335 replies to this topic

[timetodienow1234567]

I was just wondering what your guys' thoughts were on Mchale following this game against the Grizz.

[pharmag]

It was a logical decision.  You are down by 15 against one of the best defensive teams in the league, and your starters are shooting less than 50% (21 for 43) and that is pulled up significantly by Parsons and DMo (12 for 20).  So even if they start making the open baskets, they aren't going to get many and the ones they do get won't be easy.  Therefore, you are not going to run your starters into the ground in a very physical basketball game that you probably have less than a 50% chance of winning when you have another game the following night against another tough team

[2016Champions]

I thought he made a smart decision resting his starters for tomorrow's game, the smartest coaches in the league do the same thing. It's a long season and you need to take care of your players, the last thing we need is serious injuries to key guys this late in the season. 

[Rahat Huq]

I stopped watching at halftime so I don't know what you speak of.  But overall, even though I disagree with a lot of his moves--his handling of Lin, overall rotations, etc--it's hard to argue he hasn't done a fantastic job.  He has the youngest team in the league in position to make the playoffs.  That has to stand for something.  

 

It would be interesting though, if Stan Van Gundy were available, how things played out.  You know he buys into the analytics as evidenced by his presence at the SSAC and how that Orlando team was built around 3 point shooting.

[2016Champions]

I've always thought SVG is a good x's and o's coach, but lets weight the pros and cons of hiring him.

 

Pros:

• Great x's and o's coach
• Is on board with analytics

 

Cons:

• I wonder if Morey would feel comfortable hiring the brother of a coach he fired.
• His mouth often gets him in trouble. He admitted himself that's the reason David Stern didn't want ESPN to hire him. Will Morey want to hire someone who is on Stern's bad side?
• He told the media he thinks Jeremy Lin is the most overrated player in the league.
• His handling of the Dwight fiasco was horrible, and he released information that management told him in confidence during that awkward video. Shaq didn't like him either while Shaq was playing in Orlando.
• He's the 'Master of Panic' as Shaq would say and I agree with that assessment, I feel like he's always very awkward and lacks that air of composure you would like from your coach. 

 

If you're more concerned about x's and o's than the "culture" of the team, then SVG is your guy. But if Phil Jackson was never a great x's and o's guy and he still managed to win like crazy so I think "culture" is extremely important while x's and o's are a little overrated. I think McHale has alot of pros and cons himself, but I've seen enough pros that I'm willing to wait one more season and seeing how things pan out before passing judgement on him. 

[thenit]

Mchale took out all the starters in the 4th Quarter and just played the same 5 bench player for the whole 4th.

I'm a Mchale hater, but if he did it to send a message that they can't play without effort then I agree.

 

I don't think it is about resting players for the 2nd game tomorrow. Because the whole season he hasn't done that, so I am having

hard time believeing that he finally does think about it. There has been several games when we are winning or losing by +15 and Harden has been in there until the last minute of the game when the game was decided long ago. But maybe just maybe he has finally figured it out.

 

My opinion is that we made the playoffs despite Mchale. So take the above statements as very biased.

 

Morey is the one who built the system and brought in players who fits into the system of scoring in the paint, 3s or FT.

He is the one who found value with players who were undervalued like :

 

Parsons, Lin, Beverley, all our young PFs including the traded ones, he orchestrated the Harden trade to perfection,Asik etc.

 

I would love to have SVG as our coach.

[timetodienow1234567]

Or you could be like pop and do both well.

[2016Champions]

Popovich is the model of how every coach should be like. Every coach should have a WWPD wristband. But you know the funny thing about that? If Popovich did what McHale did tonight everyone would call him a genius, but McHale does it and gets crucified.  

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying McHale made his decision based solely on resting his players, I'm sure there was a punishment factor to it too (Harden was arguing with refs and walking up the floor on defense, guys were making lazy passes, lazy cuts, meanwhlie that second unit was playing like it was game 7 of the finals). But he probably would have found a different way to punish his players if this road game wasn't the front end of a back to back.

[rocketrick]

I've always thought SVG is a good x's and o's coach, but lets weight the pros and cons of hiring him.

 

Pros:

• Great x's and o's coach
• Is on board with analytics

 

Cons:

• I wonder if Morey would feel comfortable hiring the brother of a coach he fired.
• His mouth often gets him in trouble. He admitted himself that's the reason David Stern didn't want ESPN to hire him. Will Morey want to hire someone who is on Stern's bad side?
• He told the media he thinks Jeremy Lin is the most overrated player in the league.
• His handling of the Dwight fiasco was horrible, and he released information that management told him in confidence during that awkward video. Shaq didn't like him either while Shaq was playing in Orlando.
• He's the 'Master of Panic' as Shaq would say and I agree with that assessment, I feel like he's always very awkward and lacks that air of composure you would like from your coach. 

 

If you're more concerned about x's and o's than the "culture" of the team, then SVG is your guy. But if Phil Jackson was never a great x's and o's guy and he still managed to win like crazy so I think "culture" is extremely important while x's and o's are a little overrated. I think McHale has alot of pros and cons himself, but I've seen enough pros that I'm willing to wait one more season and seeing how things pan out before passing judgement on him. 

Where to begin...............first of all, Morey did not fire Jeff Van Gundy. While Jeff was taking his sweet ass time deciding whether or not to come back to coach the Rockets, Morey and Alexander interviewed Rick Adelman and pretty much hired him on the spot. Jeff Van Gundy in a later statement on one of the ABC broadcasts the following season admitted the above as being factual and that he should have probably made a quicker decision while praising Rick Adelman and Rockets management.

 

David Stern retires in less than 1 year. Maybe he made a couple of phone calls to ESPN this year to request they not hire Stan Van Gundy, but I believe that is pure speculation and not backed up by any actual facts. Anyway, with Stern soon sunning in Hawaii the rest of his life, if Stan Van Gundy doesn't accept a new head coach job this summer, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him on TV somewhere on a regular basis.

 

I don't know about his statement vis-a-vis Jeremy Lin, I take 2016's word on that being factual. 

 

The Orlando/Dwight Howard fiasco was a total disaster. It certainly isn't fair to pin all the blame on Stan. What do we expect him to say and do when Dwight Howard is all but guaranteeing Stan is about to be fired? Worst was the following day's media interview where Dwight Howard comes into the Interview room while Stan is talking to the media and puts his arms around Stan proclaiming how much love he has for the man. I absolutelly cannot stand Dwight Howard, I don't care how good of a player he MIGHT be the next few seasons. He brings much too much baggage into the locker room. He would be a terrible influence on our young guys and their work ethics.

 

I am not in agreement on Stan being the Master of Panic. I think he did a commendable job considering how horribly bad that GM was (I forget his name--the dude that signed Arenas and God knows who else to ridiculous contracts) and the Dwight Howard contract fiasco.

 

STILL, I just don't think Stan Van Gundy would be a good fit for the Rockets at all. Coach McHale gets too much heat for his game strategies while receiving practically no credit for developing the youngest team into the playoffs.

[rocketrick]

Popovich is the model of how every coach should be like. Every coach should have a WWPD wristband. But you know the funny thing about that? If Popovich did what McHale did tonight everyone would call him a genius, but McHale does it and gets crucified.  

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying McHale made his decision based solely on resting his players, I'm sure there was a punishment factor to it too (Harden was arguing with refs and walking up the floor on defense, guys were making lazy passes, lazy cuts, meanwhlie that second unit was playing like it was game 7 of the finals). But he probably would have found a different way to punish his players if this road game wasn't the front end of a back to back.

 

Now this is something I am in total agreement on with 2016.

[2016Champions]

"You're always disappointed when you're fired. It's difficult," Van Gundy

said. "But I was a little bit more upset when it was being spun that I hadn't
come to a decision about wanting to coach. I had told them long ago that I
wanted to coach if they wanted me."

- Jeff Van Gundy

 

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=2874873

[datruth]

So what was the message he was sending when he left Harden in all those blow games at the beginning of the year to get stats and pulled everyone else out the game. This guy is all over the map. This team wins despite Mchale. The game was down to 9 points with 9:22 left in the game and Mchale was in a time out. He had no clue what he wanted to do. Please do not compare this guy to Pop.

[2016Champions]

No one is comparing him to Pop. Just because two people get mentioned in the same sentence doesn't mean they are being compared. 

[Richards]

I watch the whole game last night and here is what I think:

 

- Bench did a great job and brought back the game to single digit (with against Grizz's bench)

- Grizz took a time out and brought back their starters in

- our entire 2nd unit was so tired and they had their hands on the hips (announcers couldn't resists and pointed out on air. I hope I can show the picture)

-our 1st unit wasn't playing well for first half but nowhere near a blow out, Harden and D-Moe were putting up good score, Lin was ok, you have DPOY candidate in Asik, All star in Harden. McHale decided not to bring them back while game was close to 9pt diff. (Announcers on air also said, let see McHale smarter than me)

-Kudos for all our bench players. I am not taking anything away. But they did it against Grizz' bench. When they put back their starters we must do so the same. Harden may have poor 3 quarters but I don't think he will play bad all four quarters. He is too good not to play a good quarter.

- I don't buy resting. We are facing Clippers next. Even if we bench them, there is only slim chance winning. When our bench brought the game back withing 9 point, chances of winning against Grizz was way higher than next game against Clippers

 

To me, it was just a bad coaching decision.

[2016Champions]

I keep hearing people say "even the announcers are saying". Am I the only one who takes announcer's opinions with a grain of salt? Unless they're an ex-NBA coach or something I don't see any reason why we should look to them as an authority on coaching decisions. 

[Richards]

At least announcers are paid to do the job. Most of them are former players or sport reporters with knowledge of basketball.

Ok if I have to take announcers opinions with a grain of salt, do you know what should I be thinking of your opinion.

[2016Champions]

McHale knows more about coaching, and more about the game of basketball than the average NBA fan or commentator. I'm stating a fact, not opinion.  

[Richards]

McHale was a great player and HoFer. He has been around basketball for too long. No questions he knew all about basketball including coaching. But I don't believe he is a good decision maker and motivator. Head coaching job is not only about X and O. it is a lot more to it. I respect coach McHale as a person and a great player. But my opinion on his coaching decision will not change for now.

[thejohnnygold]

Mchale took out all the starters in the 4th Quarter and just played the same 5 bench player for the whole 4th.

I'm a Mchale hater, but if he did it to send a message that they can't play without effort then I agree.

 

I don't think it is about resting players for the 2nd game tomorrow. Because the whole season he hasn't done that, so I am having

hard time believeing that he finally does think about it. There has been several games when we are winning or losing by +15 and Harden has been in there until the last minute of the game when the game was decided long ago. But maybe just maybe he has finally figured it out.

 

My opinion is that we made the playoffs despite Mchale. So take the above statements as very biased.

 

Morey is the one who built the system and brought in players who fits into the system of scoring in the paint, 3s or FT.

He is the one who found value with players who were undervalued like :

 

Parsons, Lin, Beverley, all our young PFs including the traded ones, he orchestrated the Harden trade to perfection,Asik etc.

 

I would love to have SVG as our coach.

 

In all fairness, as GM, that is exactly Morey's job--bring in the players.

 

McHale's job is take those players and get to the playoffs.

 

We can say they made it despite his presence....we could also say they made it despite having 4 first year starters (and 1 second year), no idea how to play NBA defense, trying to develop and implement a new era offense, and integrating a new group of players together--twice.  Oh, and dealing with the death of a child.  Surely, these things bear consideration for the sake of fairness.

[Rahat Huq]

Good arguments from both sides.  I'm on the fence, honestly.

 

On the one hand -

1. youngest team in the league
2. got harden just days before the season
3. starting point guard is basically a rookie
4. had to deal with entire power forward rotation traded away at deadline, and only rookies left
5. overall, no matter how much you want to diminish it, the coach has some role overall in getting these guys to stay confident, implement the gameplan etc.

On the flip side -

 

1. He didn't even devise his own gameplan, LOL.  Freaking Morey and Hinkie were the ones who devised the whole notion of playing fast, shooting 3's, and avoiding midrange.  
2. To build off of that, they don't even have plays.  He basically doesn't even have use for the clipboard he's holding.
3. His handling of the Jeremy Lin situation is the greatest case of talent mismanagement that I can remember as a Rockets fan in quite some time.
4. There's a video from Clutchfans where Dave asks him about analytics.  (I was standing right next to Dave as he asked this.)  McHale kind of scoffed at the whole notion.  Ever since then, I just can't take the guy seriously and really question his overall intelligence.  But moreso than just that, there's no point in investing millions of dollars into all this data promulgation when the coach is just going to treat it like toilet paper.
5. Like someone else said, Morey's the one who finds these players and finds smart players.  And Morey developed the system.  Maybe they would have figured it out on their own without McHale.
6. Maybe he's not a good motivator?  He managed to alienate our two best players going into last year (Lowry, Martin) by the end of the year.  Two guys who loved Rick Adelman.

 

So overall, I don't know.  But if they canned him, I wouldn't shed any tears.