Where did I mention Adelman? Since you insist on talking about him though…If Adelman had to be fired because he wasn’t on the same page as management anymore, then at least hire someone who’s going to be. Just seems pointless to hire someone like McHale who honestly seems even more opposed to coaching inexperienced players and the growing pains that comes with that than Adelman is. At least when Adelman was losing last season he didn’t talk about second-guessing his decision to take on a job he just got hired for because it got hard. I’m sure your reaction would be much different it was Adelman complaining about what Morey’s given him to work with.
Going to be a tough year for the players. While this is very often the answer, sometimes the answer is different. Sometimes the schedule is tough. Sometimes the rotation is fatigued. Sometimes the COACH has to tweak the system. What McHale has said here seems to be a recipe for blaming the youth of the players no matter what goes wrong. Yes we need to understand how good a passer Royce is, but it would be a real disaster to start limiting Royce's passing. This is a year where we can and absolutely should allow players the freedom to not only show what they can do, but also to give them freedom to test their maximum potential. If he has not perfected his passing game by 1 Jan., it doesn't mean he won't improve drastically as the season goes on. With creativity, you have to give it room to grow and normally that room is unavailable on a competitive team. Fortunately, we are not really competing this season, so we should take this opportunity to let the players test the limits of their potential. Perhaps I misread, but it seems McHale is looking to structure creativity and that is a very common mistake. Having said that, I am always for applying some discipline and structure to younger teams, but we have to be realistic about the reality that at some point McHale will want to win at the expense of player development. How that situation is handled will define his fate as head coach. If he puts a little more faith in the players and in a playing style that is not his favorite, then it can go a long way towards turning some of these guys into significantly better players by next year.
I was struck by McHale's statement about coaching young players as 'challenging but also rewarding.' I associate the word 'rewarding' with highschool coaching, not professional coaching in which you are getting paid to win. But no one expects, or perhaps even wants, the team to make the playoffs so I won't think about it too hard. From what he said about not knowing what most of the players can do and therefore unable to commit to many sets, wow, that almost makes the 1 month training camp sound too short of a time to figure it out.
McHale hasn't had a great run as an NBA head coach thus far. I can't really blame him for wanting to build something. Luckily, I don't think our roster gives him much of a chance to NOT develop the young players anyways.
Don't you have that saying wrong? I believe it's "hope for the best, and prepare for the worst"? Otherwise, I don't really understand that statement.
Few veterans to go against in scrimmage, but at least everyone gets to practice against Sheik-and-Destroy's defense.
Very insightful comment. One point where I would beg to differ is that the freedom allotted them to showcase what they've got may actually show dividends as early as this coming year! I say put the ball in Lin's hands, let the boys shine in all their glory on offense, showcasing White's sure-to-be multi-faceted play, Lamb's silky smooth scoring, KMart's underrated SG potency, DMo's DMo-ness, Chandler's athleticism and emphasize DEFENSE and REBOUNDING above all behind Omer's defensive energy, with a clearly set goal (not a fake one) of making the playoffs. Or die trying! I personally have never believed that Mchale was a good coach for this team even prior to hearing his pessimism and belief that the p&r run&gun style is not to his liking, but I hope to be proven wrong. Mchale was a beast as a player and played with Bird who embodies everything I love about basketball. So, I'm holding out hope that his experience and competitiveness will eventually show through and get the team to pull off a miracle season. After all, isn't that what sports is all about?!
lol. I did a double take and sat there scratching my head as well! But I did get to understand his point.
Of course this is the case with nearly every team, but in the Rockets' case, some of the stuff the ran last year had no chance to work from the beginning. If you run single-doubles for Kevin Martin, you're turning him into a playmaker/ballhandler, which he is terrible at. Nevermind the fact that Martin's low release isn't exactly tailor-made for those type of plays. I don't know how you can not see that on film. All these Scola 'post-ups' off a shuffle-cut made no sense to me. Why would you want him so far away from the basket? He's too slow to excel in the triple-threat position. You want him posting up deep and popping out or rolling/slipping on the p&r. I could go on, but I digress. The point is that McHale just might not be too great at recognizing what might work and what might not work for each player. Now, that's not to say he's a terrible coach. I thought he did some good things last year. Most of the stuff was pretty basic, but I liked some of the p&r stuff he ran, I liked him running some flat cut sets and among other things, I thought our zone offense was pretty solid. Again, though, maybe instead of making excuses beforehand and telling the players that when things go you wrong, they will have to work harder and smarter, maybe coach McHale should look in the mirror and do the same thing, when players were put in a position to fail last year, because he didn't work hard/smart enough.
Pessimistic much? He is basically blaming our future losses on our youth. I just dont see any responsibility on his part. And as far as recognizing talent, I thought hes pretty terrible at it. I read reports that Lowry and Lee were begging to run the corner offense and McHale basically ignored them.
When did tmac lowered the expectations. If anything he overrated his team and put the blame on him. He always said he was turn scrubs into allstars.
The hate for McHale is pretty terrible here, I don't see anything wrong with his answers. He said the truth(winning will be hard) but also mentioned that it will be exciting to form the younger guys and see how they develop. Do you expect him to say that we'll be a playoff contender and that everything is great? Be a bit realistic and read this interview without putting too much emphasis on your feelings about Mchale.
At this point in time with some players here in Houston working out already, and other players coming back within days, why is this not a video interview? I like our coach because RA was never there to answer real questions about rebuilding the team. Coach McHale has no choice but to do it now. And RA has to also rebuild the T-Wolves now.. Who has the better job with upside? But still these interviews should be in video. just saying. zzpot
It is no secret the man is stubborn and likes to do things his own way but Adelman was not different and still did a great job with using Landry, Brooks, Lowry etc. McHale messed up with some but did great with Parsons. You have to distinguish between how he uses players and recognizing a players' talent. I hope McHale will learn from his mistakes and use different sets and tactics when we start to lose and not just blame it on youth and not working hard enough. The greatness of Adelman was keeping some of JVG's plays in and slowly implementing his offense. McHale went with a different approach which is very questionable because of no training camp. If he were smart and not so stubborn, he would've used at least 40-50% of Adelman's plays that Lowry and Lee supposedly asked for.
I like youth, but I totally understand his frustration. You GM trades all your pieces to miss out on that superstar. It's tough, but the fact McHale wants to win no matter what is going to rub off well on the rookies I think.
