And the most telling stat for McHale Final 6 games with the Rockets still in contention (or battling) to make the playoffs of his two season as head coach - 2 wins, 10 losses. And could've been 1 win, 11 losses without a J.O. goaltend. And of the 6 losses last year (all 6 against western conference teams), 4 games against western conference eventual seeds 6 to 8 (2 home, 2 away), and 2 against lottery teams (including a 10th seed, and a worst seed). So basically lost all 5 against seeds 6-10 (ie the teams it was battling for the playoffs), and another one against the worst team in the conference. And of the 4 losses this year, Denver, Memphis, LAL and Phoenix. And only wins against the lowly Sacramento and a lucky J.O. goaltend win against Phoenix at home. Were only able to beat the worst and third worst teams in the western conference. So over the last two seasons on the last 6 games of the season that counted, we lost all against teams we were competing for a spot with, and only won one convincing against the 3rd worst team in the western conference, and against the worst team in the conference we were 1-1 (with the one win coming from that J.O. goaltend). Coach of the Year? Laughable. 9th was easily way to high. That losing effort/record/streak easily beats anything Jeremy Lin has done this season, and we're talking COY?
I consider McHale a young coach like our players. He's been inconsistent, be he's improving. Not sure if he has enough potential to win a championship with but we'll give him another year and see if he's worked hard over the Summer.
What's funny is how so many people blame EVERYTHING on McHale and NOTHING on the players. That Phoenix game where JO goaltended, did you watch that game? Our players played with NO sense of urgency or passion. Saying It's crazy to have McHale as 9th is fu**ing idiotic. Everybody needs to listen to rocketscast live with Jason Friedman from yesterday. They clearly explain that McHale did a good job this year and clearly grew just like players do too!! Put your personal agenda towards him aside, he did good this year. Really good
This is he to a tee...and that blame the players part he's on...I REALLY hate that about him. Karl certainly deserved to win considering he won 57 in the regular season with an assumed team of misfit toys, save Iggy and Lawson. McHale did well enough this year, but not even close to COY, well.
2-10 or 1-11 in the last 6 games of the last two seasons on games that mattered. It wasn't just a J.O goaltend. All games against teams competing with us for playoff position was losses, for two years straight. Only one real win in 12 games, against the third worst team in the western conference. Two totally different teams. One veteran. One young. Over 2 seasons. 12 games. You've got to be kidding thinking the coach has nothing to do with it. Feud with Lowry, Martin, not playing the bench in the season, giving Jones time only after 70 games or so, not seeing Garcia could help? Playing Beverley for 18 minutes stretches, way beyond his effectiveness? Playing Harden 40+ minutes through injuries and expecting him to be effective. Almost losing a 20pt lead by playing the bench players through the 4 quarter when it nearly got to a 1 possession game with 2 minutes to go (while fighting for playoff seed and playoff birth)? If that was a loss + no J.O. goaltend, you'd be singing a different tune. So basically the Rockets getting into the playoffs somewhat came down to luck. And the ****ing idiotic thing is ... when Jason Friedman says McHale did well, people take it for the truth. When Morey says Lin did well (or #3 in win-shares), people dig up data and think they can analyze it or read it BETTER THAN MOREY, or else just say they're propping Lin up for a trade, or that YOU HAVE TO SAY GOOD THINGS ABOUT YOUR COACH, I mean PLAYER. And when people criticize Harden, Or McHale, or Beverley, they have a ****ing agenda. When people criticize Lin, they have no agenda, they're just seeing it as it is. Lin sucks. And no, no racism, no stereotyping, no faith-based bias, no nothing. Just a player finally healthy putting up 2.5mths of near 18/8 per 36 minutes on 44/39% shooting really sucks.
Awesome coach and awesome guy. It's a shame this was just regular season. Thibbs deserves it this year. McHale & Mark Jackson would finish higher too if it included the post season.
Exactly what I thought....when things are going good its because of the players, when its not its because of the coach. You're excuses don't make sense. T JONES after 70?? Your joking right? Nobody other than pat or Morris got time for the first 50! And when Jones did come in, he looked LOST. Then D-mo got a turn, and looked good for a couple games! Then eventually it was smiths and Jones turn. If you don't want to see the improvements, fine, but McHale got better all year long, and what he did with this team really should earn more respect
Oh and playing harden 40 minutes w/ injuries? You know who did that all year? Thibs with Noah and deng. Dies that make him a bad coach? You don't seem to think so?
Can someone explain to me how in he hell Vinny Del Negro and PJ Carlesimo got COY votes? We need to find these voters and take away their rights immediately! Also, there is no coach that squeezes more out of their players than Thibs.
I can't believe you guys are hating on OUR coach getting a high rank. What's actually puzzling to me is how Chris Paul is not 10th on this list.
And not really to harp on this or anything but the fact that he suffered such a huge personal loss mid season and he was still able to come out and do a good job to finish the season is commendable in and of itself. Certainly not coach of the year material, but I think people on this board have unrealistic expectations of how much stategic coaching you can do with inexperienced players. He was literally teaching these guys how to play in the NBA. He never got to the point of adding wrinkles and stategy to the offense because they never ran the primary offense competently (we led the league in turnovers, that's and execution problem, not a coaching problem).
Apparently we had to win the championship with the youngest team in the league to justify McHale being ranked among the top 10 coaches for COY for some people around here. McHale had a great season. These young Rockets exceeded all expectations. I don't see how that can even be argued.
Underrated post is underrated. And where's all this Thibs love coming from? He's good, but is he great? Not at all. Better than a Pop or a Doc Rivers? Not even in the same ballpark.
He's held in a position where he may apply for COY. Morey can't get COY anyway. Although, he obviously made our coach better by providing youthful players like harden. That situation with his daughter sasha may have occurred prior to the event of his leave of absence. I'm not going to look to far into it but I believe he has become aware prior to the season. Look, obviously Morey and Sampson deserves credit for exceeding expectations of their job title but they aren't the Head Coach! Anyway, Morey is being credited with a new contract extension and Sampson is now a hot commodity for a HC position. This job entitled the HC and our HC got 9th, we should be celebrating for him not criticizing him. Also, those players - Lin, Harden, Asik, etc. NO ONE BELIEVED that they would live up to their expectations as starters. NO ONE said we will be a 47+ win team. Most expected us to be a playoff sweep to the Thunder. You need to stop being so ungrateful and start recognizing our team has surpassed their expectations on many levels that i've expressed earlier in the thread.
