Is Kevin McHale our most controversial coach in franchise history?

We'll here we are blaming it on Mchale again when your stars score 22 points, I'm. It giving mchale a pass he could've drew up a better play at the end.

But like I've said plenty of time what does he have to work with besides drives into the paint "won't work against grizzlies good defenders on wing & paint"

-kick out 3s & Howard's post up "he can get fouled, miss the shot or turn the ball over, Howard in the post is not consistent.

Tonight is the night where we needed a pick a pop PF to open things up at top, mchale can run these playes I saw it all last year with ppat, he doesn't have a consistent big that can set the screen or knock down the shot, until we get that guy get use to see drives, 3s, and Howard in the post

 

A lot of people did not think Bill Fitch was the right guy to coach Ralph and Dream after a couple of years. The media was obviously not what it is today but there was a pretty large group that thought Bill was a terrific teacher of the game but not a great coach because he was to much like a drill sergeant. Bill lead Boston to a Championship, 3 Eastern Conference Finals and finished less than 61 wins only 1 time in his 4 seasons at Boston.

A lot of people said that Red Auerbach new what he was doing when he fired Fitch and hired KC Jones (no one thought KC knew half as much about basketball as Bill). The feeling was that the Celtics would never reach their full potential under Fitch because he would never loosen the rains. A lot of people in Houston had that same opinion of Bill here, the Rockets with Ralph and Dream would never reach their full potential with Bill.

if that situation had played out in today's internet era I wonder what the public criticism to Bill would have been like, especially during the 86/87 season (the season after the NBA Finals) when they were 11-17 after December. I'm certain their would have been thread after thread screaming to fire Bill and thread after thread claiming that Ralph had no heart.

 

Worst coach I have seen on the Rockets, been a fan since 1972.

DD

 

Really enjoy your post here and much respect, but I don't agree with the frustration after last nights L, I look at it as a good view of what our team really is in a playoff situation when the game slows down.

and last night lee had 19points played great D, our stars H&H had 22 combined, Howard got couldn't play smart knowing we don't have a solid back up to go vs the griz & got in foul trouble, but some way mchale ends up getting all the hate

 

He is terrible for this team. We're headed for a first round exit and I really hope that means a new coach.
Right now I think the Spurs, OKC and Clippers would definitely beat us in a series.
I'm confident we could take the blazers.
Gsw and Memphis remains to be seen, Iggy and Marc were injured in the earlier games.
I think Dallas would beat us too.
Man I really wish we somehow end up 4 , 5 seed with Portland.

 

I agree with DD. I've been following the Rockets since the late 80's and McHale is the worst coach I've seen. This is not about last night. I've been saying this for several weeks now.

The way our players shot the ball in the 2nd half (specifically Parsons) we should have won the game by 20/30, but we had NO CLUE what we were doing on offense. Sure Parsons was hitting 35 foot 3 pointers for most of the night, but is that something you really want to rely on?!?! The team could get no kind of offensive flow going, and we rarely even got the ball inside the THREE POINT ARC!!! Meanwhile Memphis was getting easy shot after easy shot, layup after layup. We definitely had luck on our side last night as we were hitting miracle shots and hail mary's, yet we still lost to a very mediocre team at home.

 

Enuf said

 

If coaches didn't mean anything Dwight would not have insisted on Phil Jackson and Chris Paul would not have insisted on Doc Rivers. I agree Rockets need a coaching change but at this point I would rather his contract run out and we give him a in the F/O so he can still be close to the team. Mchale may stumble into the second round but next year if we want a ring were gonna have to get serious.

 

Mchale really sucks at coaching, don't get me wrong he's a great guy but he can't coach worth a crap.

 

Although this is a young team and will struggle to be consistent in crunch time until they get experience. But some of the plays Mcfail runs on the last possession are a little mind boggling.

Lets relive the last play from tonight and see how much the coach should of prepared his players for this specific play they are about to run. Ball is in bounded to Parsons he gets doubled after dribbling around the perimeter and then passes to Beverly who shoots a contested 3.

With 8.3 seconds left Parsons receives the inbound pass and then proceeds to dribble around quite deep, I think Parsons wasted a little too much time and should of tried to move on a little quicker.


With 5.8 seconds left Dwight attempts to set a pick, I kind of question this pick I think he could of gone a little higher and dragged Gasol even further away from the basket.


With 4.7 seconds left Parsons is about to face a double team because Dwight set a high pick, after the pick Dwight heads towards the basket because Gasol is about to double Parsons.


With 4.4 seconds Parsons is in a great position and has a decision to make and should know getting the ball towards Dwight or even Harden should be the goal. Dwight is also in a great position looking toward Parsons and is wide open, at this point if Parsons passes to Dwight then Prince has to slide over to guard Dwight. This also means Lee has to make a decision on whether to continue to guard Harden or guess if Howard will pass to a wide open Lin who should be cutting towards the basket Or Howard passes to Harden if Lee makes the commitment towards Lin.
If Parsons doesn't pass it to Dwight then Harden is an option. Instead of Dwight going to the basket he could go towards Lee and set a screen to free up Harden and Parsons swings it to him and perhaps Harden gets an open shot.
Parsons ends up continuing to dribble


With 3.8 seconds left Parsons picks up his dribble. At this point Parsons has missed his opportunity because he has James Johnson and Gasol breathing down his neck. He is also in an unlikely position to pass it to Dwight. He might be able to pass it to Harden but Lee is ready to pounce and could intercept in the passing lane.


With 3.3 Seconds left Harden decides to cut towards the basket, he is well covered by Lee and there is no opportunity to get him the ball. At this point as well Gasol is slightly in no mans land and has given up pressuring Parsons and is heading towards Dwight. Dwight at this point has Prince on him and he seems to have a good position down low. Parsons also seems to have a good angle as James Johnson is out of position. But can Parsons Rocket in a bounce pass with his left hand?? This was perhaps the last opportunity to have a decent shot at the rim.


With 2.5 seconds left Parsons seems to be a little tied up with the ball. But as you can see Dwight still seems to have a good position. Could parsons throw up a lob towards the rim and see if Dwight can go get it against the smaller Prince. Harden also seems to be sandwiched between Lee and Gasol and it is obvious he has made the wrong decision. Lin now starts to make his move around the three point line.


With 2.2 seconds left, Parsons has now finally decided to pass towards Beverly. Lee has also committed to guarding Harden and has forgotten all about Lin and seems to be free running around the three point line.



With 1.8 seconds left the ball gets to Beverly who is left to think of something. Lin is wide open and its probably where Parsons should of passed too. Parsons should of made a fake pass towards Beverly and swung the ball towards Lin who would of had an open three. Dwight has also been finally covered and is no longer an option.



With 1.0 second left Lin is wide open and Beverly is left with shooting a fall away 3. Which misses and the Rockets end up losing



Sooooo How much of this failed play is Mcfails fault and how much is it the players fault? As you can see from the pics there is many opportunities for the Rockets to get off a decent shot instead of that forced shocker by Beverly

 

I've been a staunch McHale defender from day one...but last night was terrible. That last play was a disgrace.

 

I've been a Rockets fan a looong time and participated in the debates online here for about 15 years and can tell you for a fact that all the coaches were controversial. I think every coach had a 'fire xyz' thread the entire time. There are always a segment of people where the grasses *must be greener on the other side. I think one thing people often ignore is it's not just the coach but it is also the staff the GM surrounds the coach with. Just my .02c

 

I think gundy was the most controversial. He won some games but never had playoff success here and he played the most boring brand of basketball known to man. If discount the LOF who don't know jack about basketball, McHale would have have the same number of haters as any other coach we have had.

 

I place it primarily on McHale because in my view Parsons never should have been the initial ball handler. Parsons is NOT a PG. He's a wing player with some passing skills. He's not Harden, or Lin, or even Brooks.

Parsons should never have even sniffed the ball unless it was a pass for a catch and shoot or he was flashing/cutting to the rim to drive.

The players executed their cuts and positions well enough. Harden got open. Dwight got good post position. Even Lin managed to get himself wide open.

The problem starts and ends with McHale putting Parsons in a position to fail. The ball should have started with Harden or Lin to initiate a PnR with Dwight instead of having Parsons run the PnR. Heck, even a Harden ISO would have been a better choice than Parsons on the perimeter and a high pick.

This goes on the coach. You might as well have in bounded the ball to Dwight and have Parsons set a pick. The results wouldn't have been *that* much worse. At least Dwight would have been fouled and gotten to the line...

 

I agree with you 100% as Parsons moves better with out the ball than with it But once they leave that timeout and Parsons gets the ball surely Parsons should of had enough court vision and at least have the basketball IQ to try to get the ball to Harden or Dwight or even waited long enough to swing it to an open Lin. He should of been aware that with Gasol and James Johnson on him and Conley keeping an eye on Beverly that there would of been a 3 on 2 situation.

I really think if Parsons got that ball to Dwight some how after the pick there was a better chance for open looks.

If Harden gets the ball from the inbound surely it will be an iso play right?

 

This is a systemic problem when you have PGs by committee. When anyone can bring the ball up court and initiate plays. Secondly, Coach was full of inconsistency and that is what really pisses off people. If you answer a question as to why player A was in and player B was not and you answer because A was hotter. Then why is A still in when obviously B and C were hotter. Thirdly, a read and react offence only works if players do not have agendas and these tend to be more veteran teams. The Rox are full of players who are not proven - Harden is still out to prove he is not a 6 man anymore, Bev and Parsons are trying to prove they are worth a hefty wage increase and Lin is trying to live up to his contract - with a team like this, more structure, not less, is needed. Read and react also will work if a team has played together for a while, and these Rox are new to one another. I think this was a coaching loss.

 

It's not just about head coaches. It's about assistant coaches. For example... would Phil Jackson have done as well as he did without his assistant Tex Winters' Triangle Offense?

 

McHale is 2nd best coach in Rockets history, I'll give Tomjanovich edge because how bad of a passer and blackhole Hakeem was pre-Tomjanovich.

 

Not as well as he did. But has Tex Winter's Triangle Offense been successful under anyone else's coaching tenure since Jackson?