Scola and McHale Post-Practice Interviews

To better put Scola's interview in context of the game, I suggest listening to McHale first.

Yeah, it sounded like Scola stopped a b****ing fest / finger pointing fest in a huddle by shouting something along the lines of "NO Excuses, you whiners. Ball up!"

As much as I love Lowry, Scola should be captain of this team ... if he'd take the role.

 

I agree that for now, it needs to be Scola. Lowry is getting there but he isn't there yet. I would be all for dally being the captain because he plays with so much heart and brings it every night. Too bad it is his first year and there is no way he gets the role.

 

completely agree with both of them. very well said, no need for finger pointing or crying, just trust the coaching staff and do what it takes to win.

 

If Lowry is doing a bit of finger-pointing, he needs to stop doing that. That's definitely not you expect from a leader of your team.

 

All this situation sounds a little bit like McHale still has to gain the respect from the players. I see it normal coming from a group that's been coached by a superveteran like Adelman, having a whole new coaching staff, etc. But anyway shows that in the end players don't respect a coach instantly for his label as a former player, that's cliche and obviously they will respect him only by his work day to day as a coach. The problem with K-Mac right now is that he does not count with the coaching experience to back him up, if he wants to earn the respect from players it will have to be with acts (say "adjustments").

Or maybe I'm overreacting.

 

Scola is pro and great team mate to have. After the game Scola is out there practicing after the tough lost. He just works hard and knows you can't get full of yourself when things are going bad or good, just like Scola said work hard everyday and continue to work hard. I am glad Scola is still on this team. Tomorrow, I can't wait to see how the team responds after the tough lost to the Wolves.

 

McHale: A lot of b****in' and cryin' in the huddle (Quit the b****in' and crying and finger pointing!)

"Work harder. Do what you're doing and do it harder."(Really?!)

Reminds me of a quote: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

But...what happens when hard work is all 'hard-worked' out?

"Instead of shutting up and getting better, we all decided we're going to complain about it."

"Gotta get back to playing as a team."

"Luis is a pro. There is a reason he is a winner and a legend in his country."

. . .

Luis: "We need to play. Not talk so much. We shouldn't be talking. Play hard, and do whatever the coaches say."

"Little chit-chats get us out of focus. Happens way too much. We need to be quiet in practice."

"I don't believe anyone on our team has the right to talk after a game like yesterday."

"Problems of yesterday's game didn't start yesterday."

"We need to worry about every aspect of the game."

. . .

Daryl, your thoughts?

 

If players don't respect what McHale is saying then they need to grow up. Only one player on the team has advanced more than 1 round in the playoffs.

 

Yes it is. However, Gundy only cared about one side of the court.

 

I think you are. These are grown men and it's much more difficult to tell them to shut up in practice. I think coaches just let it play out unless it's something really big, like players insulting each other... It happened in LA when Jax was there, i'm sure it happens with Pop in SA...it's more about the players having respect for each other because all that b****in' is just taking time away from them getting better as a team.

I guess i'll say it now because someone will eventually:

Is Twill at the center of it?

 

This isn't supposed to happen with a veteran roster. I would expect bickering from the Wizards but not from this team. Seems like losing the Chuck wagon has even worse ramifications than what we tought.
I'm not confident in McHale on either side of the ball either, this team was supposed to better defensively with Dalembert, we'll rotations are crap, players are out of position then he goes ultra small and wonders why there is a red carpet laid out to the basket.
Offensively the "motion" is almost gone and while we get the occasional back cut the pass is not thrown anymore. We're back to PnR, Iso ball and chuking up 3's. Jury is still out but I have concerns over these internal team issues.

 

One thing you may notice ... when we're down by a sizeable margin he tends to go to a small lineup. And there's a logic to it; when you're trying to make up a deficit, its stategically beneficial to go small. Small lineups are faster, are better in transition, tend to be better offensively because of the better outside shooting and penetration ability. On the flip side, if you're up and trying to protect a lead, you'll probably observe that he'll favor a bigger unit with more rebounding and better overall defense.

 

It goes back to that stretch against the bucks where they shot like 5 threes in a row, instead of driving...you never saw that when chuck and battier were here...i put it on lowry to speak up and he said the next day it was on him, so that's one issue...they dont know who to look for in those situations, since no one is stepping up as leader.

And the way Mchale described it sounds more serious...blaming guys for plays and collapse in the defense, but scola explained it as if they were just not focused, talking during practice, bringing up little things, much like a middle school team would...not sure what's closer to the truth or if it's both

 

Der both talking about Lowry he seems like he cries and points fingers but it's hard 2 believe bcuz he's from Philly

 

Durv I get that, I know he wants to get more possessions and get out and run to make up ground but we end up trading baskets or fail to corral the defensive rebound and since we're small have little chance at the offensive glass.
It's the Avery Johnson issue, don't match up to your opponent let them match up to you.

 

http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/01/scolas-solution-to-rockets-issues-is-to-work-harder/

http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/01/rockets-decide-the-court-is-for-playing-not-talking/