I am underwhelmed. I think this is another misdirection by a clueless owner. McHale was a bust as a coach, why will he be great here? Maybe the assistants will be the key. I don't know, I was hoping for Shaw or Casey.
Since you've been so openly critical of Rick Adelman, I'd like to hear your opinion of Daryl Morey's role in our team's failures. Do you happen to have any criticism of Morey?
he has failed to get us a quality center that we have needed for several years. thats probably my biggest complaint so far.
T-Mac and Yao were still around when Adelman first came here. And our offense was just as stinky as the JVG days. Our defense was also just as good as the JVG days. Our defense only sucked when Yao/Deke went down. Our offense only got better when we no longer played inefficient offensive players like Hayes(old one), Rafer, Artest, and the rest of our horrible bench like Head/Synder/Mike James. A coach can bring out the best in his players. D'Antoni's usage of Steve Nash would be a perfect example of this. However, you still need a Steve Nash to make it work. And even without D'Antoni, Nash could still run the offense just as well. In the end, coaches only provide support. They are never the main actors.
Phil Jackson was a player's coach, brought calmness to the egos of his players. His players loved and respected him. Doc Rivers is a player's coach, brought fire and motivation to his players. His players love and respect him. Kevin McHale is a player's coach. ... you get the idea.
I know this is said in jest, but I do actually welcome McHale's input on big men. His overall GM ability may range from crap to mediocrity, but he's not too bad when it comes to big men. In the end, people who fail in one job doesn't mean they're incapable of working any other job. McHale has his strengths. The key is to stay away from his weaknesses.
Since he was a negative quantity as a GM, we now have less than one full GM. Unless Morey is like 1.25 and then maybe we're reduced to 1.0 GM.
The key to Adelman's offense is consistency and people knowing their roles. That first year Adelman was the coach... he mentioned a few times in interviews that he would initially run a similar type of offense that they were used to (basically an inside out game with Yao). And actually, we did have better success with that than we did with JVG (that was the year of the 22 game win streak and we were a Yao injury away from making it out of the first round). Then the next year was the year that Tmac, Battier and Artest were all injured on and off for the first half of the year. We played about average ball. And then they rested Artest and Tmac for an extended period of time (remember that was when Von Wafer came out of nowhere and started kicking ass). And then around the trade deadline we made the deal for Lowry, Brooks was handed the starting job, Tmac was put on the injury list for good and we suddenly started making our run... and that year we did make the 2nd round. Then the year after that more shuffling around. No Yao, Tmac or Artest. Our best players were Brooks, Scola, Ariza and Landry and we were a middle of the pack offensive team with lottery level talent. Then of course this year, the only major change was Brooks going down. But again... notice the beginning of the season we had the shuffle at the center position. As soon as we started playing a consistent line up we went on that run in December. I don't even know why this is an argument. Adelman is a known offensive coach, we had better talent under JVG on paper yet the system is what makes all the difference. And I point out again the reverse was in effect with JVG. Yao isn't the difference between bottom of the league and top of the league in defense. Deke played 20 minutes a game and wasn't the difference. The difference in defensive talent wasn't completely astounding... it was all the system.
As long as coach plays our young guys that all that matters. I hope he fills out the coaching staff with good good staff. More time for the young guys to develop and pray we can sign a center who isn't made of glass.
Basically disagree with everything here. The key to Adelman's offense is that he doesn't take defense into account. You know why JVG doesn't run a motion offense? Because under Adelman's motion offense, you can't have Rafer at the top of the key running back in transition at the sight of the ball going up. Motion offense sacrifice hugely in the transitional defense department. JVG's offense is the perfect defense. You have either Yao or T-Mac create their own shot, while everyone else stands in the perimeter until they shoot the ball. Then everyone falls back and set up the D before opponents can take advantage. This method has been tried by basically every team with a superstar. Mike Brown especially ran it to perfection in Cleveland with Lebron. NBA coaches aren't idiots. If they could somehow combine the Thibadeu/Riley/JVG style of defense with Adelman/D'Antoni/Don Nelson running offense, of course they'd do it. But these are inherently contradictory styles. Adelman "chose" offense over defense due to our new star-less roster. He didn't make the offense magically appear.
Adelman had top 10 defense and offense for several years with the Trailblazers and Kings. Phil Jackson has the same with the Lakers. They were a great defensive and offensive team. They aren't JVG or Don Nelson. The Celtics had Doc Rivers for the offense and combined it with Tom Thibodeau for defense to win a ring. Popovich and the Spurs were in the top 10 or even top 5 for offense for years. Here is a great post by H-TownBBall. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=2941450#post2941450
To be honest... Im happy with this deal. Adelman was a better coach, but every team he coached was decent. McHale coached the TIMBERWOLVES! Give Adelman the timberwolves and they'll be good, but they wont make the playoffs. Also as far as the "better options" we had, you have to consider who wanted the job. With the Yao situation still going on, any coach would second guess himself. Im glad we got a big name guy...We just need to focus on adding a big role player to our line-up. With new guys like Dragic and Thabeet still new to the team, plus adding a potential superstar, this team could have a "rebuilding" state of mind with McHales new offense. PLUS...At least we'll get alot more publicity and national TV games now.
I like the idea of a "born motivator"/"developer of talent" combined with an offensive and defensive coordinator at each of the top two assistant spots. It's just crazy enough that it might work. I'm willing to bet 20 bucks to the tip jar that this team wins at least as many games next season as this one, provided it's not a strike shortened season.
I see why they selected McHale. Dude is very open minded and doesn't mind getting suggestions. He is also very down to earth and appreciates anything. He is a true players coach, I can see him making an effort to solve the twill puzzle. They're hand picking the best assisting coaches to prevent what happened with RA(discombobulated assisting coaches,spectators,disorganized)
