James Harden on Kevin McHale: "He's a clown. He never taught me anything"

McHale is an NBA good ole' boy who will always get another job no matter how bad he screwed up the last one. See Minny & Houston. There are plenty of guys who've paid their dues as NBA assistant coaches (and other positions) that can't get a shot as a head coach or an exec.. This idiot screws up everywhere he's been coach or executive and they always take him back on TV. Instead of calling out James every chance you get, how about you take responsibility for crapping the bed in Minny and failing in Houston. Les wanted him gone so he fired him period.

 

Every once in a while, Les would make an inexplicable decision. Extending McHale was one of those. I didn't understand it at the time, and I still don't get the motivation that drove Alexander to do so. Like I said, inexplicable!

 

It was going to happen sooner or later. I think the only reason James responded like this is because it was his former coach that made the comments.

 

McHale is correct in his assessment that James Harden is not a leader.

James Harden is correct in his assessment that McHale is a clown. I suspect that many players and staff around the NBA quietly agree with James. And I believe Harden when he said that McHale never taught him anything.

Both people are unprofessional a-holes here. With that said, I don't think this story is all that big of a deal. It's one of those things that will probably blow over quickly. McHale is a part of the past, so it's best for both Harden and us Rockets fans to stop giving a f**k about McHale and move on.

 

It would be more interesting to me if McHale's tenure in Houston, both his coaching and his relationship with Harden, hadn't already been discussed here many times. That's ClutchFans.

 

Not too familiar with McHale as a player huh?

He was an elite player but he wasn't a leader. His practice habits and inconsistent play was often criticized by Larry Bird and Robert Parrish.

The Celtics didn't win titles because of McHale's leadership. The Celtics won because they had 3-4 Hall of Famers on that team in the 1980's.

Replace McHale with Harden and the Celtics win titles as well.

The leadership comes from the head coach. The narrative of "leader" is so overplayed and subjective.

For example who was the leader on those Celtics teams? Was it Larry Bird like the media said? Who was the leader according to several players??? A player history forgot, Jerry Sichting.

 

I still believed it was Morey's decision. Morey handpicked McHale to be a puppet in his masterplan to implement his gimmick offense and talked Les into extending him. Les got really mad over this that's why he took over the coach selection process last year yet somehow Les took all the blame for McHale and Morey took all the credit for MDA.

 

Your view is not everyone else's view or even the consensus view.

Poor media coverage has cost Harden 2 MVP's, an all NBA selection, and probably incentives in his contract that are tied to those sort of awards.

If Harden wins that MVP last year what do you think the implications are on his confidence on the court? You think it felt good for him to lose out on that to a guy who was making a mockery of the stat sheet?

Not everyone is Michael Jordan with the whole "I take everything as disrespect and use it as fuel". Trying to put everyone into that box is going to fail because people are not all exactly the same.

It takes emotional energy to deal with that type of repetitive slander. Harden has been great at brushing it off from the countless angles it comes at him from but when it is coming from a former coach the optics are different.

Allowing it to continue creates a bigger long term nuisance than rooting it out nowand being done with it.

 

I've always thought that when it came down to it, Les picked the coaches. I'm waiting for Daryl's opus about his life and career after he retires, and may that be far down the road! Then we'll find out more, in my opinion. The organization has always been rather closed mouthed about what they do.

 

Agreed, however the 13-14 team could have contended for a title. McHale and Harden both deserve blame for the Portland series

 

You could make the case that anything would be more interesting, with that logic.

 

That was my point.

 

I did not understand why they hired him in the first place, I got that he could sway guys like Dwert to sign here but really?

Get an experienced coach for D.....for a change.

 

Not sure that I fully understand, please elaborate.

 

C'est bon, then.

 

Respectfully, how many times should Harden let McHale take pot shots at him? This is at least the third time he has made obviously pointed comments in the last 18 months. James had to take a strong stand to get the respect from his teammates and hopefully to stop McHale from commenting regularly about Harden. Now McHale knows Harden isn't afraid to comment back and McHale has his reputation at risk. The last thing he wants is someone like Ariza or Beverley coming out and saying he was a poor coach or unfair to Harden. I suspect McHale shuts his mouth now and gets his Trump loving wife to do the same.

 

It's always funner to believe in conspiracy theories rather than the common view but sometimes when new facts come out I have to force myself to change my opinion and concede what's most likely.

Kevin McHale might just be a dumbass and Corey Brewer might not have had nudes of him after all.

 

Morey pushed for it. Morey found McHale as the only coach he could really use as his puppet.

 

I said I didn't blame James for doing so. I just wish he'd let it pass. Being focused on the coming season should be paramount, in my opinion, and this is just a distraction.

How many times do I have to explain a post? Is there a BBS minimum I'm unaware of?