Not completely devoid of basketball knowledge (after all, the guy is a HOFer) but I think trying to sign JOE SMITH (the same Joe Smith that was a trainwreck on the court the year before he signed with the Wolves) at all shows that he didn't know how to evaluate his teams' needs. You already had Garnett on the team, why spend your energy and money on adding another PF? Maybe I'm being too harsh on McHale due to the fact that the Allen-for-Marbury swap was a disaster, and losing 5 1st Rounders for Joe Smith set that franchise back a few years.
1. Rudy T 2. Bill Fitch 3. Del Harris 4. Rick Adelman? 5. Jeff Van Gundy 6. Kevin Mchale 7. Don Cheney 8. Hakeem (Gets a mention just because he's the best at everything Houston basketball related)
Adelman is a stubborn and impatient man, which lead to his demise here in Houston. He wants to be a coach/GM. That ain't happening when you have one of the best GM"s in the business.
Love Rudy T. But his only play was throw the ball into Olajuwon. When Hakeem left, he had absolutely no strategic game plan. No system, nothing. Did you watch the Steve Francis years? I did. We sucked and ran iso's all game with Cuttino & Steve. You can't bring up championships and ignore roster talent Adelman had less talent and still had the best winning% of any Rockets coach. Adelman>Any other Rockets coach
Get out o' here with that. Rudy's understanding of spacing and positioning and defense was fine tuned to the point of winning a championship with a team full of (albeit awesome) role players and one superstar. Hardly a typical roster for winning it all. Your blasphemy does not go unnoticed. And you spelled it wrong, because there is no D in Aelman.
Adelman had Yao and McGrady don't give me that crap that he had less talent. BUT I see where you are going with this and your arguments would be valid if Yao stayed healthy in 08-09'. We should have won the championship that year, no doubt in my mind.
Only problem with Adelman is that he wouldn't give young players minutes. He'd shown that time and time again throughout his coaching career (Drazen is a case-in-point). Chandler Parsons never got any serious burn until Adelman was out, and he quickly became the starter over Chase Budinger. The investment has paid off. Chandler is now the starter and our third bananna, and most consider him right on the line of being a star player in this league.
Ha yeah I forgot they have Kevin Martin still. Martin, Love, Pekovic, Rubio. They should be a lot better.
This thread is so precious. I think some Rockets fans tend to get a bit "sure" of themselves and their team based on a 4th place position. Suddenly, Rick and JVG are scrubs. Really? I admit to being hard on Kevin McHale, but not without reasons. If I put him on the same coaching rubric that posters have put RA on, and given McHale's players' talent and overall health, he hasn't achieved to the same extent as Rick. It's not even close, even in Minnesota, where Kevin Love is the only all-star. What Rick is doing with that roster, in terms of being competitive, fighting for a playoff spot, and the overall record is amazing. You put some other non-established coaches in that situation and the team will be last in the conference and tanking. If we go by the OP's logic, McHale hasn't done a damn thing either. We've missed the playoffs with him (You do recall blowing the last games of that season because of poor, poor substitutions by Kevin, correct? You know, benching Camby and Sam to go with a defensive powerhouse in Scola and PatPat...riiightt....) We also made the playoffs with him last year. But again, we lost in the first round, so McHale hasn't done anything, right? This season is incomplete, so I guess that's hands off. If you compare the health and talent that McHale has in comparison to what RA had, it's not even a contest. Rick continually won with an injury-depleted roster. JVG had a losing season, but you could count on the team to be competitive regardless of the record. Reece Gaines was sure threatening playing heavy minutes..lol Kevin was hired under very little expectation starting out.Allegedly, Morey wanted more control. McHale was perfect for that because this was his first real gig outside of Minnesota, and he had no rep to make decisions. Players liked his personality. He was a top 50 of all time. But, no one really expected Kevin to be spectacular, and he wasn't that year. His lack of experience arguably contributed to us missing the playoffs after solidifying a spot just a week before. The Rockets didn't yet have the "stars" they do now, but had legit guys in Goran, Kyle Lowry,KMart, Scola, Chandler and CLee (Shoot, let's add Camby, Bear, Chase, etc..) along with some nice pieces. Kevin McHale wasn't able to push a roster with that talent into the post-season. Yet, RA and JVG, both with arguably less talented, youthful and healthy records did more with what "they had," since were using that phrase in this thread. As much as I love Chuck Hayes, he is not on the same level as Dwight, but he was our starting center and we had a coach that MAXIMIZED his abilities. That's just one example though. Rick has earned his respect here by the numbers, records AND through analysis of the variables that go unnoticed. You could argue that he did more in his first 1-2 seasons with a less dominant roster than what Kevin has been able to in 3 years. But this isn't about Kevin. It's about Rick, his short-comings and how he did "nothin'" as a coach in Houston. Is it because we didn't win a championship? Last I checked, coaches that don't make it to the big dance aren't all garbage. That's the stench of arrogant fans.
That's my point, they weren't healthy. But Adelman STILL had them competing every night and winning. He did a phenomonal job, he's a great coach. The ppl in here talking wreckless about RA are more concerned in trying to defend Daryl Morey. However, winning% doesn't lie
To say that McHale does not roll well with the punches of losing both his starting guards for basically the season or not being able to handle having his power forward rotation gone at the trade deadline is disingenuous. And I am not taking anything away from JVG and RA here.
it's not an opinion. look up , like really look up and do math, his statistics with the Rockets. I'm not going to mcgrady from clutchfans.
