Kevin McHale's candid comments about coaching this team

Actually, he reminds me of Bird as a coach. He has the credibility to tell guys what it takes to win in the league, but leaves all the play calling to someone else(Carlisle). The kind of went in opposite directions with bird coaching and then going into the front office and McHale going from the front office into coaching.

 

He was not good if you wanted playoff success, and Rick Adelman was an upgrade.

I am not sold on McHale, but I am hoping he turns out to be more like Tomjonovich rather than JVG.

DD

 

Used to hate him as a player (what Rocket fan didn't), but l really like him as a coach. Very personable, but very demanding. If you are slacking, you ain't playing with McHale.

 

+1 to the authenticity of McHale.

-1 to the lack of self-confidence.

I'd rather him think something like, "They were horrible during the scrimmage but that's why I was brought in, because I'm the only coach that can toughen this team up and if they listen to me, we will win games."

You gotta be able to sleep during the playoffs, Coach. Self confidence = sleep.... Phil Jackson probably averaged 12 hours/night lol

 

I think one reason the team seemed so un-coachable, is the lack of reputation that McHale had as a coach. It was probably the majority opinion of fans here, too. So, naturally, the team would appear to be not listening well, at best, to totally ignoring him, at worst.

For those of us who watched McHale as a player, we have the full range of emotions -- dislike to respect to sometimes awe. NO ONE would have questioned his "toughness." Toughness is borderline (and sometimes glaringly) "dirty" to opposing fans. And that got me to looking around a bit. I found this article/slideshow and just knew even before looking at all 52 slides that McHale had to be somewhere in the mix. I'll let readers try to guess how close he came to the author's #1.

That "toughness" is what he wants out of his players. I can't help wonder what he was thinking when Scola got his face stepped on by Kevin Love. I also wonder what McHale would have done if it was him on that floor.

He doesn't always need to have all the right X's and O's in his head. He has assistants to help him there. But in then end and at crunch-time, the reserve and instinct that is drawn on by the team is the foundation laid by the character of the head coach. I expect by season's end that the players left standing (in the rotation) will be those that have absorbed that character the most. If it is a majority of them, it will be a testament to the real value of McHale as head coach.

 

perfect

 

I must admit, I was really disappointed in the Rockets when they let Adelman go and hired McHale. But now, with McHale's development of the players and his air personality, he's really starting to grow on me.

 

You gotta love Lurch.

 

I don' think there is a question that hes a legit coach. Even though his record was bad in Minnesota, im pretty sure injuries had a hand in that. I won't say he's on the level of RA, but he is definitely proving to be a solid coach. And he is much, much more likeable than RA. And I really like how he handles the players/rotation ( even though I can see where some players wouldn't ). You dont give the effort, you don't play.

 

Now DD, you are trying to revise history here. Anyone with a clue (and apparently this did not include Les, CD and the rest of the Rockets organization) knew from the start what they were getting in JVG specifically his coaching philosophy. JVG was first and foremost a DEFENSIVE coach who liked to play tight, low scoring games. His offensive systems were not designed to light up the scoreboard (read winning games with 80-90 points) and this is why Les wanted him gone because he felt that it wasn't uptempo & entertaining enough. And for Les, CD and their synchopants to assert that his style of basketball couldn't generate playoff success is nothing more than BS because the Spurs won their last title playing exactly the way JVG advocated. As for McHale, he's a much better after-dinner speaker than coach. He does great impressions or so I've been told.

 

I think he is clearly turning into a Rudy T. He's a very tall hall of fame player who went into coaching. Very passionate about the game, and an excellent motivator that players respect because he was so good back in the day. I don't see any Van Gundy in him other than his fire for good defense.

 

hearing a coach explain coaching is like my wife explaining pms. I cant relate so i tune them out.

 

McHale would have loved coaching Chuck Hayes.

 

A good Coach INDEED. At first, I thought the Rockets signed Mchale to be a coach that'll help us tank, but surprisingly he has done a superb job. I am one of those people that wanted a good draft pick this year because the Rockets are more than likely to be a first round elimination. (yet I want them to win it all if they are in the playoffs) If the Rockets get a superstar, we'll get that extra lift to get us over the top. Props to Mchale, I'm glad the Rockets are winning games.

 

We're lucky in that we haven't had a bad coach in a long time.

 

Van Gundy had a similar transformation as could be noted by the Chancellor off of Star Wars. What will McHale look like if he stresses like this?!

 

With mchale being a old school guy from the 80s,it had to be tough to see his team get punked by the wolves. You could just see him brewing with anger. He could've called me,I'm always up at 4am. I would've gave him some thoughts about it,lol.

 

But but but Bill Ingram sez thing be goin south fo McHale!!!