At the game, McHale is not a coach

+1 why are we not posting up Patterson (and why is he shooting 3's)

why can't we make layups and put backs

Marcus Morris was looking good and they took him out...sometimes you have to ride with the unit who is making a difference.

Can we play Cook some minutes...were gonna burnout Harden with heavy minutes.

In preseason we was posting up Asik and Patterson so we can kick it out to the shooters cause the pick and roll every play is getting old.

Last thing we trying alley oops with 1:42 left in a game was pretty stupid

 

I'm going to excuse the lack of offense due to this team being very recently assembled. But if we're still just giving the ball to Harden for iso plays a majority of the time by midseason, I will start to sound like others in this thread.

But then again, wasn't McHale brought in so Chris Finch could be eased into the head coaching role? That was always the theory I was working with. This team isn't competing for a title anyway, so we should let McHale do his thing for another couple years before Finch steps up.

 

A HOF player would be hard to get rid of as coach. I can't remember the last time one was 'removed'.

 

Isiah Thomas? Aw...painful.

 

I blame McHale for playing 3 games in 4 days. What was he thinking?

 

Good answer... Repped

 

I like what I see...not a single player shying away from shooting and making mistakes...and that's the only way to leap forward- by making a lot of mistakes...I think McHale is doing great...perhaps this team need no additional players at all...if we could just be patient and let the Coach and the team continue depeveloping this wonderful chemistry....

 

This team needs to run and score big in transition or in early offense if they want to win games.

Young, poor outside shooting, no post presence = bad combination for efficient half-court basketball.

 

That was the thought process but Harden's addition changed that. We have a potential franchise player but McHale's coaching style may endanger his health and effectiveness long term giving how he grinds players. You sort of saw it last year as well, McHale will ride the players he trusts even if some of the others coming off the bench are showing more spark or the players obviously aren't helping being out there. Lowry's return from injury at the end of last season that lead to our collapse with 5 to 6 games to go can attest to that.

I honestly want McHale and I sort of get why he doesn't give into the idea of playing your rookies too early when there are vets that can potentially help you out to succeed but the way he handles minutes seems reckless especially in back to back games. It is early in the season, he should spread the minutes around to see what you have in some of the back ups, especially when all of them were actually playing really well when they got time last night, maybe not in scoring but they had a good defensive surge in the 2nd quarter.

 

Important thing to understand about McHale-

-They will push the ball in transition to get easier buckets before the defense settles in, but they will never be a true fast breaking team like ones coached by the likes of Adelman, D'Antoni, or Don Nelson. The reason is McHale believes in his wings staying home to assist on the boards, and does not allow them to leak out on the break.

So when they say, run, run, run, they mean after the rebound is secured on defense, not in the since that they will suddenly become a true up and down team that we have seen with other coaching systems.

McHale knowingly has scrapped much of his system the first 3 games to just let Harden run the show off the P&R. Its been a great stress test for Harden/Lin and he has not disappointed so far even though they ran out of gas last night and couldn't finish off a very talented Portland team. That being said, its been at the cost of the offensive flow of other players sharing the court with him.

I don't anticipate it that this is it, and you wont see any improvement to their offensive sets. Unlike last season, they will have ample practice time now with 3 or 4 days between games now. The offense is going to look pretty good come December. You can bank on that. Too many weapons, and now you finally have a player that can consistently draw a double team.

Last year, McHale was using a 11 to 12 man rotation to start the season. However, right now what we know is there is a definite starting lineup now that will be the core of everything the Rockets do this season. This 3 game opener has been a true stress test for this team. Giving them extended minutes gives them a real pallet to build upon.

Whatever happens this season starts and ends with Harden/Lin, Asik/Parsons. I have no beef with giving them extended minutes to start the season and see how good they really can be. The PF/backup Center minutes are the real question mark going forward, but Patterson/Morris/Aldrich looks like a very nice rotation to go along with Asik.

I know everyone is going to be hammering down on McHale for not playing the rookies, but this is the year where the Rockets must see what they have in Patterson/Morris. This is the deciding career year for those two guys. Patterson especially. The Rooks, have the second half of the season(which they WILL see PT in), the offseason, and next year to show what they have. I see no problem in letting them sit while the coaches and Morey evaluate the future of the careers for Morris/Patterson/Aldrich moving forward. If they plateau in their abilities I guarantee you they will be traded by February or the end of the year at the latest.

 

Harden should not be the facilitator, his passes are good only when he tried to create chances for himself but he ain't no facilitator like Lin.
My problem is there's no need to let Harden handle the ball all the time during the fourth quarter, let Lin be the playmaker, he'll get everybody involved and create more for Harden.

 

Great points. I want the mustache in Houston!

 

I'm pretty sure Mchale is still better tham Mike Brown.

 

VERY TRUE. Mike Brown recently said the dumbest thing about the pnr. He is in way over his head.

 

The OP forgot we got this guy named Harden who didnt practice with us. I guess the OP is ridiculous enough to think that this guy, harden, already knew our plays. Dumb thread is fail. "its the end of the world as we know it and I'm still fine"

 

What does McHale do as a head coach?

Well it is like plugging a dam with chewing gum but after the entirely epic "who would you like mcfails predecessor to be?" and other tin foil cap like threads I feel I have to try.

Honestly, what do you people think a head coach does for a franchise? I drew up a prioritized list for you, just to help correct some of the misconceptions.

1: Set the overall offensive and defensive priorities for the team.
2: Be the public face of the franchise and go to many mind numbing activities such as radio talk shows and post game press conferences.
3: Oversee the team and the coaches. Smooth over b****ing young man quarrels and go to many many more team, coach staff, and player meetings.
4: Go to more meetings with other parts of the Rockets organization including the FO, marketing, scouting and the always over-bearing owner.
5: Film review with the coaching staff, then with the players and again with the players.
6: Attend practices when possible to bring the authority figure into as much contact with the players as possible.
7: Go over x's and o's in game with players. All that x and o crap during games is just to bring the a previously practiced play to the forefront of the players minds. That and maybe a small wrinkle or two. This is really something that an assistant could easily handle, The only reason head coaches do it these days is tradition.

McHale has a serious multimillion dollar organization under his wing. It will certainly eat up much of his time. This is why the Rockets have two of the best assistant coaches in the game. The Rockets required McHale to retain them. And who knows if they would even want to do all of the bull**** a head coach has to do.

I would like to repeat something I just said. The Rockets required McHale to retain them (them being Finch and Bickerstaff not to mention Sampson). McHale just does his job as defined above. The real heavy load of the coaching depends on Finch, Bickerstaff and the other assistant coaches. And as young as this team is, the coaches are just teaching what they have taught many times before. And they will be in agreement as to what this teams needs.

 

Unfortunately, people see the microphone clips on ESPN and think that's all they're telling the players... "play nasty", "run, run, run", etc.

It's only a VERY small fraction of what they are telling the players during a timeout.

ESPN is NOT allowed by contract with the NBA to show ANY portion of the player huddles that include sets, assignments, tactical play, or strategic approach within the game.

If you ever sit close enough, they'll be going over ALOT of things during huddles, during FT's, timeouts, and even more during half time.

This of course is only the smallest fraction of their job. 98% of their job is behind the scenes...

 

I agree completely. I view McHale as the "face" of the Rockets organization. This opinion is backed up by the Rockets organization refusing to let him choose assistant coaches. He is good on the radio and in post game press sessions. He is a level headed man who is a great organization guy. And he has "standing" because of his career as a player and GM. He is going to be here a long time.