McHale - You Can Coach Them Hard - Can You Really?

IMO, McHale is the best possible coach for this team.

He was an elite player, so our young squad probably respects and listens to him.

He's blunt, which I think is good for our inexperience. Too many kids grow up hearing how good they are....they need to see the reality of the NBA.

He played in the post, and the majority of our young, unproven talent is at the 4 and 5.

The reason he's run Harden into the ground is because he had no other choice. Who else do you give the ball to? Lin?? When Lin can't hit a shot, he's practically useless.

I don't blame Morey or McHale for our recent struggles....this was inevitible if the goal was the be a championship contender. If we just wanted to be a 4-5 seed for a few years, we would have signed/traded for a ton of mid-level vets.

 

I always like Old Man Rock's posts, and this is no exception.

McHale gets way too much credit for his coaching, just because Rockets have a young roster.

 

Yes, Mchale needs to get better with adjustments and rotations.

Sure, consistent barking = players tuning out, eventually.
But, it is necessary in the process of becoming a good team.

We don't have a Shane Battier, a Luis Scola, or a Yao Ming to show them how it's done on a daily basis.

I've seen how young teams respond to Rick Adelman's-type demeanor.
I've seen his GSW players smiling and high-fiving while losing.
Build confidence my arse.
I call this failing to get his players to going.

Can we say the same about Mchale and his Rockets?

Becoming a contender is a process.
As of now, you SHOULD coach them hard.

 

I've heard some people say McHale is a "motivator," but I don't know what that means exactly. Does he keep them calm under pressure and at the end of tight games? Does he make them believe in themselves when the going gets tough? As young players (who are not jaded), they naturally WANT to improve; it's not yet "just a job."

I hope these guys admire their head coach. Maybe I shouldn't be so concerned.

 

You make McHale out to be similar to Doug Collins to a certain extent - in the way that he's not very X's and O's and is a hard-ass who rides his players until they buck him eventually.

I can see where you're coming from and I tend to agree somewhat. Thing is McHale is only the interim coach for the rebuilding phase. I believe he'll be gone at the end of the season for someone better at X's and O's. I'll miss his candid interviews though - I do like the guy quite a bit.

 

Philosophically, Coach Mchale has everything it takes to be a great coach. My problem is he lets one player deviate him from his own beliefs. If you want the ball to get non sticky, you have to address it, even if he is a mega superstar.

 

So McHale started the game shooting 18% in the first quarter? Should he have 'coached them up' more and then they would've gotten the memo that the ball is supposed to go in the basket?

Anyone who blames the last 2 starts on McHale are either insane or didn't watch the games. We had wide open shots and lay-ups both games that were missed. We had turnovers that made 5th grade girls basketball look organized.

 

Perhaps it's a matter of definition, but how can anyone dispute that a team should be coached "hard," and the players want it that way--along with discipline and a specific plan.

 

haha, I was just thinking the same thing! I only made it half way through

 

I like Mchale so if we keep him KOO if dont keep him KOO lol thats how I feel but still cnt ignore what hes done for this team

 

Rockets played with full excitement and energy in the first two games of the season when Harden first joined and McHale decided to let the team play freely. Then after a few days of rest and over-coaching the Rockets played like an unconfident team with hands tied up. We have observed similar patterns many times during this season even McHale himself said to be scared off changing things sometimes. I think the starting players in the Rockets have very high BBIQ, particularly Lin. If the coaches simply let them mesh and maintain a stable rotation they will just figure out the optimal way of playing off each other. After seeing that an average coach would simply enforce the good plays and a good coach would extrapolate from there. Instead, our coaches can't help but (unnecessarily) throwing in a Monkey wrench from time to time to boost Harden's stats (for justifying the mega contract ?). This seems to be the reason why Rockets struggled even against the worst teams in the league after a few fluid games. This is not good for Harden's development either, if the coaches are not brave enough to correct his bad habits when he is young.

 

Hey--not necessary to malign the insane and 5th grade girls!

Gotta shrug off Sunday's tough shooting and have faith in themselves tonight.

 

Overcoaching? Are you high? The team didn't have a training camp... What on Earth do you perceive this league to be? Like club team lacrosse? Even Sterling Archer would say you need some coaching for that...

So McHale either doesn't coach enough, or coaches too much, depending on what crazy person has ahold of their keyboard... Wow.

 

THIS! And if you're gonna hold one you're players responsible on defense and not the other don't act surprised when people begin to take notice.

 

Really? I didn't get that. I actually thought he was unimpressed.

 

McHale is a young coach who is prone to a lot of mistakes. The Rockets are a young team. He makes sense for now but he isn't going to coach this team to a title.

 

I like some of your other points, but I disagree with the Harden/Lin thing. The coach has to avoid using their star players as a crutch. Look at SA, or Celtics without Rondo, or the Griz. There is no excuse Harden should be playing entire quarters or halfs. That's ridiculous. As for Lin, when is the last time you've seen a game where Lin couldn't hit a shot? He's been one of the best shooters on the team since the All-Star break shooting over 40% from deep. And what? Whaddya mean when Lin can't hit a shot, he's useless. He's a pnr pg/ penetrating pg not a shooting pg like Curry or even TD. And once again, his shooting has clearly improved.

 

No it's not.

Harden is tied with Kobe in terms of minutes, and he is behind Durant and Lebron (both players have far more talented teams yet still need to play heavy minutes).

This team is not talented enough to afford resting Harden for long periods of time.

 

This is Harden's first year as a starter playing this many minutes. He's been injured several times already and if you watch the games, Hardens been seriously slowed in some games due to injury, quite noticeably. And yet I see Harden stay on the court the longest even in blow out wins. Do you not feel that Hardens being overplayed??

 

but it is talented enough for the team to go without harden and lin for stretches?