And to play the what if game. Guarantee this team wins a championship if they had signed Lowry instead of going after Melo. They screwed up there. Lowry has heart and would have beat Steph curry in to the ground in a 7 game series.
I get that. I do. But does anyone really think an elite coach, like Pop, would have his team performing like this? I cant even fathom it. Therefore, it's on the coach.
Gosh this speaks so much about the character of the team....if they were willing to be petty rather than improve themselves/and their play. Pathetic if there's any truth to this.
We should speculate on what other changes Morrey is alluding to. Brew Jones Dekker Harrell....? For? I don't think Lawson is tradeable with the market and his play and his baggage and his court issues that are yet to be resolved. Dekker's trading value is also at its lowest. Jones seems to be again injured today btw lol Brew has been playing like crap and if he keeps it up there's no way you are fooling any team in selling him as a "Defensive" roleplayer.
I hope cyberx is able to give us some details about what is going on in the locker room. Something happened between the WCF and now between McHale and, from what it looks like, Harden. The latter is aware of what a defensive mockery he has been and decided to revert to Internet-mixtape-level effort in spite of his coach. I agree with Commodore: this was a mutiny and the players knew they had the leverage.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KHOU?src=hash">#KHOU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rockets?src=hash">#rockets</a> Daryl Morey,"If we don't play defense we're never getting out of this." <a href="https://t.co/407Jg10eDe">pic.twitter.com/407Jg10eDe</a></p>— Matt Musil (@KHOUSportsMatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/KHOUSportsMatt/status/667028494652538880">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"This is all about the players primarily. You don't win without players playing well and playing hard." - Daryl Morey</p>— Rockets Insider (@Rockets_Insider) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockets_Insider/status/667028631751790593">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Daryl Morey's words seem to indicate this is going to be J.B. Bickerstaff's team going forward. Interested to see if that sticks.</p>— Sean Pendergast (@SeanTPendergast) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanTPendergast/status/667030333741776896">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I actually do agree with this. I would like to see JB bench Harden when he plays crap defense. McHale didn't really set rules. He is the girlfriend who gives gives gives and you lose respect for. Pop wouldn't stand for it, and hopefully JB won't either. This is his chance, and he needs to gain the respect quickly if he wants the job.
Oh look! A "players wanted McHale fired" rumor just got it's wings. How long before this is being reported as anonymously sourced content?
funny thing is the West is less deep and weaker this year. There's no way Denver and Minny will be able to keep it up to make the playoffs with their rosters. Memphis is in the same position as the Rockets lost and confused. Blazers are just a jumpshooting team with no defence. We would make the playoffs sooner or later even with Mchale.
Have to remember that Morey hand-picked McHale, and it was seen as an off the radar selection when it was done. Morey clearly liked McHale from the beginning and thought he could work together well with him, so this probably was as tough as he made it seem. I've never had to fire anyone but can't imagine having to do it with someone that you actually care about as a human being.
I think just going by what we've heard that something happened between McHale and the players. Mchale does not blame the org for his firing and Morey just said it was about the players and then made the threat that changes can be made... Whatever it is they have to put it in the past and move forward and win a game tonight.
Well it was obvious to anyone watching the games that the players were not giving much effort. I don't know if they were doing it on purpose to get McHale fired, but the lack of effort was very strange. It was so bad that the thought crossed my mind a few times.
It's not like there needs to be a dramatic incident or a fight for a team to tune out a coach. Sometimes they get tired of him, or the chemistry of the team is changed etc etc. Chemistry is very important to lockerooms and is something that can't be controlled. You don't knwo how you get and you dont' know how you lose it. Apparently Josh Smith was important for our lockeroom last year smh. Who would have guessed. But Lawson has got his last two coaches fired in 2 seasons.. The first one was clearly due to him.
I wonder what happened between the WCF and now. Must of been something drastic for the players/coach to go from an extreme high to an extreme low.
yup, all the players sulking and putting their heads down. people playing for themselves. It was easily evident as each game went by. Even in the wins, there wasn't much to be impressed about. The players checked out and were just going through the motions period
I never got the impression that the players really respected McHale as a coach. It seemed to me like they thought he was goofy or something.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rockets GM Morey: "I think this group is a championship contender."</p>— Jason Quick (@jwquick) <a href="https://twitter.com/jwquick/status/667028323155873792">November 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
