I want McHale gone in the off season. He was totally inept last night at the worse time. He's probably going to get embarrassingly out-coached in the playoffs too.
Minus Jermaine Oneal bone-headed play the Rox could be on the verge of another collapse out of playoffs because I truly feel the Suns would have gone ahead and won that game last week too. I just don't like him as a coach.
Give the guy a break. All the stuff with his daughter's passing, the constant roster changes, not having a training camp, etc. I feel like half the coaches in the NBA right now would've crumbled under those circumstances. It's hard to find a coach that will even mesh well with Daryl Morey, and I think McHale has handled it decent-to-well. Unless we get blown out by an average of 25+ in a 1st round sweep, I will be satisfied with this team's accomplishments this season. No one was giving the Rockets any hope to even be CLOSE to playoff contention even after the big trade. I admit it, he's not my ideal coach either, but cut the guy some slack!
Ok, i haven't gone through this thread to see, so i am going to say what most of us have been thinking. How is it that a bunch of fans on a forum can see what needs to be done and a professional coaching staff can't? We all can see that ever since Jones has come back from D-league he has been out-playing Smith. It was freakin noticeable within the first game or two. You mean to tell me that a professional basketball coach can't see this yet? Is McHale really this slow?
Its not like the Rockets are really playing defense...but imagine if Adelman was coaching this bunch...i believe that the team would be still scoring at a really high clip, and actually have set plays to be able to call...and he mightve actually used a PF similar to the way Bosh is used in Miami...elbow jumpers...ie DMo or TJones On the flip side...TJones has one of the slowest releases i have ever seen...Bottom line, if the Rockets choke away a chance to atleast remain in 7th...Mchale imo shouldnt be the headcoach of this team in the future... DMorey knows his teams strengths and weaknesses...dont underestimate him making changes as he seems fit...If he was able to get Harden for Martin and Lamb, he really has the knowledge to get a better coach here in Houston...
Morey likes Mchale. People who want him gone this offseason are going to be sorely disappointed I feel.
What I am terribly fearful of is during the playoffs, the Rockets end up losing really close games...McHale is an extremely poor in game manager of the game...His team's lack of focus is bc his inability to provide a structured play in crunch time...the players have too much freedom, and in the end of close games, expect to see lots of iso P&R...The fouls that Harden was able to draw during most of the season, wont be there in the crunch time of playoff games...its going to be about the ability to make shots and putting your best players with the ability to deliver...And Mchale hasnt shown me that he can provide his best player with the best shot/play available...
Morey is mchale. Small ball was invented by Morey. Im not mad at mchell at all. There is plenty of freedom because there is no playbook.
Morey also liked Sampson, Finch, Frank, Casey, and especially JVG. However, it was Les who liked McHale the most.
Compare and Contrast the past rockets coaches: Jeff Van Gundy (Championship experience, multiple playoff stints with the Knicks), Rick Adelman (Championship experience, multiple playoff stints, Hall of Fame Coach), from that to : Kevin Mchale ( Incremental winning percentage increase for Minnesota Timberwolves though still losing team, zero championship experience as coach, zero playoff experience as coach) . Many people have stated Mchale was not hired for his technical coaching skills but for some abstract toady qualities.
McHale may not know how to play guards to their strengths. He doesn't play Lin to his strength consistently. But surprisingly Lin has improved his 3pt shooting, defense, dribbling etc this season in a system not friendly to PGs. He doesn't coach Harden correctly either in my opinion. Harden played his best in the first two games of the season when the coach just set them free but his health and effectiveness have been declining through the season, partially due to the improper use. Hopefully next season the coach gets better with the team but I don't expect large improvement.
I was at the game and it was obvious that small lineup at the end wasn't working. We didn't get any key rebounds. The last few important Suns possessions, they basically kept shooting and boarding it until they finally made a shot. It was just nuts. TJones was beasting and he was nowhere to be found until a minute left in the game and almost no chance we tie or win. That being said, he will be back because you can't fire a coach who brings a super young team to the playoffs. Lindsey Hunter or someone like him probably doesn't get them to the playoffs.
The reason for this phenomenon is twofold. #1) The coaching staff has a philosophy and playbook that they practice and preach, so sometimes they get stuck on that. As an example, if they preach getting the ball to Harden but Lin or Beverley goes off and do their own thing, whether or not it's fruitful or appropriate to the matchup at hand, it makes the coaches upset. Another example is when player A does great in spot up 3s off a curl during every practice, they'd be much more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt in the real game, though another player might have been shooting much better contrary to practice sessions and expectations. Same on defense, if they preach helping out in the post, even when the opposing guards start making 3s, the coaching staff feels that in the long run in would pan out, so they don't make the knee-jerk adjustment. The problem with this is that the games are very fluid and we as fans just see the end result and not the reasoning behind the coaching decisions. Bottom line, games should be managed per game even with the greater picture in mind. Meaning that a coach must be able to read the flow of the game and react accordingly not just do or get stuck on what they practiced, which in the grind of the NBA could mean that they set up their philosophy at the beginning of the season and did not have time to set up plays more appropriate to the more current strengths displayed. #2) The coaching staff are too close to the game and develop tunnel vision and favoritism/relationships with players that goes against what is happening on the court. Besides there are so many things to look at during a game that it's easy to just get caught up getting upset at mistakes or deviances from practice sessions and their teachings rather than seeing the reality of the game at present. As a personal example, I hate fall away jumpers and I constantly was yelling at one of my players to stop falling away but rather to go toward the basket as soon as the ball is released and I ended up hating his shots. I therefore probably limited his shooting although he was admittedly pretty decent at making those shots. The fact of the matter was his shots were the most money on our team and I had missed that until years after when another similar player came along and I realized after the fact that some players just do not play the way I think is right and that's okay. A similar case is when I tried to make a tall PFish kid to stop shooting 3s but rather to bang down low for a rebound instead. It wasn't the right choice I realized after some time but at that time, I thought I was so correct. Sometimes my wife would even point something out that Im missing and I would find myself making excuses only to see that she was right in the end. It happens. Having said that, this is the big leagues. This is the NBA, and they're getting paid millions of dollars. They have assistants with more basketball experience than 99 percent of the world. I expect them to be above this and see as well as we do, at the least, on certain issues, which they do not. Besides, it may be pretty obvious but although McHale is a great presence and a great motivator who also preaches a great philosophy, McHale's "feel" for the game, at least imo is quite bad. He gets caught up in too many technical things and doesn't make quick enough decisions well. I hope he'll improve and he can see his mistakes in the off season and rectify some of them.
these young talented players found a way to survive a horrible coaching staff and got us into the playoffs even after all the substitution blunders
My God raskol! With all of your legit basketball experience I think you should coach the team! I mean what? McHales's experience in the NBA has only been 20+ years... Your's has to be what? At least 30?!
