McHale coached the team to the WCF last year with a battered lineup. McHale coached our team to the home court advantage we had for the playoffs with a team that hardly ever had it's original line up and battered injuries throughout the season. It wasn't all his doing, and it probably wasn't even the majority of his doing, but none-the-less he was the coach and part of the team that did those things, so he shares in the credit. Like I said, McHale has plenty of glaring weaknesses. I'm not saying he doesn't. But if you look at results he had some good ones. Of all the weak spots our team has had this season, McHale isn't even in the top 10. I'm no super upset about him being fired because of his weaknesses which have frustrated me, but he isn't the biggest weakness the team has had this season.
Just dropping by to congratulate all the Rockets fans. I hope you guys get a decent coach now. Coincidentally, would you like to take Dwane Casey off our hands?
McHale lost me during the Portland series. I was sitting behind the bench at a game in Portland and during the later stages when the game got tight - at one point after we had blown a lead, McHale finally called a timeout. As the players walked back towards the bench huddle I had a clear sightline to his face. He looked terrified and shell shocked. I thought that maybe it was just me l, but I saw the players looked at each other too. It was a full timeout, and McHale sat in his chair as the players milled around. He DID NOT have a plan! No countermoves! No philosophy! With twenty seconds left to the timeout he finally called for a whiteboard and started to scribble gibberish down. The players didn't even look at it, and they walked back out onto the floor. Ever since then I've corroborated what I saw in person with what is on TV. Hustle is great, but the players are not put into position to succeed. And it took a superhuman effort from Harden most of last year and a few lucky bounces along with an epic collapse by the Clippers for us to get into the conference finals. We need a real coach.
What pissed me off about McFail was how he had the best winning percentage in history of all Rockets coaches, and he took us to the western conference finals.
Perhaps he was given great players. Or his assistants came up with the gameplan to cover his faults. Or perhaps he would have even a higher winning percentage if he developed young players faster; or made in game adjustments better; or convinced Howard to not post up as much; or not have our SF and PG stand still when Harden has the ball. There's false --- or at the very least unproven -- correlation between our record and advancement and MchHale's personal coaching actions.
McHale over recent weeks has seemed to me to be a defeated man. Very down etc. I've not heard it mentioned anywhere (had to Google it) but November is the anniversary of his daughters passing which could explain (even in part) why he's appeared so down. Not forgiving or justifying his coaching methods, just the way he's been in interviews etc.
Nov 24, 2012. I remember him leaving for 2 weeks prior. I do think he's been pretty diff and worn down.
I actually anticipated McHale resigning this season after Saunders passed. McHale has had a tough last few years in his family. I didn't think he would have the emotional energy to deal with an underdeveloped diva center and pop-star, no-defense shooting guard for another season.
I disagree, the only year he didn't underachieve was last year, and that was mostly Harden having the best year of his career. We would just hand it to him and he'd work his magic, we kept a lot of bad teams in the game last year because we were poorly coached.
Harden also saved our playoffs series against the Clippers by sitting on the bench in the entire 4th quarter.
Lol @ Howard posting up too much yeah why TF was he brought here???? He barely gets any touches between Harden hoisting up 3's or these pathetic baker pg's churning out turnovers every 5 seconds!!!! LmaO!!!!
It's amazing to me how villainized the Rockets as an organization have been for firing a coach. You would think we kidnapped his wife or something and that we did McHale wrong. We didn't. It's a business and if someone isn't doing their job according to the Owner's expectations they go. That's how it works. Les made that very clear and no other team is different. Brad Stevens and Carlisle can say what they want but if those teams had contender aspirations then they too would be held to the same expectations. What's funny is that Dallas PITCHED better coaching to FAs when it came to us vs them...but now the coach wants to whine about us replacing our coach? Mmkay.
I'm telling you he has an incredible relationship with the entire league, EVERYBODY loves him. Tnt made these golden points -they aren't responding to the coach (implying players have to play harder) -give the ball to Harden and iso (implying Harden is the death of the team because he is the one that wants the iso's) how are those two things the players only fault? If players are not responding that means they gave up on you and are done with you. If all Rockets do is iso Harden then that must mean we have a clueless coach. But because its two of the most hated players in the league and you add to the fact that everybody loves milk hair, they give this response.
Mike Brown has the best winning percentage in cavs history.. funny what mchale and mike brown had in common
I saw that too. He looked tired, old, disengaged, and by the end appeared defeated. It actually didn't surprise me that these guys were no longer responding to him because I don't know if his heart was really in it anymore. It's kind of the vibe I get from George Karl these days. At least he's proven to be a great head coach in the past(unlike McHale), but he strikes me as someone who may be getting too old and tired given his age and the cancer to be able to keep up with the grind. I think the youth and energy of JB alone will provide for a huge contrast with McHale. It may not be enough to compensate for other potential shortcomings(Can he coach? How is he with X's & O's? Can he implement a better offense?), but I'm almost certain he'll be a better head coach than McHale by default.
