Until McHail over performs with a roster he is given, he will keep his nickname. He has underperformed every single year with the roster he has been given.
48.5 wins and 33.5 losses CBS Sports, Matt Moore 47-35, Zach Harper 54-28, James Herbert 48-34 46-36 I haven't heard a single talking head say that the Rockets did anything but OVERACHIEVE this year. Not sure where you are getting this idea in your head that we consistently underachieve. I'm actually neutral on Mchale. Not a big fan of him as a coach, but I still feel the need to defend him, because some of you are being so delusional. In what aspect did we NOT over perform this season considering the injuries and the preseason predictions??? You have me completely baffled here.
Those predictions did not factor in Harden playing like an MVP, nor the additions of Smith and Brewer.
So we underperformed because Harden is playing like an MVP and we added two key rotation players, while having Howard miss half our games, Beverley miss 26 games, and Jones miss 48 games? This just doesn't seem like logic to me.
James HarDen name used to be thrown around as Haren without D a year ago. James rectified that this year and we all call him The Beard or Harden. Its on Coach McHale to show us why we should respect him.
Mc Hale isn't all that bad, he is just not a top NBA coach. Every body can't be Pop. On the other hand Steve Kerr walked out of the broadcast booth and has the top record in the league. May have something to do with talent at every position. Harden and Howard carry a heavy load.
Morey got McHale so he could recruit players which should be the GM's job. Meanwhile Morey designed the offensive philosophy of the team which should be the coach's call. Square pegs in round holes. Great in the regular season until playoff opponents actually gameplan for us, then we really sink. Happened 3 years in a row. Going on 4?
McHale is not a great coach. But I don't think McHale is as bad as some people think. He is maddening at times. But the same can be said about most coaches and players. I do think tweaking people's name is childish. The only good time to intentionally use a misspelling is to make fun of some insider plunder such as all the variation of Maury. Milkhair is fine too. (I believe it's a Google translation of his name from Chinese.)
OP, this is nothing new. JVG took a team to the finals before becoming our coach and he still had very little respect on clutchfans for "not being able to coach offense." i think we gave him a pass on not getting to the second round because of yao and mac's season ending injuries. but man was he an awesome defensive coach, and had the team prepared every game! he used to call out the opposing team's inbounds play before they did it! made great in game adjustments too, but mostly on the defensive end. anyway, GREAT coach, very little respect on CF. of course hindsight is 20/20 and he is now fondly remembered. Adelman was a HOF coach before arriving in houston. he was probably treated the best by the BBS. kept the principals of JVG's defense in place, improved the offense, won a playoff series. probably the best coach we ever had, and definitely the most respected since i joined here back in 2001. even Rudy, our golden boy, home grown former player, rocket for life, championship coach! nope, he got no respect in his last few years in houston. blamed for iso-ball, said to never call any plays. jokes about his playbook having iso for steve, iso for cat, iso for moochie, as the only 3 plays in the book. if anyone should've been given a lifetime pass it would've be Rudy, but even he couldn't escape the disrespect. so forgive me for not seeing your point that the bbs should stop disrespecting the coach. why? i would've agreed back when rudy was getting this kind of flak, but mchale?! the truth is, the bbs is usually right. JVG is a really good coach but was too one-sided (defense). rudy won 2 championships, but hero-ball offense didn't work so well without hakeem. adelman was the most respected because he left little to disrespect, even without winning a championship. mchale hasn't done anything as a coach for us, so let people rightfully complain.