A dispassionate Assessment of Kevin Mchale's Resume' at the time he was hired

I need to hire a new post editor

 

Well, we haven't seen anybody take Miami, OKC or Chicago/Lakers to greater heights than Spo, Brooks or Phil Jackson.

In his last two stops, McHale did a worse job than the two of the three coaches before/after him. And it wasn't just marginal. And he did better only than one of the worst head coaches in NBA history.

Phil, Scotty and Spo wouldn't like to be compared to McHale.


Arguments like this is exactly the non-data, non-evidence driven no logic, no common sense, argument for argument's sake crap that only the actual poster think has some intelligence to offer.

 

What does that have to do with his coaching?

 

Spo is a garbage coach IMO, he was one game away from losing his job last season if they would have got eliminated by boston in the playoffs, like they should have. The heat just have a bunch of stars on one team and have good team chemistry and communication. Spo is bad at calling plays. The heat just have experience also and know how to perform in clutch situations. I wouldn't give coach credit for that.

 

So let's get this straight.

Flip Saunders had a 0.707 record in in 03-04.
With the same roster the next year he was 0.49.

You blame this on contract disputes to excuse Saunders, yet McHale had to deal with the same situation and had a 0.613 record. Then you compare McHale's record under this disenchanted group to Saunders' prior year without any of those problems. Playing ring around the rosie with whatever context only to fit your narrative. Who's to say what McHale's record would have been in 03-04 without those distractions. 73-9? You don't ****ing know.

The Pistons were aging, but we are supposed to just forget that in 04-05 the Wolves second best player Sam Cassell was 35 and had his WS/48 drop by half compared to the prior year, beginning a decline that would have him out of the league in 3 years. We are supposed to forget that he only played 61 games compared to the 81 in Saunders' .701 season. We are supposed to just forget that in 04-05 the Wolves third best player Latrell Sprewell was 34 and his last season in the NBA.

Of course, context like that wouldn't fit your little fairy tale. And please, let's leave McHale the GM out of this since we are talking coaching ability. Let's try to stay behind the eight ball here, you are grasping at straws enough as it is.

 

You can go to any fan message board and you will find fans that think the coach sucks. There are always some fans that think they know more than the coach.

Is McHale a good coach? I really don't know. Last year I think the Rockets played better than expected until the late season collapse. This year the rockets have played far better than I ever expected. So, at this point I think it's hard to argue with success.

I find it ridiculous that some people constantly want to slam McHale when he has the youngest team in the league, outplaying many teams that have more stars and have more experience. It seems like hammering the coach has become more important to some than just enjoying supporting the team.

Do fans think coaches are supposed to be perfect with every move they make? The Rockets could have Phil Jackson has their head coach, with Red Auerbach and gregg Popovich as assistants and Clutchfans would still be unhappy with the coaching, I have absolutely no doubt about that.

 

Yup coaches are probably the usually the most popular escape goat and probably the least important factor. Even reading the Lakers forums, they used to bash Phil often. Everyone just thinks they know how to coach better that's just how it is.

 

people should read some of OP's conspiracy posts...they are ludicrous..

and bleacher report...really? Didn't Clutch come out and say he DOESN'T want that as a source in the GARM?

 

Now that is a good analysis worth arguing. So I'll give you props first, the only guy that looked through the data.

First, contract disputes had undoubtedly had an impact on Lowry, and Brooks on the Rockets. And overall team performance. Especially even more volatile people like Sprewell. And second, I did say it's a combination of contract dispute + 9th or 10th year with Saunders, and players tend to tune out (especially if they're given a reason to in the case of the contract dispute).

Would you not think that playing for a GM/Coach with the ability to settle contract disputes (or offer silly contracts like McHale has been known to do) could help motivate players to play better, especially McHale really only coached for 31 games (ie a short burst). We've seen plenty of instances where a new coach injects some energy, and teams play better, only for it to fade after a while (a they tune out of the coach). So who are you to say that if McHale didn't have the GM title as well, and the ability to settle contracts, that he'd be able to motivate these players?

Even in that instance, Flip did .100 better than McHale. Yes, players in Minnesota started to age, but the key player Kevin Garnett just kept getting better. Would the difference be significantly more than the .100?

So I can only go by that with the same group of people, without these issues, Flip achieved .707. With the same group of people, a couple key ones aged a bit, the franchised player one more year into the prime, that McHale still couldn't motivate them to do better than that.

Why don't you check for me which games Cassell missed in 2004-5? Why did Cassell's win share decline in 2004/5? Did it revive under McHale? Was it influenced by the team chemistry, people not playing hard under contract disputes? How often do players suddenly have their WS/48 drop by half in a season, even if they age by 1 year? Or could a lack of effort due to contract disputes have impacted? Did Sprewell have a very significant drop in performance in 2004/5 than 2003/4?

You're painting a lot of pictures also.

With Detroit, I don't think there's any arguments. People age, the difference between Champions and losing in the conference finals aren't that big. It's hard to blame that on the coach, especially if there's a rising of the guards and certainly Boston did rise after McHale gifted them Garnett. Spurs lost in the conference finals last year, but in general they did quite well despite ageing.

Your narrative that McHale caused the the contract disputes, Saunders could not overcome it as a coach with no power, that his previous season with the same players of .707 didn't matter AT ALL, that his lame duck season is all that counts (because it makes McHale's comparison look better), that McHale being the GM with the ability to resolve contract disputes (and with a history of giving silly contracts) didn't have any impact on motivating players relative to a coach that just coaches ... and that for all we know McHale probably could've done better had there been no contract disputes ... is quite impressive.


Personally, the biggest issue, even if you just look up Wiki, on the Timberwolve's season in 2004/5 WAS the contract dispute. So you want the analysis to leave out the potential impact of the contract dispute on a coach that had no powers, on players (including the likes of Sprewell) who were impacted by it, and disregard that the next coach was the GM and had the ability (and predence) to give out stupid contracts, so we can just focus on coaching ability (and McHale's special motivation powers ... which didn't happen the next time he coached the Timberwolves to a .300 record), so you have an argument. ****ING UNBELIEVABLE. Why don't you just ask me to bow my knees to McHale at the Rockets' collapse last season and give him the benefit of the doubt as you just wouldn't know if Lowry had responded better to McHale's coaching and his benching, that all would've been fine. And that small-ball line-ups really should rebound the ball better, because they should have tried harder than horse****. McHale should not be questioned for anything.

Un****ing believable.

 

C'mon, if you as a reader cannot differentiate between the facts and opinions in an article ... regardless of whether it comes from bleacher or Bill Ingram, or the NY Times ... then you are in trouble.

Bleacher report is not a source for analysis, or rumours.

But facts are still facts.

How can someone argue this, is beyond me. It's not like the Bleacher reports fabricated McHale's transactions or the draft order to fool you ...

 

You have to consider player injury, development and decline over time. Using the 03-04 record is more appropriate.

 

Here is the bio of the guy OP bases this thread on. Kickball player! Nice.

Tony Sullivan
"I don't know what I did to end up here, but whatever it was, I hope it doesn't happen again.
I'm 24 and a student at the University of Minnesota. I'm a Math Major working toward my BS in Math and Master's in Secondary Education. When it comes to areas of study that just scream to you, "SPORTS JOURNALIST!", those are right at the top, no? Fine, I'm also a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo, I regularly play volleyball, soccer, and kickball, and back in Community College, I was the sports writer for the campus newspaper. Is that better? I thought so.
I tend to focus on the Minnesota Vikings as well as the NFL Draft. I don't find myself knowledgeable enough to come up with strong writing for other areas, but crazier things have happened, I suppose."

 

And tell me if the writer got his facts wrong.

If you take a writer's hobbies to infer whether he can write an article well or not ... that is already bad enough. If you take a writer's hobbies and portray it as if the article did not get the facts correct ... you are sad.

 

McHale as GM: really bad; league-wide acknowledgement please nod here.
McHale as Coach: mediocre at best until this season.

Interesting transition CF has undergone over the past few months. When I joined in July, there were not nearly as many McHale apologists and many members here out-right hated him. They blamed him for Lowry leaving and for his (on-going) infatuation with small-ball (which many cited as the primary reason for the collapse last season).

It's ok to say that McHale has accomplished an admirable job this season (which he undoubtedly has) without jumping up to defend his past actions/career, you know.

 

The writer is no different from a poster on this board: a 24-year-old undergrad Math major. No need to start a thread with his opinions.

I care much about the Rockets organization. They are currently in the 7th slot in the west. Harden, Lin, Parsons, and Asik are having their best seasons ever. Did I misrepresent something? Sorry, I don't give 2 cents about the T'wolves in the year 2000. How many of you remember watching Billups on the T'wolves? You're really reaching.