Rockets fan asks about Kevin McHale

Post #1 » by **Mr. E** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:09 pm

It is sounding more and more like the Rockets could hire Kevin McHale as their new head coach very soon. This surprised a lot of us down here, as he wasn't considered one of the top prospects going into the coaching search. Most of us were surprised when we heard his name along with Dwayne Casey & Lawrence Frank as the three finalists.

So what are your thoughts on him potentially getting this head coaching gig? One thing to keep in mind is that he will have absolutely no GM-like duties. He is strictly being hired to coach. Another thing to think about is that he will be hiring on Chris Finch as an assistant coach. Finch was brought over into the Rockets organization last year, and he has been coaching our D-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Finch is considered to be the Rockets future head coach, so McHale would be coming into the situation knowing that he will have his eventual replacement on his staff.

One thing that reported put McHale ahead of the others is that he is more willing to give some of our young players like Hasheem Thabeet, Jordan Hill & Terrance Williams larger roles than they would have had under another coach. What do you think of McHale in terms of grooming young big men and coaching unfocused talent (williams)?

GopherIt! · Post #2 » by **GopherIt!** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:16 pm

As a fan of a Western Conference rival I'm all for it. :wink:

In truth, I think Morey has lost it.

Post #3 » by **Mr. E** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:17 pm

That is not the first time I've heard that in regards to this! :lol:

Post #4 » by **Basti** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:33 pm

Your big men will love him. He'll teach them wisely about their offense. Not sure about his defensive teaching skills. Our big men (or rather the whole team) sucked big time on D (and still do, too) when he was our coach.

And in general, his offensive plays will be simple but fine. It's been a few years since he coached the Wolves but I think I remember our offense to be good (comparably speaking of course, given that Al was out with injury and the talent of the rest wasn't great). You better have a great defensive assistant coach in order to do better next year.

Post #5 » by **The J Rocka** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:56 pm

Don't let him go near a phone on draft night. He's not the GM but still don't let him persuade Morey to do anything stupid (unless Morey does stupid things already??)

Ex: If the Rockets had the 1st pick in this years draft, McHale would want Kanter over Irving & Williams.

Post #6 » by **C.lupus** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:54 am

He actually has a decent eye for talent with big men but he completely ignores or totally wiffs on backcourt guys. He's a fan of old-school ball - what he calls "smash mouth" basketball. I'm still not completely clear on what he meant by that but he really liked guys like Al Jefferson and Kevin Love, not necessarily the high fliers.

He had a great rapport with the players here. He's a players coach and can get a lot from the talent he has but he is not a strong Xs and Os guys.

That's about all I got.

Breakdown777 · Post #7 » by **Breakdown777** » Mon May 23, 2011 4:47 am

Another note - He likes inside/outside ball, where a dominant post players gets a ton of looks. You also need 3 point shooters, because the post will probably get double teamed often.

The Rockets have plenty of workable talent down low, so I'd say that is a plus for McHale.
The Rockets also have a couple good shooter/scorers, so I think the system McHale coaches could really utilize the talent on the team.