk for someone like Morey. Unless we head into the new year at .500 I just don't see him being let go this season.

I'm surprised so many are in favour of JVG considering he was not in most fans favour towards the end of his tenure.

I love JVG, he sticks up for his players and will speak up against injustices. Not to mention how fastidious he is in his preparation. If he were ever given the coaching role I would embrace it, but not without my concerns, the main ones listed here:

1) Our offense was terrible under JVG. Unimaginative, uncreative, predictable. We were left with T-Mac to create all of our offense in much the same way Harden does now. What made it a little easier was having Yao down there hitting feathery fade aways but make no mistake, when we needed a bucket we were left with iso ball and ugly plays.

Obviously our defense was better than what we're rolling out now. That goes without saying. This speaks to his preparation.

This is just too much pressure to place on Harden, especially without the comfort of being able to get an efficient post up from Dwight.

2) I feel like the game has changed so much since he was last coaching. Offenses are so much more sophisticated these days and I think the game may have passed JVG by on the offensive end. He's a product of 90's basketball.

I'm not sure who else is out there, but we have so many offensive weapons and nothing to show for it outside of Harden creating everything for this team.

I'm surprised no one has considered Mike D'Antoni. He was the one who spearheaded the change in the NBA offense we see now. He's creative and he could do great things with the versatile players we have. He might even be able to create something that meshes with Morey's three, key and free's philosophy.

Those PHX teams were a Robert Horry hip check away from making the finals and we have more collective talent than they do. They weren't as terrible defensively as most believe and that's with Nash and Amare on that squad.

I'm not saying he's the answer. Just putting it out there.

Anyway, I think this is something the players have to figure out for themselves. They've been given the orders by McHale, they just need to go out and...sigh...play harder. The players love him, and I think they enjoy the freedom to feel the game out on the floor, but this comes at the expense of preparation.

In the event his contract isn't picked up, I think Morey will just move up Chris Finch unless Les wants a big name in his place.

Here's a question. Does anyone here watch enough of the RGV to comment on Chris Finch's coaching?

 

Rockets would be well suited for a defensive coach. A blind man could tell you that all this Rockets offense needs is more ball movement and players moving off ball. It's not a hard fix. Just need a coach who will hold them accountable for it. No need for an offensive mastermind. Playing good defense can get you a long way and keep you in just about every game.

 

Edit: Dream2Franchise beat me to it

And same for JVG.

Les isn't hiring JVG back.

I'm surprised and laughing at the same time at how many want Van Gundy back.

I obviously wasn't on the board back but but I bet the same who want him now are the same who were calling for his firing 9 years ago.

I think some have fallen in love with JVG the TV guy and are thinking/saying, "Go hire that guy!"

 

I'm not a huge fan of McHale's and wonder if we'll ever see an offense and defense under the guy that even remotely approaches what I admire about Pop's job with the Spurs. Having said that, I think firing him this early just doesn't make sense. Heck, I could have fun speculating about who would make a good replacement, and it's awfully tempting, but we made it to the WC Finals last season. Considering the injuries McHale had to deal with, going the deepest we've been in the playoffs in like forever was a hell of an accomplishment. In my opinion, it earns him keeping his job at least until the break. If the performance of the Rockets is still wildly fluctuating at that point, I'll probably be calling for his head myself.

 

Ettore Messina.

 

Ooooh I like. I hear good things.

Raiding the Spurs bench is always a good place to start, but there are duds there too. Monty, Jacque...

Also there's college. Bob McKillop from Davidson is meant to have one of the best motion offenses in the country.

 

dobro and deckard:

i respect you both as posters here, of course, but i must disagree about replacing mchale now or even later mid-season. the reason is that, we are not winning a title with mchale this year (or any year) in any case. we all still hold out hope, but deep down we know it is not going to happen. so why not get a 70 game headstart on preparing for a finals run in 2017?

i would much rather use this season to re-build our offense/defense and develop chemistry with a new coaching staff than waste the year and put off the reload until next summer..

 

Rudy Tomjanovich

 

McHale and the Rockets' success last year is like when you're dating a chick that you've wanted to dump 6 months back only to find out she's now down for the Anne Hatheway only to let it happen once. You get excited and start to think things might get better after the experience but it was just a fluke occurrence. Now you're back in the same rut you were in before the Anne Hatheway only you need to break it off as soon as possible.

 

Stedd, you aren't supposed to make people spray their monitors while drinking their Diet Coke. For shame! ;-D-

 

Before, I would have said McHale can stay as head coach as long as he has the right assistants running the Xs and Os and defense. Essentially, he can be the player's coach and motivator.

But we keep seeing the team coming out like they just don't care, no motivation, no energy. So McHale isn't even the right person for that.