Josh Smith -- Why we like Player's Coaches like Rudy

I agree that McHale deserves some more credit this year that many are hesitant to give for whatever reason. Our players do seem to love the guy, and that is a big part of our chemistry. However, I think there are much better examples of this than Lowry, whose departure was at least somewhat due to his rift with McHale.

 

Package deal ... without Dwight, I doubt we get JSmoove.

So pretty providential that we get someone who can hold the fort while Dwight is down.

 

They like him but not enough to give up Millions of $$ to be with him.

If they did, that would be stepping out of the friend zone and stepping into the "It's complicated" status on facebook.

Both have spoken favorably of McHale since away.

 

I just don't get the hate that McHale gets. He's obviously not the best coach out there but he's not as useless as some posters makes him out to be. I totally understand being frustrated but some of the anti-McHale posts are seething with unnecessary anger.

Smith and Brewer have been great addition to the bench. I'm excited to see how far the team goes when everyone is healthy.

Go Rockets!

 

ok....you made an excellent point, luckily he is inked in Houston for 3 + more years before the Spurs or GS steal him

 

The sad thing to me is not that McHale gets criticized...all coaches do....its the fanatical, illogical hate on here that some show for McHale.

The haters are missing out on one of the best Rockets seasons ever. The team is playing with outstanding chemistry. They are great fun to watch.

Enjoy the journey...and get rid of the hate and the haters.

 

I would love to play for him too. He just seems like a great person, who understands players and the game.

Rudy2.0

 

Rudy Rudy Rudy

 

Were literally third or fourth overall in both conferences but " Mchale sucks ". He loses games omg he's human like the rest of coaches :O

 

McHale truly is an elite players coach-

I think givin talent McHale can have a top team in the league throughout the season and be hugely successful

However, McHale is NOT a playoff coach. As much as I love our current team, with McHale at the helm we are going to have an early exit come playoffs.

Great seasonal coach but awful playoff coach

huge difference

 

People say he got "outcoached" with every loss. Guess what: the other team got "outcoached" 70% of the time.

Congratulations to OP for making a pro-Rockets thread! And we posters in this thread actually enjoy the Rockets too. . . .

 

McHale has improved considerably this season as a coach - and this isn't to say he is a terrible coach before this. He has led Houston to a plus 500 record every year he has coached the Rockets regardless of what the roster was. He has maintained a plus 500 despite the massive roster turnover year in and year out. That is something that he should get credit for.

The loss of Sampson last year really hurt the team though they were down an assistant coach which is huge - I always feel assistant coaches do a lot of the scouting and xs and os work while the head coach worries about the game flow and psyche of the players. Now with TR Dunn back and Bickerstaff Jr. the coaching staff is solid and its paying off big time in the marked improvement in areas that were major weaknesses last year. They developed new schemes and McHale got the guys to buy in.

You can see players buy in - DMo worked hard despite sporadic minutes and its paying off in the largest way now. There are times where McHale cannot afford to keep him off the floor. Smith has bought in 100% - a guy widely viewed as a 'cancer' is fitting right in after an initial bump (which is always expected when adding a player of his talent into a lineup). Jones' return has been seamless -- and all this happened with multiple players missing large chunks of games. I mean we were relying on Nick Johnson at one point not just giving us minutes, but meaningful contributing minutes.

McHale would baffle me at times last season with his rotations - I am not sure if that was part instinct on his part of part lack of preparation and scouting. This year there are less of these moments. The only thing that I really wish to see happen more is having Kostas get more minutes - good things happen when he is on the floor. I understand that minutes will be reduced for Kostas now that Jones, Smith are there at the PF spot and Brewer is there now at the wing position. As evidenced though by the Detroit game at least McHale has no problem putting in guys like Kostas if the guys on the floor are not putting the effort. He holds everyone accountable and the players respect him for that.


I mean are there better coaches than McHale? Of Course but how many are available? Adelman retired (and I dont know if he would come back) We've had Van Gundy and while I love Van Gundy he believed in allowing his stars having more slack. Jerry Sloan I think is also done with coaching. George Karl maybe in talks with Sacramento but at the same time outside of the 96 trip to the finals I have had a hard time believing Karl as a coach come playoff time.


The only thing is how McHale will do come playoff time. If he has a healthy Dwight and team then this is the first time he will have a team that should advance in the first round regardless of matchup. Last season they should have advanced but he was outcoached and there were several unfortunate calls that went in Portland's favor that didn't help either. It seems he learned from that and players this season look way more focused than last year and far more determined. It helps he has gotten guys like Ariza and Terry who have quiet (Ariza) and vocal (Terry) experience when it comes to winning a ring out on the floor. These guys can help keep others accountable. Losing Parsons and trading away Lin and Asik was a blessing in disguise. While of those players were talented in their own right they were a distraction on the floor and locker room and placed themselves ahead of the team. Now we have a group of guys that just want to win no agendas and thats makes it so much easier on McHale on his staff to do their jobs

 

Do you base this on the Rockets' inability to eliminate the evenly matched Trailblazers (who were propelled by one of the greatest playoff performances in NBA history from Aldridge) last season?

Or is it because the 8th seed Rockets failed to knockout the top seeded Thunder the year before?

 

Where do you base this on? Did you expect a Howardless rockets to beat OKC while having a roster that has been together for only a year? Or not beating a team who had and identical record as ours?

Coaches and players makes mistakes a long the way and it is part of the growing pains. He may not be a good playoff coach as you say, but there is not enough data to support that yet as he has only coached one series where he had a chance to win. Remember, the same type of criticism was made of Lebron before winning the ring. Players and coaches should be allowed some mistakes before being written off especially if the sample size is small.

 

I thought by thread title that we were getting actual Smith quote.

McHale still has issues with rotations and head scratching lineups to end games. He was good at calling timeouts last game, but he lets his guys get their crap pushed inwards way too many times before finally giving them a break. Kerr,Thibs,Carlisle etc... those coaches at best let a 6-0 run or just stupid mental lapses before they call TO and get the squad on the same page.

Not sure how his inbounds plays are considered genius?

Hypthothetical would George Karl have this team playing better?

 

I can understand people criticizing the Rockets' coaches after last year's playoffs. It seemed the Blazers coaches had a gameplan. They were going to play Harden very tight and physical and go right at him on offense to tire him out and wear him down and force other players to beat them.

What was the Rockets strategy against the Blazers?

 

Spurs beat OKC last year but got beat by them 2 yrs before? Who's a better coach? It seems very simplistic to judge a player or coach base on one series.

 

I never said to judge their entire career off of one series. I said I can understand some criticism after the playoffs last year.

 

I'll truly respect McHale if he somehow brings another title to Houston. But I agree, he doesn't deserve the amount of hate that he gets around here. Players seem to like him very much, and they know more than we do.