The rockets have a couple holes to fill, but I think one of the biggest is consistency on the defensive end. That would truly get us to the next level. even with the undeniably great job Mchale did this season, this needs to be priority #1 this offseason. With coaching jobs being taken up and the offense heavy style of today's nba, what is the possibility Thibs takes a role of being our defensive head coach? Make him the highest paid assistant and one with the biggest role! Get it done Morey!
Thibs would change the dynamics of this whole team for the better, but unfortunately I don't see it happening, you would think he wants a heading coaching gig.
I'm sure dude who's been and still is considered top 5 coach in the NBA would gladly downgrade to assistant coach of bottom 5 coach in NBA.
I may be the only Rockets fan in the world who actually prefers McHale over Thibs. I want Harden to enjoy a great career, not go on crutches in 3 years. I remember listening to a Lowe podcast describing how in a meaningless game Thibs grinded his starters to the ground and got a higher seed that actually screwed them in the playoff matchups. That is the nightmare I would never want to experience as fan.
If you don't want a coach to play his starters as much... you need to have a better bench behind him. The common misconception around Thibs/JVG/Rudy was that they all relied too much on their starters... when in reality, if they had bench players "worth it", they would have played them. (see Steve Kerr for the virtual opposite of this... he has a stacked team). There's a good chance if JVG was coaching the Rockets, Harden would not get his customary 12 minutes of bench time each game (6 mins in 2nd and 5-6 min in 4th), but that's a direct result of how vital Harden is to making this offense work, and how there are no real viable replacements for him.
Lets be clear here, Thibs is not a defensive specialist, Thibs is a slave driver. He over works his players with no concern about their long term well being for short term gains. Does it produce results? Sure, sometimes. But at what cost? How many careers need to be cut short by his 120% practices and minute mismanagement do we need to see before people start recognizing him for what he is. McGrady, Yao, Noah, etc.
So you prefer we underwork our players without implanting sets and defensive rotations? Why do u think we are so undisciplined defensively, we gave up an average 115 puts per game this playoffs , never under 110 in any round, that is unacceptable, and will never get you to the finals. Defense wins championships and our defensive, even with a top 3 defensive center was atrocious....even with Jb in the fold, Liam all for this move , overwork players?? seriously idiotic comment, if they don't get it they should work till they do its their job
Any real coach out there wont even set foot in here. Look at the coaches that avoided us like the plague. Nobody wants to be a puppet
You're right. I forgot that at least Thibs at least got the Bulls a champi... wait, no, but he did get his team to the fina... wait, he didn't do that either. Oh, that's right. Thibs' deepest playoff run is just the Leastern conference finals, aka less impressive than McHale's Rockets resume.
Pat Riley used the strategy of having two top ten players of all time. I am more than happy with that strategy. No, I don't prefer underworking our players. I prefer Harden's career not ending at age 29. I think you are confusing bad defense, with playing better offensive teams. The Clippers, Mavs (Sans Rondo) and Warriors are all spectacular offensive teams. They were going to score points and they were going to score alot of points. What wins championships is having the best team. The Rockets most glaring issues right now are personnel based. This fantasy that Thibs is going to come in here and fix all our problems is just that, a fantasy. And one with bad consequences.
Well if he joined this staff it would be in a role much more similar to the last time he was the defensive assistant under a players' coach. A year in which he made the finals. And won a title. I think there are defensive minds out there than can get more out of the 4 spot than we've been able to. I also think Beverley was misused this year.
Tom Thibs just isn't an assistant anymore. He'd rather retire probably than take a long term ASSISTANT coaching job. Now if the Rockets came to him and offered him a one-year gig before he finds something else next year, you might have a shot, but again.... its a huge toll taken to be a coach in the NBA and his next head coaching gig is going to be good enough where he might want to take a year off to regroup. So its wishful thinking. If the Rockets aren't firing McHale, and hiring Thibs as their head coach... keep dreaming.
