Rick Adelman would have quit if his entire roster was changed like McHale's last year. This is about the Rockets' situation. They're doing things differently. They're revolutionizing how a basketball team is run. The orders come from the top. No one is above that. Not the coach, nor anyone else. That wasn't what Adelman wanted. Are we better off without him? I say definitely. Think about that.
Not to mention the guy McHale replaced with Parsons (Budinger) had a big role under Adelman as a rookie.
And the facts are: Rudy T did NOT lose to the Bulls, Losing to the Bulls is indeed no shame, he did make Sacramento respectable, he is failing in Minnesota as did McHale, and McHale is doing a good job, and Avery Johnson and Brian Hill are NOT our coaches- so F**k your attempt of trying to slight others while pumping up RA. No need for that.
This thread got me thinking so I went and did some quick math. If the Rockets finish 11-3 over these last 14 games, what coach will have the highest win % in franchise history? Any guesses?
Sure, probably McHale. I agree with that other list- first is Rudy, then Bill Fitch, then Del Harris. Those 3 took us to the Finals, and either won or succeeded against significant odds (Rudy's 6th seed, Fitch's taking down the prior champ Lakers, Harris taking a team there that had a losing record). After that, you'd probably have to say Adelman, because we did get a playoff victory with him, then Van Gundy (only b/c he's more proven than McHale), then McHale. If we get to the Finals under McHale, he immediately joins the top 3 and we thus have a Mount Rushmore of great coaches. For better or worse, that's how coaches are judged- by championships. If I had to give my opinion about who I sense is the best beyond the Rockets' Finals and championships, I would probably say: Fitch, Adelman, Tomjanovich, Van Gundy, Harris, McHale. That's not to slight McHale, but all those other coaches have a bit more of a proven record than him- plus, Adelman and VG did take teams to the Finals. Fitch could be tiresome and irritating to players, but for what he did with both Boston and the Rockets, he deserves to be at the top of the list.
We shall see this season and the next couple. Could McHale be the best coach in Rockets history? I have no clue. It is in the future.
I more or less agree with this. The Rockets never really had a bad coach. They've all been pretty good. Right now, though, going with McHale has given us the best chance at competing for a championship again. Parsons loves McHale. Dwight is on record saying that one of the deciding factors in him signing with Houston is being able to play for one of the best big men in the history of the game in McHale. Then you factor in the chemistry McHale and Morey have through obvious things like McHale's offensive philosophy and player management. It's just very apparent that McHale has helped this team tremendously whereas RA's clash with front office strategy would have hurt this team significantly. I highly doubt we would be where we are now if RA was still head coach. In the end I'll pick Morey+McHale every day of the week.
Yes, McHale's ideal for this team. He has instant cred, for starters, just by being a champion and Hall of Famer. Then, he's always been more of a laid-back personality, so I think for this team, it's fine. Say what you want about Harden occasionally being lazy (which he is), ultimately dude is a fighter and wants to win. And Howard completely respects him, as you said. Plus, now you have Hakeem showing up- I mean, how can you not respect that if you're Harden, Howard, or Asik- the Dream training you? And McHale is totally on board with it- he doesn't pull any "hey, I was a great post-player, too- I could train these guys, I don't need him"- he's ecstatic to have Hakeem's help, and that says a lot about him.
It seems in every Adelman thread, someone would bring up this "Adelman can't coach defense" myth. He has coached 9 top 5 defensive teams in his career. His current Minny team, as much as people say how they can't play defense, actually ranks 11 on defense. Not bad with the roster they have.
I can't help but think that people say Parsons replaced Bud simply because they're both white. That said, Parsons is way above the whatever the player Bud was here, is in Min and looking to be in the future. Bud hasn't improved a lick. He looked horrible against us missing open shots. I think it's because he doesn't really like this game. He was a huge volleyball player before he got drafted and probably would've been a volleyball player instead if there was an actual league for that that payed the same as the NBA. He's just so constrained playing in the system rather than making things happen. That's why I liked D-Mo, for all the dumb fouls he made. He was trying to win and was just getting his feet wet. Bud was never liked that.
Rewriting history are we? We had the highest turnover of any team during Adelman's tenure. Morey wanted to tank. Adelman wanted to win. Morey wanted certain players to play. Adelman played who gave us the best chance of winning. Morey wanted to pick Adelman's assistant coaches, Adelman said no. Adelman wanted to stay, Morey pushed him out. What some of these idiots forget is our team stayed competitive even with being undersized, overmatched & injury plagued every nite. The only coach capable of doing as good a job, given that roster is Popovich.
Seriously. Let's win something real before looking down on past teams that has accomplished just as much.
<br> Morey never attempted to tank. This has been stated and cited multiple times. So that is incorrect. The rest of the stuff in that first paragraph is truth. Minus that last sentence. In the end, did Adelman really want to stay considering the difference between his and Morey's agenda? But all those points convey the issue anyway. Was it more important to develop the players or fight for the 9th spot in the west? Was having assistant coaches who favored Morey's statistically proven policies a good thing or a bad thing? Oh, also the point about having the highest turnover ratio. Once again, Kevin McHale's entire roster was turned over in just one season. And he handled that just fine while actually getting us into the playoffs. Yet you just stated that no other coach could have handled that sort of adversity other than pop. Clearly though, McHale did.
Actually, I'm speaking more about coaching in terms of keeping up with the times. The type of offense and defense ran during the 80s is vastly different from the type of schemes run today. Coaching has evolved just like the world and technology in general. But it does seem that my comparison can be open to misunderstanding because as you say, there are physical declines with players. Morey wanted to evolve the way the Rockets coach. He wanted RA to remain as the central figure in this change. RA declined and wanted to keep his old ways. Morey decided to go with a coach that would be willing to evolve in McHale. It was clearly the right decision in retrospect.
Rudy T was the first coach to truly embrace the 4-out/1-in offense. You can say his Hakeem/Horry/Elie/Drexler/Smith-Cassell offense was the prototype to the current scheme run by Morey. Rudy T was a pioneer and understood the threat of spacing/3pointer before most teams. It's a shame his basketball ingenuity was lost over time because he couldn't handle young players well.
Wait.....where we are now? Rick won 7 playoff games in one season with only one 2nd team all-NBA player, who was hurt for a couple of those wins (and was on a minute limit imposed by management when he was healthy). Has this team done that yet? Do you really think this team would do less than they've done now if under Rick instead of McHale?
I'd love to see how you came to this conclusion. Where is your proof that Adelman wouldn't be winning more games with this team than McHale? Here's my proof that you're wrong.
