McHale Press Conference - NBA TV/NBA.com - 10AM CT

Maybe he just isn't under any stress.

 

Bingo...

 

This was awesome.

 

Les: New era for the Rockets. Been fortunate to have three great coaches. This time around, things have to be done different and think Kevin is perfect for that fit. League has gotten so much better. There is 82 games before the playoffs. Neeed a great leader and communicator and understands how to use the staff and players at all times. Kevin is the perfect man for that job. Great player in this league. Is a smart guy, which we require.

Kevin: Thanks for coming. Thanks to the Houston Rockets. Im excited. Cant wait to get going. Talked to a few players. They're ready to go. Its fun. I was away from the game for awhile. I missed it. Wanted to take a young team like this and take them and see what we can do over a period of years. Looking forward to it. Everyone has the same goal: make the playoffs and playoff runs.

How are you better prepared this time around?

You get better as you do it. Last time I coached, it was fun with the young guys. Injuries derailed us and set us back. As you do it and prepare and talk to everyone,....you formulate how you do it. Very different in Minnesota. I wanted to start off, have a TC, be with the guys, have a chance to grow and implement things I think are important. It takes time. Million ways to play it but you have to have conviction on how you want it to play. Play uptempo but you gotta defend.

How do you make up for bench time?

Ive been on the bench long enough and in the game a long time. Ive been in the NBA over 30 years. I was interactive with coaches. Me and Flip would go over plays, play calls, end of game play calls, etc. Thing for me was I couldnt put my system in.

How close is this team when you look at the roster?

I like the team. One reason I took the job is its well coached and good O team. Like what Rick did what these guys. Think they have pieces in place that are very good that can be part of championship team. Goal next year is to make the playoffs. If we dont, it will be on me. Im excited about it. I see players here that can play at high level on O end. Have to get better on D. That will fall on me and my staff. You get better with what you work at.

What did you learn from Bill and in Minnesota that will help you here?

Learned not to curse at the players as much as Bill. He pushed you hard. Bill did a great job. What I followed from him is repetition. We did it times and times over again where as if you almost wanted to cry. Its a lot of drill work and repetition. Bill was a fantastic coach. Bill lives here in Houston so I'm sure I'll run into him here.

You brought up 2 coaches, why the difference in coaches now?

Les: We think the game has evolved. Coach has to evolve with the game. One person I dont think can do it all anymore. Gotta be a leader of men who can work with them and whos input to take and not to take and how to use that input.

How are fans to reconcile, you had VG and Rick and no disrespect to McHale, but now him.

Good thing for Kevin is, when you start off and dont have great success, it is benefit to him. Kevin now sees what it takes.

DaryL: when looking at coaching record, gotta look deeper. When Kevin took over, he did better than the person he took over from. Have to look at the roster. Have to look at quality of shots they took and gave up. Have to look deeper at coaching record.

Daryl: We were looking for a leader, smart basketball mind, someone who was trying to better today than yesterday, someone who can make our roster better, which is young. We're looking for someone who can do that. A guy who can take what was strong(O), build on that, and make the D strong.

How do you make sure you are on the same page with Kevin?

Never had a disconnect with Rick and I think Rick would tell you that as well. This day is about Kevin. Lets focus on that.

Would you foul last night at end of game?

Of course. I would be shocked if Spoelstra didnt tell them. Sometime there is disconnect between player and coach. In a perfect world, everything layed out. Basketball is imperfect game. If youre up 3, you foul. I lost games where guys make 1 legged runners. Great players make great shots. Most of how I feel about coaching is similar to when I played. Im sure Spoelstra told them to foul.

[Missed question but regarding assistants]

I signed this morning. It will be time. I reached out to some people and stuff like that. Much more sooner than later. NOthing to report today.

Any problem hiring former ROckets who applied for the job?

I'll add best staff I can. If you say I have all the answers and my way is the only way, thats silly. More input, the better people you have, the more you have to stand up for what you're for. I want people who are interactive. I wont say I'll eliminate this guy or that guy.

How do you reconcile the difference in you were the decision maker, now you'll have less input on that.

Thats good.

Les: He'll have input. A lot of input. He understands the game. Him and Daryl will work closely together.

McHale: We'll talk. You're always evaluating your players. Thats always going on. They'll fulfill the needs best they can. Everyone wants Kareem Abdul Jabar, us and everyone else.

Challenges winning without a star?

Easier when you have a guy at the end of the game. Thats always easier but I think you can win without that. Look at Denver this year. Everyone say they would hit the skids. They came together and played well. That style of play works. Youre always looking for a superstar but to say we dont have that guy, we cant win, I dont believe that. This team can score. They put points on the board. From watching them, we got to get better on D.

Les, how far from champioponship contention?

Wins tell you how far you are away, right?

Reported that BArkley tried to sway you. What changed your mind after you met with the Rockets?

Never unsure I wanted to coach again. I wanted to coach again. Im taking over a team that can score and a team that won 43 games last year. Teams that are winning 50-60 games, jobs arent out there. I thought this was a really good job. I think its a team that got a lot of nice players from different age groups. Getting to the point of talking about records, when you take over in the middle of the season, the submarine is taking on water. You gotta bail that out. I am proud that I was able to take both teams and turn them around. Turning it around in the middle of the season is a hard thing to do. I wanted to start fresh without water in the submarine.

Daryl: He was COM one month before.

Yao said he wanted to come back if body allowed it.

We'll be happy if he can. I think he'll give it him best shot and his body will dictate that. He has had injuries. That will all be layed out in the future. That is out of my control.

With labor situation, have you looked at the draft?

I havent. Been working. Leaving and going back to fulfill my duties and work for NBATV. Ive been doing that. This has probably been the year I watched least amount of college ball. No prep on draft yet.

Do you know how you want your staff and the roles?

Important to have people who are specialists and guys who will look at the O and D. Everyone has to do a little something. I think that is important. As a HC, youre monitoring playtime, personailities. etc. ONe of the most important things I gotta do is get them ready to play. I have to get them to play hard. You'll have different things pulling at you. Breaking the game down into parts help. For me, that has worked out well.

[Missed question]

Wont throw out any names. I reached out to a few but would say that a lot of people that I want to talk to I might have to wait. I did sign contract half hour ago. I have some ideas.

How much fun will it be competing with Ainge and Larry?

Its fun. I missed that. I enjoy competing against everyone. IF you have a different color jersey on, I dont like you that night.

Realize your championship rings came at expense of this franchise?

Glad I got them and they didnt.

Regarding Finch, is his role yet TBD?

Daryl: We are wokring together on the staff. No roles finalized. All we did was suggest high quality guys to Kevin.

Kevin: Its like the players. You know guys a little but until you coach them, hard to evaluate them. All outside evalutations are different. With any of the coaches, if I dont know them, Ill give them as much responsibility as they can handle. You also earn that repsonsiblity. Thats how we'll do it.


Matt Bullard with Kevin McHale:

Rockets need a center, prepared to give us 30 minutes night?

30 seconds.

Glad to have you here. Tell us some coaches or players you played with that influences you?

Everyone did. Came in with Bill Fitch. My first 5-6 years were great learning years. I believe its about communication and holding guys accountable. ... NBA is tough. But effort and commitment, its taking the right shots. Part of being a player is understanding its tough. Easy to say stop them. You have to make a guy play to their weakness. There is something about being a former player and understanding.

Rockets successful on O last year. Keep it the same?

Would be stupid not to. Adelman did a great job. I like what he ran. I fell in love with his corner series that he ran in Sacramento. Players comfortable too. Got unselfish players. Being able to score is nice but have to supplement it with D. We'll have to spend a lot of time on D.

Repetition you mentioned.

You get better with what you work at. We'll get better as we work at it. Gotta demand too. All repetition. You get better with what you work at. If you work hard, good things happen. We'll work hard and play fun style of basketball.


Ready for Houston heat?

It was 98, got off the plane, a guy said it cooled down, its 95. (laughing). I'm looking forward to it though and being part of the Rockets community.

Thanks coach.


Patti Smith with Les:

Exciting day for you and this franchise.

Everyone likes him. Think he'll be a great coach.

Hard part about this?

All the other coaches have been successful. We havent made a mistake. Hope it stays that way.

What was it about McHale?

He'll be more innovated. Better on both ends of the court. Very competitive. He'll get the players to accept what he wants to do.

Kevin a good communicator.

Not only for the players but employees too.

You all talked about communication. You say he will be involved.

All coaches will.

With this behind you, what are you most looking forward to?

Looking forward to see what FAs or trades we can make.

What do you envision?

Shaq. No, we have to get bigger. Thats obvious. Once we get bigger, think we'll have a better team.

 

Thanks for always coming through hsf09.

 

No problem. Some major typos in there.Just ignore them.

 

No one recorded video of the Presser???

 

Word... if we could give someone an Most Valuable Poster award, he'd be on the short list.

 

Completely agree with Lex. Times are changing and these new coaches have to adopt to the new short comings like playing these new "back to back" games the league has applied to its schedules.

 

(leslie)Alexander, only that instead of having a bald head..he has shoes with no socks.

 

The one thing about him that says to me he'll be a good coach is his situation before getting this job. He had a cushy TNT analyst job where he was well liked about everyone he worked with, was respected wherever he went, and was great at what he did. But he gives that all up to go back to doing what most everyone criticized him for--coaching. He definitely has the hunger and passion to improve himself, his record, and the team. Coaching is a hard grind, but instead of taking the easy way out, he chooses to take up the challenge, the uncertainty, the hardship. Much respect to him.

 

prefer let us talk about who will be next assistant coach of huston rocket

 

Les Alexander's laugh is just... frightening

thanks for posting the links and such

 

He sounds like he has a lot of energy. I'm starting to really like this hire. I wish someone asked him about Thabeet and T. Will.

 

McHale is saying all the right things and I like the hire. People on his board should take a vacation, a deap breath and realise having McHale as a coach is not that bad. I liked the most how he said it's on him to get guys to play hard.

Adelman didn't seem to have that, he never took responsibility when the team was playing bad defense and or not working hard. The one I would've liked from Kevin was if he had said they need to get a lot better defensively, not just better but that's nitpicking.

Did you hear the guy with the deep voice asking all the Rockets related questions: hiring old players, having the two championships at the expense of the Rockets haha

Alexander is really a snake, you can tell just by looking at him. That laugh is evil man I wish the guy would be honest about being dissappointed in the last few years instead of just implying it.

 

I am warming up McHale.

1.) I agree with him that the head coaches job is to manage the ship so to speak.
2.) I really like the, glad I got them they didn't comment. He could have sucked up and said, Houston was a great team and it ... blah blah... he did not.
3.) He has the right mind for it. I noticed on TNT he had a bit of Hubie Brown in him... he talked about how making the cut the right way was just as important as making the cut. The little details.
4.) He plays with the crowd much like Phil Jackson. I think there is something to this that allows people to deflect and reflect attention. That is an important trait.
5.) He does not seem distant or afraid.
6.) He talks about not doing it all himself. I am not sure that is just talk or not but having someone focus on O and someone focus on D I think it an excellent way of doing things.

Never thought I would root for McHale to get another ring. But I sure am now.

Bleed Red Rockets Red

Fierguard

 

That guy was Barry Warner from 610 AM in Houston. He used to work for the Rockets in the 80's. He's kind of a tool, but he's been around Houston media for a while. Asking if McHale would not hire assistants because they were ex-Rockets seems like a stupid question.