I think he should be fine. I believe he will have an open mind when it comes to assistant coach's opinions and plans.
I hope McHale does a great job for us, but there certainly isn't any evidence in his short coaching career to point to him being an upgrade or even equal to Adelman. The one plus is he may be more open to playing unproven players and letting them learn on the job, but there is a good chance that practice will cause the team to lose more games in the short run for this season.
I think McHale is going to surprise some doubters and do a great job for the Rockets. Adelman always reminded me of the guy who retired and then came out of retirement but only wanted to work part-time at a full-time gig. I was never sold on how great the Rockets' incarnation of Adelman was as a coach. His in-game decision making was pretty bad and his loyalty to ineffective players probably cost us the playoffs last year. He seems like a nice guy and was definitely a "players coach" (not necessarily a good thing) but I wasn't sad to see him leave.
Weather I've met them or not is irrelevant... He clearly has the talent to be a defensive force in the NBA. He has the blocking instincts and athleticism of a great Center. According to most, Thabeet's work ethic is what is stopping him. I would think that Hakeem's work ethic was partly a product of where he came from. You can't teach someone that doesn't put the work in :/
