It's pretty tough to evaluate a coach, coaching a far inferior team compared to the competition. Great Britain's guards are so bad they often can't even get into their sets. Sometimes they're forced into their 2nd or 3rd options of a play from the get go just because their perimeter play is so bad. This also forces them into playing guys out of position. So what you have to look at is does the team play hard, do they respond to their coach, how do they perform against similar competition, can they keep the games close against superior competition, how is the coach doing game-planing wise, can he make in-game/half-time adjustments, etc... I've only seen glimpses, but from what I have seen and heard, Finch has done a pretty solid job.
The team was expecting Ben Gordon, but he didn't go to their training camp here in HOU, I heard. They played the top three teams in their grouping--Russia, Brazil, Spain. I was surprised they did not get blown out. The real test is how they do vs. Australia and China. Finch has been relying pretty much exclusively on Luol Deng. Hope they can win their last 2 games. Report was the national team showed improvement under Finch in every tournament they joined. Olympics is the acid test. I guess Finch decides whether he will continue being GBR national coach or coach exclusively with the Rockets.
To be fair. McHale didn't have a relationship with any of our assistants prior to this season. Coaches are usually allowed to pick their assistants...Rockets had a different philosophy. Simple as that.
I'm not sure if it represented a new philosophy or just an expression of some concern over Adelman's longevity + readiness of his assistants. The Rockets do not appear to have interfered with JVG's choices of assistants (though may that was because they were comfortable with Thibideaux) or with Adelman's during the initial contract.
I used to have a pair of Finches. They pretty much just tweet, although melodiously. Can this Finch do that? Is he allowed to? Is he kept in a cage? Free the Finch!!
He's been coaching like hot garbage but his team is terrible. Dunno which it is but he seems to make poor sub rotations late in games (seem familiar?!) and can't draw a play up for to save his life.
JB Bickerstaff was an assistant in Minnesota during McHale's tenure. Buckner was a player under mchale. Kelvin was a big ten coach, McHale was a big ten player and active member of that community during summer via camps. Only Finch and Brett Gunning didn't have known relations to McHale before last year... And those two still had to interview for their jobs (like the others). It may have been heavily recommended, but the idea that McHale "had" to hire them because of management is overplayed in these parts. Repeating it doesn't make it so, but wait... What would clutchfans be without repetitious lies becoming fact?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>not official yet but expect tomorrow to be Chris Finch's last game as GB coach. Decision taken long before last nights disaster. wants to ..</p>— Ian Whittell (@iwhittell) <a href="https://twitter.com/iwhittell/status/232082191776116738" data-datetime="2012-08-05T11:54:41+00:00">August 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>concentrate on NBA career. an amazing 7 years in charge of GB and has done an unreservedly fantastic job. last night doesnt alter that</p>— Ian Whittell (@iwhittell) <a href="https://twitter.com/iwhittell/status/232082504654413824" data-datetime="2012-08-05T11:55:55+00:00">August 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>dont think people appreciate the size of the task Finch has performed and obstacles he has faced. wish his successor well - he'll need it</p>— Ian Whittell (@iwhittell) <a href="https://twitter.com/iwhittell/status/232085744724889601" data-datetime="2012-08-05T12:08:48+00:00">August 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I've followed Finch's career pretty extensively for the past 15 years going back to his time as a player. Clearly he's viewed as a high potential head coach for the future and has been identified and fast tracked by Morey. Its hard to evaluate his ability based on GB's Olympic performances - GB has no point guard whatsoever among other flaws on its roster - but he's really done an amazing job building a program from scratch that is now competitive with top countries such as Spain and Brazil. Its not clear to me whether he's effectively been promised the head coach job here at some point in the future as some like to claim (which I find unlikely) or whether the Rockets are taking more of a wait and see approach to see how he compares to other coaches who have had more of a traditional NBA background.
The team was specifically constructed for this Olympics. Before they competed as individual home nations (England, Scotland etc).
I haven't givin up on McHale yet...one shortened season with very little preparation hasn't led me to believe he should be thrown under the bus...I do like Finch as our coach of the future though if McHale fails moving forward or decides to give up coaching...I actually liked the idea of him taking over before it was decided that McHale would be the coach...I think he could be a good coach and I just hope no other team steals him away from us before he gets a shot here
He's still totally unproven at this level and realistically he's not a contender for a top job yet. Also, it's a tough numbers game with way more top coaches than jobs available so I don't see him leaving the Rockets for a while. No matter the credentials of a coach, teams still prefer to hire "big names" or insiders like Jock Vaughn (chapeau to Shaquille), del negro or mark Jackson before they go for guys that - while theynare arguably better coaches - played ball at D3 colleges and then coached in the Belgian league.
GB really should have just steal a decent American PG to compete for them like Macedonia did with Bo McCalebb.
