Wojnarowski: McHale is someone guys like to play for

I remember that year, and thinking how well Armstrong did for them. Looking back at that team it reminds me of Aaron Brooks' MIP season with the Rockets. The Rockets still had T-Slack on their roster, but we know how that worked out!! Anyways good memory there, and yup DOC did very well that year with a "no name team."

Also, I like Mchale, but those that think he's the best coach since Rudy T. I don't know bout that one. I really like JVG, and even though many didn't like his slow pace, and D. It brought that spirit out from all our team even after we brought in "Rick the Ruler." The energy was still there, and heart.

I'm glad Mchale is still coaching this year. I'm sure it has been tough. The crowds here are funny indeed! They'll hate, and then take a "headline", and turn it into "THE BEST THING EVER!" HAHA that's "Clutchfans" at times.

I bet players do like to play for Mchale because he probably relates pretty well to the players.

Good memory dude. I forgot about that Magic team for a split second. Good reminder on the "Heart and hustle."

 

A coach yelling at his players is rarely a problem in itself.

It's always when a coach's X's and O's suck ass and obviously do not work and he yells at his players for not executing his suckass X's and O's that you have a problem. It's called "losing your team." Lowry and Budinger certainly weren't shy about hinting at it after leaving the Rockets. McHale appears to be developing a history of it as we speak in his young coaching career.

Constantly going away from what the players see as effective and yelling at the players for not doing what has proven consistently to be ineffective as instructed, yeah, that's a problem. Again, it's called "losing your team." When your X's and O's rock ass and make sense to the players, you don't have to be much of a people person to get along smoothly with the team.

On the flip side, a coach who's bad at X's and O's is going to have problems with players no matter how much of a people person he is.

 

Repped! I wish I could rep you twice for this.

 

That's like listening to a bitter person talking about the character flaws of an ex that cheated on them.... Everyone knows Lowry was upset about losing his starting role on the team, it's not McHale's fault.

 

Absolutely, third lowest payroll, youngest roster and still out-performing the Lakers and Dallas? Our front office and coaching staff are doing a great job. I also think McHale is getting better. No matter what people think Pop and Phil Jackson didn't come into coaching fully formed. Coaching is a learning process just like anything else.

 

I don't think the focus of that post was about them at all. It's more about the players trust in the coaching decisions being fair and correct more often than not. When someone not as good gets the nod over you in crunch time that you feel is less deserving, when substitution patterns are strange and unexplained, when the coach seems not to see what helps the team win but rather sticks with something that doesnt seems to work for what seems like stubbornness, these feelings over time especially with losses add up and often end up with a coach "losing" his team. That's what the post is trying to say, at least that's what I got out of it.

 

A coach is only losing it's team when reports indicate displeasure from the players, not before.

The Thunders have had a lot more drama this season, and I could speculate that Scott Brooks has lost the team too.

 

Guys want to play for a coach that WINS GAMES. Period. Does not matter whether the coach is nice or mean, dynamic or old school X's and O's ... as long as the team gets the W players will respect him.
They will play along with a control freak like Greg Popovich or Tom Thibodeux, as long as he delivers the W. It's only when they go on a losing streak that loyalties or lack thereof are exposed. You never see a winning team with bad chemistry.

 

Well to be quite honest I'd think the opinion of the number 1 insider in NBA sports journalism holds a lot more weight than some random dude posting on the internet.

I don't think Mchale gives favoritism to players, it's just that if you're the number 1 guy keeping the team in the game you should get a lot more leeway than say Toney Douglas. If Jeremy Lin was getting abused on D then he should be told off by Mchale. If Harden was getting abused on D but he just scored 30 pts and scored 15 down the stretch to win the game....should Mchale still go off on him? I mean this is why "intense" guys like Scott Skiles, Larry Brown and SVG gets turned off by their players. It's ok in the beginning, but then players start to feel like nothing they do ever satisfy the coach, and it's something JVG learned while coaching both Yao Ming (who could take all the constructive criticism in the world) and Tmac (who needed positive affirmation to succeed).

Players don't necessarily want to play for a coach who wins, because at the end of the day the player is the one winning the game. If you just kept hitting game winner after game winner but the coach gets on you for every little mix up how would you feel? This is why you see coaches of the year get fired routinely, they don't know how to manage egos.

 

When your team is overachieving, I don't think it's a problem.

 

It's hard to say because Fitch was kind of a micro manager but the Rockets ran a lot when he was coach. It was a differenct time. The Celtics were one of the best teams in the league in transition when KC Jones coached them. I think Bill Fitch is the more knowlegable coach between the two.

 

Steve Kerr, on nba 2k13, reminds me how much fun it is playing for McHale at least 6 times a game.

McHale has improved this team. Me like what he's done, and what he's getting on the floor. Team is much improved. Players much improved. But now, we need to see what adjustments he can make in the playoffs.

 

Well said.

 

OK, thanks. Can wait for Coach McHale to win it this year.:grin:

 

And yet I can't help recalling many people here have been insisting that coaches don't really make any impact on the team's winning and thus they should be excused for losing.

 

Harden and Lin are hardly "all no name players and little experience."

 

Well Lin has a name, but that's about it. Harden is obviously a great player, but the rest of the team is basically a bunch of little known role players.

 

You can't credit the coach for all this. The roster that Morey built was just underrated by the national media. With Harden, Lin, and Asik I think it's silly to think this team would suck like all the commentators predicted.

 

Wow. In a nutshell, your argument is that since McHale is a hall of fame player he MUST know what he's doing as a coach. And that no one outside the upper echelon of the organization can question what they are doing since they don't have "all the facts." And nobody can question an NBA coach unless they have the connections to be an NBA or D league coach. Because God knows Bernie Bickerstaff's kid got his assistant gig on merit. As did Dantoni's brother. Or Patrick Ewing. Magic Johnson was a HOF player and earned his coaching gig on merit - he crushed it!
Well that settles it...I'm done commenting here and also done voting in elections. After all, my congressman and Senators must know more than I do to make the great decisions they make. And if any current or future President seems to be a ninny I must be wrong - after all he/she is getting all the "info."
I'm gonna go turn off my brain and play video games....

Sarcasm aside, I actually agree with you on almost everything else you wrote.

 

Great Houston fan you are - dissing the whole team but Harden. Guess you're a HOF. You probably are happy when Harden has a good game but the team loses.