What a joke. Fire scapegoats upon scapegoats, all so that the lifeless puppet known as Kevin McHale can keep his job as a beard, with Daryl Morey's hand stuck up his ass.
What does a top assistant make compared to a top NBA analyst at ESPN? If it's the same salary why would he want to come back to be an ass't. The big bucks are as a head coach, the downside is you more often than not don't have a job for very long.
Depends on your experience, but the pay is pretty good. Lawrence Frank is making like a million dollars a year to write daily reports.
McHale is sort of a very old and ugly and tall Power Dancer. And a lot less sexy. And a horrible dancer too.
Mchale is laughing very hard... and Morey is standing next to him smirking. I've told you not to worry as long as I am here. the only ones who are crying are Cooper and most of Rockets fans.
Pathetic. Rockets get rid of Cooper who has been here since the Rudy T days and knows about winning and yet keep this clueless incompetent head coach McHale who is a disgrace to the Rockets and who knows zero about winning as a coach. Shambolic.
That's what happens when you have a GM who believes coaches don't matter(aside from maybe an extra 5 regular season wins a year) and that the Portland loss was due to a bunch of coinflips.
I don't think Morey is that stupid but if he does think that, he needs to have a long hard look at himself. Rockets lost the series primarily because Stotts thoroughly outcoached the clueless McHale and cleaned his clock. Now Pop is outcoaching Stotts. Coaches may not matter during the regular season when talent can see you through (Rox won 54 games inspite of McHale not because of him) but come playoff time, coaches matter big time. FFS, Clipeprs won 56 games in the regular season with Vinny freaking Del Negro in charge and then got booted from the playoffs. Now that team with a far superior coach in Doc is making noise.
Hey, Morey himself has said this in the past. He thinks coaching doesn't make that big of a difference. When asked what difference if any a good head coach does make, he said maybe 5 extra wins tops. Never mind that even if that was the case, 5 more wins is nothing to scoff at. 59 wins instead of 54 would've tied the Rockets with OKC for the 2nd best record in the West(and the league). But anyone who's watched the NBA even casually for the last few decades knows damn well that's an absurd statement. Of course head coaches matter. Is it a coincidence that Shaq never won an NBA title under Brian Hill or Del Harris, but suddenly won one his first year that Phil Jackson was coaching? Or that David Robinson was routinely derided as soft and a choker in the postseason under guys like John Lucas and Bob Hill, but suddenly becomes a decent playoff performer under Gregg Popovich? Or that Patrick Ewing's Knicks had minimal playoff success until Pat Riley arrived? Same with the Pacers before Larry Brown? And the Kings before Rick Adelman? And look at the flipside. The Cavs never won a title with LeBron. Who was their head coach? Mike Brown. Same with the Thunder(at least so far) with Scotty Brooks in charge. Or the Clippers with Vinny Del Negro. Or the Suns with Mike D'Antoni. Coaching matters. One only needs to look at who has and more importantly hasn't won an NBA title in recent history for proof.
I'm gonna give a different take: I'm okay with any staff changes at this point, including dismissing Cooper. Yes, he was here during the Rudy T days. But the Rockets defense, with the exception of the Van Gundy era (when Cooper wasn't coaching), has been streaky and suspect for quite some time. This isn't just a McHale problem (though he definitely doesn't help matters).
I agree with this whole-heartedly, and I've been a fan of Morey's. Morey really is getting too smart for his own good.
Actually that's no the case. Cooper was hand picked by McHale to come back to Houston as he was with the T-wolves at that time, so there is the connection. He is a McHale's guy, same as J.B. Bickerstaff, both have the T-wolves connection. This move basically is more of to cut off more of McHale's assistants and let Morey to dictate more on the coaching operation.
I get what you are saying, BUT look at the TALENT on all the teams you just mentioned. Shaq pairs up with Kobe and good vets, WINS. David gets, Timmy and good vets, WINS. Knicks were always to atop the East just couldn't beat Bulls. Lebron pairs up with Wade and Bosh add good vets, WINS. So im just saying you have to have the talent level to win. Let's be honest here, our team right now is not built to win a title. To young and not deep enough throughout the roster. I think Morey will look to bring in better vets this summer to add around Howard and Harden and a better assistant to help with the defensive schemes.
Correct. This firing has Daryl Morey written all over it. "Hey Mchale, just stay calm buddy. You'll receive a little bad press this offseason, but we'll replace some assistants and I'll do some interviews to curve some of that anger from the fans. Just let me keep running the ship, and we'll be alright".
Shaq and Kobe had plenty of talent around them before they won a title. In fact, they finally won a championship after they became less talented. Van Exel and Jones were shipped off because Derek Fisher and Rick Fox were better complementary fits. And those teams never had a quality power forward(like we keep hearing the Rockets need). They had a washed up A.C. Green, a washed up Horace Grant, and Samaki Walker for their three-peat. The difference was Phil Jackson. His first year there, all he did was lead them to 65 wins and a championship despite most NBA experts thinking they needed at least one season before they could learn the triangle offense. No doubt Tim Duncan made a huge impact on the Spurs franchise, but he alone was not the reason they started dominating the league. Look at how they've reloaded that roster at least 3 times during the Duncan era and have never missed a beat. That's all because of the system Popovich and Buford have put in place. The Knicks were NOT always atop the East. You know what their records were in the years prior to Riley's arrival: 23-59, 24-58, 38-44, 52-30, 45-37, and 39-43. Under Riley: 51-31, 60-22, 57-25, and 55-27. And while Riley never led them to a title, they came within one game in 1994 and his first 3 seasons there, they lost to the team that eventually won the championship. And besides, there's no arguing that this has been a pathetic franchise for a very long time whose best years were clearly under Pat Riley. The Cavs' situation is debatable. It's true that LeBron didn't have much help in his 7 years there, but it's also true that Mike Brown was not exactly a great coach either. As for the Rockets, are they built to win a title right now? Probably not. But don't tell me they're not built to win a single playoff series against an inferior opponent like the Blazers. The talent is there. If they're not getting it done on the court, that falls on the coach.
