Real talk why did they fire McHale?

[oarabbus]

Look at the dude's track record since he became coach. Shit is almost as bad as the Harbaugh firing and I would know cuz I'm a Niners fan. This is at least as bad as the Malone firing, probably worse.

McHale as a coach: .556 career,

2011: .515 record, missed playoffs
2012: .549 record, 1st rd exit
2013: .659 record, 1st rd exit
2014: .683, 1st in division, WCF exit to GOAT Warriors

I mean I joked about him McFail back in the day too but... does that look like a coach you fire?

[Fallen Angel]

McHale didn't draw up one play for the Rockets in his entire tenure since he got James Harden.

Harden is responsible for the success of the Rockets, that's like giving Spo credit to the Heat's success over Lebron. That shit is just ridiculous.

[Genaro]

Do you watch Rockets games? You can only judge a coach by watching all or at least most of the games. I don't watch the Rockets closely(since I hate seeing Harden play), and if you ask me I think he overachieved with that roster, but seems most of their fans didn't like his job there.

Sometimes the numbers lie, see for example Scott Brooks. He had a great record if you look at the numbers but everyone knew he was a weak coach. Mark Jackson is another one.

[Gileraracer]

His stars are a shooting guard that doesn't play defense and needs at least 15 FTA/G to be successful and a Center that is totally washed up and doesn't seem to put in any work to get better.

So I think he did pretty good with this team last year

[Spurs m8]

He's over achieved with the team up until his last 11 games.
11 LMAO

[MMKM]

Wait real talk? Sorry, I thought this was the fake talk thread. I'll leave now.

[Naero]

They've had a rocky start and weren't even bracketed within the playoffs picture by the juncture they fired him; whether he was culpable or inculpable for that, the fact is that his hot-seat was doused by the fact that this contend-now team wasn't on pace to make the playoffs, and an immediate directional change was needed which he took the brunt of.

He's a good-overall coach, but he missed one constituent that this lethargic team needed the most: motivational mastery. With the oft-sluggish James Harden and jocular Dwight Howard "leading" the team, it's clear that the hierarchically higher Kevin McHale needed the gumption to motivate this team whose issues were mostly centered around lethargy, as the culture among the players wasn't in a good position to turn it around; he failed to put on his "bad cop" cap and do so, however, and the rest of his great coaching qualities were no saving grace as he failed to shake his team out of lethargy.

It's the same passionless attitude that led this Rockets team to fall into 1-3 holes to the Blazers and Clippers—both of which they made a run against (except for against the Blazers; thank Damian Lillard's landmark game-winner for that), except that McHale wasn't lent the latitude to turn it around this time.

[oarabbus]

Do you watch Rockets games? You can only judge a coach by watching all or at least most of the games. I don't watch the Rockets closely(since I hate seeing Harden play), and if you ask me I think he overachieved with that roster, but seems most of their fans didn't like his job there.

Sometimes the numbers lie, see for example Scott Brooks. He had a great record if you look at the numbers but everyone knew he was a weak coach. Mark Jackson is another one.

I did watch a decent amount of Rockets games, back when they had Lin and Asik. I thought McHale wasn't a very good coach, tbh. But you can't really argue with results at the end of the day. I mean the west was real tough last year and they tore through it. And if you want to convince me that they were just more talented than everyone else and it had little to do with coaching, I'd like to hear it.

[Fallen Angel]

2013: Full run-and-gun. No plays called.
2014: Harden and Dwight sharing touches. No plays called.
2015: Harden ball. No plays called.

[Naero]

2013: Full run-and-gun. No plays called.
2014: Harden and Dwight sharing touches. No plays called.
2015: Harden ball. No plays called.

This is suggesting that the offense was systemically problematic; I'd debunk that by pointing out the fact that his teams have consistently ranked in the top-10 in offensive efficiency, and I wouldn't call that underachieving when his only All-Stars are the oft-inefficient James Harden and offensively challenged Dwight Howard. Those ratings took a hit this season, but it's been going down in the same ship that's been sunk by the collective lethargy of this time.

His offenses may not have been stringently structured, but most coaches condone a lot of freedom in their offensive systems to gravitate towards their players' strengths. Aside from situational needs for a play (especially in crunch time), most of the offense is organic; too much structure limits it otherwise when most NBA teams have talented shot-creators and playmakers.

Apart from Harden's habitual iso-play, I've actually seen a good wealth of ball movement; even with Harden's ball-stopping, McHale managed to mitigate much of it by convincing him to buy into flexing out his playmaking abilities, especially while Howard was sidelined last season.

[Fallen Angel]

What McHale did does not condone the level of praise people have been giving him. He implemented very basic things to the role players that complimented Harden's ability to be a scorer and playmaker. McHale brought barely anything to the table for the Rockets, I'd be surprised if he were to get a HC'ing job in the next five seasons. He doesn't even bring anything to the table as an Assistant because he doesn't specialize in anything.

[warriorfan]

good luck getting harden to do any real plays

mchale knew harden was limited, harden knew he was limited, he just let it ride out as long as it could

[Dresta]

McHale got the absolute maximum out of this mediocre roster last seasons in taking them to the Western Conference Final - Harden got way too much credit, when it is his limitations that limit that team more than anything else (ball-dominant, static, no defense playing chump).

[SexSymbol]

McHale is by far the worst coach in the league.
This is the greatest firing ever

[Derka]

Because they didn't know what else to do. Happens all the time.