Woj - Rockets fire Kevin McHale

[California Gold]

Didn't Harden kind of too. I mean he could have just played hard.

Yes, but when you make it acceptable to keep doing it, how do you think a player is going to become? I'm not trying to use age as an excuse but when you set a standard for a young player who has already gotten his max contract that he won't have to do this and that, he will continue to do it. You can't tell me coaches in the NBA don't enforce playing defense.

Harden is at fault for this, I'm not saying he isn't 100% not at fault. But the development and growth for him as a player has been terribly managed by McHale.

Harden should be plenty old enough though, which is my problem. The roster is built on a bunch of guys not known for being terribly high character/coachable, outside maybe the aging JET. I don't think there's a coach in the league outside maybe Pop and Carlisle who'd manage those egos that well.

Who is not coachable?

Harden?
Howard?
Lawson?
Ariza?
Brewer?
Beverley?

Dwight is actually having a pretty decent season, I think he'd be the last one to complain about anything. Of course Stephen A Idiot Smith thinks Howard got him fired after reporting 3 seasons ago we got Howard because of McHale. Makes real sense.

MOST of these guys are coachable. Harden isn't a leader, but you can't say he isn't coachable when he was doing fine in OKC. Then he came here and has had the same idiot of a HC for 4 seasons now. Harden does have an ego issue, but I'm sure he's also frustrated with this inane offense that we've been running for 4 years now.

Lawson has actually been fine throughout this dumpster fire of a season.

[bondom34]

Yes, but when you make it acceptable to keep doing it, how do you think a player is going to become? I'm not trying to use age as an excuse but when you set a standard for a young player who has already gotten his max contract that he won't have to do this and that, he will continue to do it. You can't tell me coaches in the NBA don't enforce playing defense.

Harden is at fault for this, I'm not saying he isn't 100% not at fault. But the development and growth for him as a player has been terribly managed by McHale.

Harden should be plenty old enough though, which is my problem. The roster is built on a bunch of guys not known for being terribly high character/coachable, outside maybe the aging JET. I don't think there's a coach in the league outside maybe Pop and Carlisle who'd manage those egos that well.

Who is not coachable?

Harden?
Howard?
Lawson?
Ariza?
Brewer?
Beverley?

Dwight is actually having a pretty decent season, I think he'd be the last one to complain about anything. Of course Stephen A Idiot Smith thinks Howard got him fired after reporting 3 seasons ago we got Howard because of McHale. Makes real sense.

MOST of these guys are coachable. Harden isn't a leader, but you can't say he isn't coachable when he was doing fine in OKC. Then he came here and has had the same idiot of a HC for 4 seasons now. Harden does have an ego issue, but I'm sure he's also frustrated with this inane offense that we've been running for 4 years now.

Lawson has actually been fine throughout this dumpster fire of a season.

Harden's shown little commitment to really being a professional, Lawson's the same. Dwight's been better in the last year but has a history of getting coaches fired. There's your top 3 players. Ariza and Bev seem like OK locker room guys but aren't guys I'd call leaders either. Brewer's hit and miss.

[guitarpatch]

BIG WOJBOMB!

Will Thibs be tagged now?

Thibs is always in the picture. He spent 5 years here working as assistant to JVG. Maybe both of them are being approached to team up. You know JVG wanted that Pelicans job this summer. He is ready.

They couldn't make any noise before the McHale firing otherwise people would think they are back stabbing. Bad for their names.

The only concern is Thibs will want full control. That won't fly with Morey.

Practically the whole world was saying what a great trade it was to get Lawson. Can't blame McHale for that in hindsight.

BTW the 2 Denver/Houston games I saw, Lawson actually did a decent job on D. Especially in the 2nd game, he pestered Mudiay into having a bad game. Lawson tries on D usually, it's just that he's on the small side.

Crazy how he's getting blamed for the lack of D in Houston all the sudden when if you watch some of the clips, it's Harden who's the real culprit.

(can't believe I'm defending Lawson, blorf)

You said it yourself. Lawson is on the small side, and taller guards love to take advantage of him. Not for a lack of trying or effort, but he's a liability. Couple that with Harden and his defensive effort you have a major problem. Especially in Guard heavy league. He should come off the bench as a 6th man, and only pair with Harden when they go small and run. However, ownership may think otherwise. Yes, 90% of defense is effort. However if there's a size/speed mismatch, all the effort in the world can be beaten by an NBA player.

Harden has to do too much offensively in order to give the consistent effort needed defensively to win. It's the same thing with Melo, where they only have so much in the tank. So you either have to bring someone in that can shoulder the load, or bring in guys that will complement his deficiencies. Harden needs a PG that would fit in the triangle offense. Walk it up, plays D, and can hit the 3. He needs another guy on the wing that can do a little bit of everything (defend, 3 ball, post up/iso). Dwight isn't the guy anymore that's going to be able to shoulder an offense load/ or that you are comfortable running plays for down the stretch. You need another guy that can come in be the 1B option. It's imperative in this league, and in that conference to contend for a title. Until then, you're in no man's land.

[Eesee1]

Probably excitement. By all accounts Harden loved playing for him and Coach K. Plus the Rockets organization is very familiar with Thibs from his assistant days. If Thibs is brought in it means Harden signed off on the decision.

I don't think you understand the point of the post you quoted.

Harden's worst nightmare is a coach like Thibs. He'd try to run Thibs out of town after 3 months.

Harden will play 10 minutes a game with Thibs unless he starts trying on defense.

May I refer you to the Carlos Boozer stint in CHI? Or maybe Aaron Brooks...or Derrick Rose many games last season.

[California Gold]

Personally, I think we're primed to get Scott Brooks. I'm OK with that. Harden loved Scott Brooks during his time in OKC.

Not to get ahead of myself, but who knows maybe KD will actually want to come play here with his former coach and pal next season.

[cw3k]

McHale should have been fired 3 seasons ago. Everyone who watch Rockets know McHale cannot coach.

[illmatic24]

Doesn't matter who they have as their HC. The Rockets are going nowhere fast.

[Hero]

Who is going to replace him?

Seen Thibs name thrown around which could be a disaster.

[inquisitive]

He absolutely had to go, but i wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt the past 2 seasons. Certainly, the players are to also blame with the lack of effort in the games, but McHale was bad with rotation, offensive/defensive schemes/sets, calling timeouts, etc. I believe Mchale was just too easy on the guys also....no wonder so likeable...that can be a real bad thing. If JVG or Thibs is the coach next year, i guess they are the only best available candidates at this time. JB is now the interim guy to no surprise. I don't mind if JVG gets the job after the all star break if JB doesn't show promise or runs the same thing Mchale did. I consider this season now a lost cause at worse.

Coach K would be nice, but he isn't leaving Duke. I'm not much for college coaches, but if there was one, he would be it. He is tough, but likeable.

[Asif16]

Saw this coming and i predicted it too. I still dont think the rockets improve drastically with this firing

[OptionZero]

There's no way the interim coach will turn it around. There might be a short spike like we usually see with a coaching change, but this crew is not disciplined enough to make the sort of run needed to get back to top-4 status.

Harden has no professional pride at all, the way he's a pylon on defense. There's gonna be a new series of youtube clips about his dodging opposing players instead of challenging, falling asleep off the ball, and otherwise giving any sort of effort.

best part is Darryl Morey might be the next to go. See ya later dork elvis.

[Higga]

Never understood why a team with championship aspirations kept sticking with such a mediocre coach.

Doubt a new coach makes them that much better midseason. The Rockets are what they are: a mentally soft paper tiger team.

[likashing]

Player only meeting... then McHale fired.

So the verdict of the meeting is we aren't winning because coach sucks. You got 56 wins and reached the WCF with this coach, and you have 99% of your team back. Same system.

It is not the coach. It is the players not playing as hard as last season.

Typical Harden and Howard. They never look into the mirror.

[Little Digger]

It's amazing how bad a coach will look when they're saddled with a *me-first* roster..''

McHale's being used as the scapegoat..That offense is not all of a sudden going to become the southern version of GSW.. Maybe for a week or two the leaders on that mess of a team will be on their best behavior, but after that it's back to more of the same..

[Gil]

Player only meeting... then McHale fired.

So the verdict of the meeting is we aren't winning because coach sucks. You got 56 wins and reached the WCF with this coach, and you have 99% of your team back. Same system.

It is not the coach. It is the players not playing as hard as last season.

Typical Harden and Howard. They never look into the mirror.

"Won in spite of Jackson and win it all because of Kerr!"

Why didn't Curry and co just play harder instead?

[PierceFan4ever]

Of course the coach gets the blame and not the players jogging while other teams are moving at a fast pace, Dwight playing like ass offensively, Harden stinking up the place with his shooting while playing zero defense, and Ty Lawson being garbage on both ends. Seriously, watching that Celtics-Rockets game was a joke. The rockets starters were playing with zero energy and effort. The bench was the difference, mostly in garbage time, that the game wasn't lost by 30 points all in the second half. Mchale had to repeatedly call timeouts after every fast break points the Celtics scored while his team didn't run back. This team is a mess.

[Chuck Newhouse]

He's not a good coach but I wasn't expecting this. It has been 11 games.

It's been two years. From that 2014 Portland series (punked hard by Terry Stotts) till now. It never changed. Harden playing like a god + Smith/Brewer fluke bailed him to the WCF. Great guy though.

Guess we are done with this too.

He does seem like a great guy in his public persona but I sat behind him once at a preseason game and I was pretty shocked at how rude he was to fans asking for autographs.

[PCProductions]

They needed something. Not sure if this was it, but doing nothing would be worse IMO.

[likashing]

Player only meeting... then McHale fired.

So the verdict of the meeting is we aren't winning because coach sucks. You got 56 wins and reached the WCF with this coach, and you have 99% of your team back. Same system.

It is not the coach. It is the players not playing as hard as last season.

Typical Harden and Howard. They never look into the mirror.

"Won in spite of Jackson and win it all because of Kerr!"

Why didn't Curry and co just play harder instead?

How many Mark Jackson Warriors games did you watch? His offense was more stagnant than a big boulder.

Curry actually played harder and more minutes under Mark Jackson, taking more hits and shoves running pick and rolls with David Lee - with less results despite playing harder.

Plus... Mark Jackson didn't take the team anywhere.

Off topic... just answering your smart ass comment

[jazzfan1971]

Wouldn't it be better to just trade McHale for Karl? Less money wasted and everyone is happy.