What in McHale's resume made him the strongest candidate to coach Rockets?

The guy has limited talent to work with, no training camp, and hardly any practice time at all in which to implement his system to these players. In addition, he has what? The 3rd youngest roster in the NBA? Not to mention we all knew the first part of the schedule is a murderer's row. Did we not start 0-5 with Adelman on the bench last year? We've at least beaten the Spurs and the Hawks, so I'd say we've seen worse. We've lost 4 tough road games, and probably will lose at least one of the next two, but guess what? Eventually the schedule will even out, and we'll play some of the weaker teams in the league too. What the hell do people really expect from the guy?

 

Poor thread.

McHale reminds me of Rudy T. Losing sucks but is part of the process. All his moves make sense. Fans need patience.

 

What? Oh nevermind. Thought there was a actual discussion. My guess... He is a snappy dresser.

 

Leslie Alexander has 51% of the vote, he'll always try to get name recognition to coach his team and he'll never hire a coach with no coaching experience. I'd say Van Gundy, who can transform a team and Adelman, a little more in-ya face than Mchale are better than the current Rockets coach, but in the NBA, it is about the players. In the past 30 decades, there has never been a NBA champion without at least 1 HOF player on the team. Coach Spoelstra, all he has to do is babysit his team. What McHale has to do is trying to fit the pieces together, as of now, he ain't getting the formula right. It doesn't matter who coaches the Rockets because the players determine how far we go.

 

It's not the coaches. It's the players. They're professionals; they should bring it night in and night out. Too long we were relying on Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes for defense; RA also couldn't teach this team team defense also.

I hope Les Alexander agrees to tank because this team just can't compete. Our only hope is to secure high lottery picks in several seasons.

 

We need Jeff van Adelman

 

Firstly - McHale is getting paid the same salary as Rick Adelman for the next two seasons, most likely pro-rated due to the lockout. So, NO its not about Les being cheap as many on here might want to think. Adelman was one of the highest paid coaches last season in the NBA.

Second- Coach & GM. Any coach they hired would need to be on the same page with the front offices moves and understand where their roster needed to go. McHales experience in the front office would be a major factor in their decision.

Third - Supporting cast. In this case, the Rockets are able to hand pick several different assistant coaches who are more than capable of being the head coach in time, or even now. Finch and Sampson specifically have a high pedigree of different skills to bring to the table. Most of the time, head coaches just sort of bring along their friends as assistants more or less. This time, there is accountability with the assistants and its not just the head coaches' guy. Its Morey's guy. Its a new way of designing your coaching staff in the NBA, but I believe its the right move to make.

Fourth - Face of the franchise. We all know that the Rockets needed a big personality and someone with championship experience to be in the limelight. McHale can be that guy for a little while until the roster catches up. Its important for recruiting free agents and having someone in the lockroom for the young players to look up to.

Fifth - Basketball decisions. This was very low risk to begin with. If the Rockets stink under McHale, then they only have him on the books for two seasons, they get a high lottery pick, and they have two more than capable head coaches in waiting with Finch and Sampson. If for some reason they end up with a winning record and making the playoffs, then we are all the better for it.


-McHale as the head coach, at this point in the Rockets state of the franchise is the right move to make.

 

/agree
Rookietize op.

 

Read the Signature!

Rocket River

 

That may have to do with the players actually playing harder once the old coach was fired. Especially because McHale let them loose from whatever system they were playing in...

 

The person who made this thread is probably the same person wanting the team to tank.

 

This.

Most importantly, this.

 

McHale promised he could get the team on National TV.

DD

 

Strongest candidate is one with realistic goals... He probably said he has substancial lottery experience... He probably has inside connections for seating at the lottery

 

i said it in the other similar thread. Kevin can tell lex what he is having for dinner in full detail, with no hesitation and even invite Lex over for dinner. While Rick the ruler and Jeff napolean would just give lex an evil look and a smarmy smile. No dinner for Lex!

 

I feel like we agree. But just look at things from different perspectives.

Yes, from a vacuum Adelman does a lot of great things for his teams. But so does every other NBA caliber head coaches. McHale does a lot of great things. Rudy did too. As well as JVG. Any veteran NBA head coach has enough knowledge of the game and players to help bring out the best in his team. While they do so in different ways, the results tend to be similar.

When JVG took over for Rudy T, the Rockets had a similar record the next year. When Adelman took over for JVG, we again had a similar record the next year. And there's nothing so far to suggest this still isn't happening. The Rockets look again like a .500 team this season. Philosophies may change. Offense may get better. Defense may get worse. But in the end, all good coaches get about the same out of the same players.

Also note that coaches also have hands in player acquisition and development. A lot of players Morey got for Adelman were pretty suited for his system like Brooks, KMart, Miller, etc. And those that didn't suit the system(Hill, TWill) didn't get playing time. McHale OTOH focus on size and defense. And it's no surprise that Morey's moves after McHale arrived have been drafting a big SF, a 7 footer, trying to set up twin towers with Gasol and Nene, and lastly signing Dalembert. So part of the reason why someone may think Adelman really brought out the best in his players probably had to do with said players being suited for him.

 

It's not always about your resume... it's about your attitude, ability, potential, name, looks and hotness, etc... of course not all of this applies to McHale. It does explain why some people get hired though.

 

His interviewing skills.

 

because he isn't a good coach, but is personable. he can talk to the media while we keep losing to make it not seem so bad.

if you have talent on your team (which we do) and a bad coach you won't be successful. if you kept adelman with the talent we have we are the 14th pick every year, here we improve our draft picks without losing talent.

morey has always said the best way to improve is to be bad, but les wants to stay competitive. in this situation morey has gotten the best roster he can, which is what les wants, but by hiring mchale he puts losing out of his hands and into mchale's.