I don't see it as vague. It was a bold statement coming from a GM who many blind Rockets fans call a "genius". He actually thinks coaching doesn't matter. Why? Probably because he's resonsible for partially coaching the team. The problem is he's not Popovich. He's strictly a numbers guy. I don't think Morey's ego would allow him to hire a strong minded coach like Pop (which is why he kept Mchale) because that means he won't have as much power over the team. I wonder if RC Buford has final say over Pop's decisions in San Antonio
Do you think +5 games is important? I do, but it certainly isn't the +25 games Lebron can do on a similar team.
The Spurs do have legit Superstars on their team. But with Pop's system everyone becomes deadly and no one is greater than the system. Parker, ginobli, duncan, and now kawhi are a big 4. Morey and mchale's iso system is what is not working. Even with carmelo on this team we would not win it all with mchale because of the style of play. This system reminds me alot of what the Rockets were when we got barkley. It was a dump it to a player making him into a black hole and stand back system. We want the 93-95 Rockets play back. Watch the ball movement and extra passes. Yes it started in hakeems hand but there was so much passing and movement that it made everyone deadly.
As beautiful as it was to see the Spurs execute their offense, that team should be considered an anomaly/outlier than a standard for future teams. There are a lot of variables that come into play to make what the Spurs did work and the other 29 teams in the NBA don't have said variables.
Mike Brown, generally laughed at by most fans as an imbecile of a coach, took a team to the finals with Lebron and a bunch of jokers. Dantoni, generally laughed at by most fans took the Suns to the Western Conference Finals. Byron Scott to the Nets to multiple finals appearances before failing everywhere else as a head coach. Doc Rivers took the Celtics to a title after being a failure in Orlando and underachieving with this supposedly loaded Clippers team. Avery Johnson, who can't get a job in the NBA anymore, took a Mavs team to the finals. The playoffs aren't nearly as much about great coaching as some fans seem to think. They are about great players playing well, a lot of luck and yes, some good coaching decisions. The last one is last in importance as well.
Making adjustments is the biggest factor a coach brings to the table come playoff time and there are very few (Carlisle, Pop) that has the ability.
This team needs help primarily at the point and secondarily at the 4, the only available superstar that would benefit this team is Lebron (pipedream). Rondo or Lowry should be our top targets this offseason; and to the people that say Harden needs the ball in his hands, Rondo and a scorer by the name of Paul Pierce coexisted pretty damn well. It's also necessary for this team to acquire a 3&D (emphasis on the D) wing in the place of Parsons if not as a sixth man. A floor spacing 4 is another piece the Rockets should pursue, maybe the return of 2Pat? Last but not least, the rumored pursuit of Lionel Hollins as an assistant needs to come to fruition, his personality and BBIQ would push the Rockets to another level on both sides of the floor, he'd be the true head coach of the team even if his title states otherwise.
Doc Rivers, Avery Johnson, Byron Scott, Dan Antoni, all did good jobs coaching their respective lol. Your comparing decent coach's to pure incompetence in Mchale. The last play of the Portland series was a perfect example of his incompetence. No face guarding Lillard? No switch? Parsons guarding Lillard? It took till game 3 for Mchale to make ONE ADJUSTMENT on guarding LMA. Bottomline he exposed himself. I'd hire anyone of those guys over Mchale. No way he should be returning another season here
i just dont agree with your opinion I think getting a 3rd superstar is much more valuable to the team. Melo has played the 4 and been very effective, he fits perfectly with our smallball lineup. The team simply is not talented enough. Harden has yet to prove himself as the alphadog in the playoffs, milking Dwight in the post is unsustainable given our current offensive philosophy, meanwhile you have one of the most talented scorers in carmelo who can do it inside and outside Parsons hasn't lost any footspeed, it starts at the top and there is a complete lack of accountability that has allowed this team to play this shot-jacking "outscore 'em" offense
I pretty much agreed with the OP... til an unseen aspect of McHale's value was noted... "Recruiter McHale"... particularly KLove.... otherwise, if you get some solid x's and o's assistants, then we'd be fine... McHale makes a good figurehead, get a couple coaching assistants that DM can feed his strategies to, and let McHale work with bigs and work more the inspirational angle- rather than the x's and o's...
if we have the same offense as last season, it wont matter if we get lebron. you wont win with one-on-one basketball. muight not make it past the 2nd round.
We had one of the best offenses in the league last year, it was our defense that cost us much more so than the offense. In most situations McHale didn't want us to be playing iso ball. Practically every loss was followed by complaints about the ball being sticky. Just like Popovich complained about the ball being sticky after game 2 loss in the finals, and Spoelstra complained about the same thing after several of their losses. It's not a problem exclusive to the Rockets.
One of the 10 worst of all time? Please, do not post on anything relating to basketball at any time any more.
not saying its a terrible offense. it still surprising we scored so much with little ball movement. at least 90% of the rocket's offense one-on-one basketball, heavy dribbling, no passing. good defensive teams will crush the rocket's offense - harden iso - dwight iso - 4 guys stand at the 3pt line driving and kicking, center stands near the basket even the wizards have more ball movement. several teams have htis problem, maybe all of them. but not at the extent as the rockets do. rockets run maybe a handful of plays in a game. for contenders almost every other play you'll see ball movement and player movement. this is a huge issue for the rockets. they dont need to run plays 24/7, but they gotta put SOME effort into it. i hope the new lead assistant coach will do something about this.
Our defense, combined with our offense. Moreyball simply doesn't work in the playoffs when the game slows down. Had we ran any type of effective half court sets we'd one the series in 6 games. Mchale's complaining obviously fell on deaf ears because nothing changed. When Pop mentioned the ball getting sticky his team responded. Terrible coach vs Great Coach
We had the third best offense in the playoffs. In fact it improved in the playoffs vs the regular season. (PPP: 109.8 vs. 108.6) You're arguments are not good.