Report: Rockets Fire Kevin McHale

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/11/18/report-the-houston-rockets-fired-coach-kevin-mchale/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs



Report: The Houston Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale



By Kurt Helin

Nov 18, 2015, 10:17 AM EST


Off to a 4-7 start with a terrible defense and with some clear chemistry issues on the team, the Houston Rockets needed to shake things up. The players tried to do that with a players-only meeting on Tuesday.

That wasn’t enough for GM Daryl Morey — he fired coach Kevin McHale on Wednesday, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.




This came as a shock to many both because it was so early in the season — this team had won 56 games last season and made the conference Finals — and also because McHale is one of the most liked people around the league.

The Rockets host the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday night. Houston is entering a softer spot in its schedule which could help Bickerstaff gain some traction and pick up a few wins.

Bickerstaff was the guy credited with the Rockets’ sixth-ranked defense from last season, he is charged with returning that mindset. The Rockets are giving up 5.4 more points per 100 possessions than they did a year ago, but what was more disturbing was Houston was getting crushed in effort categories — defensive rebounding, contesting shots in the paint and in the rim, things such as that. The Rockets played listless basketball this season and their body language spoke of a team that was dejected.

That was ultimately what did McHale in — the effort issue suggested he had lost the locker room.

The Rockets’ problems go well beyond defense. Houston has struggled because Ty Lawson has looked a step slow, while James Harden has looked less explosive. The Rockets defense is down 5.8 points per 100 possessions from a season ago.

Morey and McHale had their differences early on in McHale’s tenure, but had moved seemed past those problems. The fact McHale was fired with two years left on his contract speaks to how concerned the Rockets were with the start. This is a win-now team that needs to turn this season around — and they decided to shake things up.



bob
MY NOTE:  Going down 29 points to the Celtics and getting booed off their own floor was the final coffin nail for poor McHale.  I think Outside said it well, it's a mercy firing.  They just put Kevin out of his misery.


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Tough for Kevin. Now he has to collect 2 years of NBA salary without working and give up all the mega-stress of his NBA coaching job. At least there'll be ice fishing in Minny this winter.

worcester wrote:Tough for Kevin. Now he has to collect 2 years of NBA salary without working and give up all the mega-stress of his NBA coaching job. At least there'll be ice fishing in Minny this winter.

worcester,

"At least there'll be ice fishing in Minny this winter".


Was this meant to sound like a positive?


bob


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Kevin, best thing that could have happened to you. Those idiots in Houston looked like a bunch of spoiled brats on the floor the other night. It was obvious there was a hidden agenda there. I hope they get beat big time in the West, they have no heart and this does NOT include Howard, he was the only one trying out there the other night.

Sick

Rosalie

Does anyone think that the Rocket demise might mean that Howard becomes available?

? who knows. I do not think they will give up too soon, but if the right offer comes along beforre the trade deadline who knows. Does he have a no trade contract? i would think he would

wide clyde wrote:Does anyone think that the Rocket demise might mean that Howard becomes available?

You'd want him?

I think when the term heartless players come up Howards name is usually on that list...no lets pass on that max player.

Same with Harden, IF the rumors are true that his feelings were hurt because he didn't win the MVP last year and he is in a funk now.....PAAAAASSSSSSSS on him too.

never has played defense in his life that I have read and on THIS team you MUST at least TRY on defense.

BTW, what Bickerstaff  was hired as interim coach? can't be old Bernie he has to be almost as old as Tommy now!!

his son is coaching  I think, is it him?

http://nesn.com/2015/11/danny-ainge-already-has-offered-kevin-mchale-a-job-with-celtics/

This is the Celtics fault. They beat them down.

yes it is the younger Bickerstaff

dboss

I'd like to see Kevin land in Boston, work with Kelly, for one. Hawk

hawksnestbeach wrote:I'd like to see Kevin land in Boston, work with Kelly, for one. Hawk

Hi Hawk!

Danny has already called Kevin and offered him a job as big man coach to teach them the "slippery eel ", as he called it.   It is thought Kevin will turn it down and decompress for a while.

Dallas also wants him.  He's already in Texas, Cuban loves him and Rick Carlyle is one of Kevin's best friends going back to 1986.

I hope he comes home to Boston, but the prospect of sticking it to the cross-state rival who just fired him might prove to be to enticing.


bob


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This is a great example from professional sports where the play of the players gets a coach fired.

You can't fire the team so the coach is shown the door when the players are really at fault.

The Rockets looked absolutely terrible the other night (and, probably in other games as well). I guess it is the coach's fault when the players are unprofessional, but McHale will land on his feet somewhere when he is ready.

McHale's wife, goes on an epic rant that makes Giselle's defense of Tom seem tepid, at best.



http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/kevin-mchale-s-wife--lynn--rails-against-rockets-on-twitter-over-husband-s-firing-212906520.html



Kevin McHale's wife, Lynn, rails against Rockets on Twitter over husband's firing
Dan Devine By Dan Devine
19 hours ago
Ball Don't Lie



The decision to fire Kevin McHale on Wednesday morning was pitched as a move that no member of the Houston Rockets' brass wanted to make.


In his report breaking the story, Yahoo Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski referred to it as a "grueling decision for the Rockets, who extended McHale a year ago and think the world of him as a man." Rockets owner Leslie Alexander cast it as a last-ditch effort to salvage a season that had begun with championship expectations before spiraling into a 4-7 start, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "I’ve never seen my team play as poorly and with less effort. I’m not attributing it to the coach. I had to do something."

General manager Daryl Morey struck the same tone, according to Kristie Rieken of The Associated Press: "The team was not responding to Kevin McHale and we had to make the tough call." Rockets players, from stars James Harden and Dwight Howard to contributors Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones, spoke well of the ousted coach who led them to the Western Conference finals just six months ago.

Evidently, though, all the grim countenances and regretful tones didn't register as especially genuine with McHale's wife, Lynn, who took to Twitter on Thursday to register her discontent with both the firing and its aftermath:


Adam Spolane
‏@AdamSpolane
If you aren't following Kevin McHale's wife, @lynnmchale today, you're missing out. She's spitting fire





The "@KardasianCurse" refers to the long-posited theory that engaging in a relationship with a member of the famed Kardashian family has a negative effect on athletes' performance. MVP runner-up Harden has been involved with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian, the estranged wife of former NBA star Lamar Odom, for some time. He entered Wednesday's action shooting just 37.2 percent from the floor and 26.2 percent from 3-point range, and often looking sluggish or disinterested on defense. He scored a game-high 45 points in Houston's 108-103 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Shortly after lobbing her 140-character bombs, Lynn McHale's Twitter account was deleted, but not before firing off one last parting shot:

Follow

Adam Spolane
‏@AdamSpolane
Looks like Lynn McHale's Twitter was deleted. Here is her last tweet. Pretty solid mic drop if you ask me



RETWEETS
20
LIKES
14
Patrick M.Kendrick Broadyedmond arWillelaine gomezBill McintyregMoises VillanuevaJBE
12:16 PM - 19 Nov 2015

There are worse ways to leave a job. (And a social media platform, for that matter.)


For his part, McHale told Feigen of the Chronicle after his firing that he felt the tide had started to turn a bit for his scuffling Rockets — "We were starting to address some of the issues that were the reason I was let go" — but also that he didn't blame the Rockets for moving on.

"We probably had more meetings in last six weeks than in my previous four years here," he said. "It wasn’t working."



bob



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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/david-whitley/os-mchale-just-the-latest-dwightmare-victim-20151119-post.html



Dwightmare 3.0 Hits Houston



David Whitley

Orlando Sentinel



The word in Houston is that Kevin McHale “lost the locker room.” The real problem was what he found there.

Dwight Howard and James Harden, who are to coaches what Batman and Robin were to crime in Gotham City.

It’s not that they were arch-enemies of McHale. They’d just stopped doing things McHale recommended, like play defense, hustle and generally care about the team more than themselves.

At least Harden has an excuse. He’s gone Hollywood and hooked up with Khloe Kardashian.

If history has taught us anything, it’s that NBA players and Kardashians don’t mix. We can only hope Harden doesn’t end up like Lamar Odom.

Of more interest around here is our old friend Howard. Orlando was the first NBA outpost to see how high maintenance and egocentric Howard can be.

The Lakers were next, and now Houston is in the early stages of Dwigtmare 3.0. When you build your franchise around Howard, you’re asking for the general manager to eventually hold a press conference and say stuff like this:

“We’re just trying to win. You have to have stars to win the in the NBA. We need everyone to respond. It’s not about stars. The team was not responding.”

So said Houston’s Daryl Morey Wednesday as he announced McHale’s axing. He was right about one thing – the team was not responding.


He was wrong about another – the NBA is all about the stars.

And if the stars aren’t responding, it doesn’t matter if the coach is a combination of Pat Riley, Phil Jackson and James Naismith. He must go.

McHale led the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals last year. It was the best run for the Rockets in 17 years, and they rewarded McHale with a three-year, $12 million contract extension.

Then, 11 games into a new season, he’s Red Klotz.

What happened?

The Rockets decided they didn’t need to play defense, an aspect of the game that requires effort, interest and selflessness. Morey’s is Mr. Analytics and has put together a roster that statistically could win the NBA title.

What all that bloodless number-crunching can’t measure is a player’s attitude. Howard’s body is starting to creak like a geriatric but he retains the emotional maturity of a third grader. And in the NBA, adolescents don’t have to listen to their teachers.

“We’ve had more team meeting the past six weeks than in my previous four years here,” McHale said shortly before his firing.

Ty Lawson told the Houston Chronicle that players were blowing off the coaching staff’s instructions. The stars always set that tone, and you know what Howard was thinking.

He’s Dwight. It doesn’t matter that McHale is a Hall-of-Fame player, proven coach and highly respected throughout the league.

Dwight’s gonna do what Dwight wants to do, which apparently didn’t include following McHale’s orders.

“Coaches say, ‘Run this pick-and-roll coverage.’ We were calling something totally different,” Lawson said. “No matter what the coaches say, we need to do. We need to be on the same page.”

Not when Harden is more interested in being on the pages of US Weekly and Howard still patterns his life after cartoon figures. Now that the Rockets have run McHale off, they’ll probably buckle down and play up to their potential.

But the true character of a team wins out. When your primary character is Howard, it’s not just the locker room that goes missing.

The whole franchise eventually gets lost.



bob
MY NOTE:  One of the great things about the Celtics, and this is Danny's doing, is that Brad got a 6 year contract and he signed it when everybody knew it was going to take a few years just to get back to something competitive, which took the pressure off him.  I don't think anybody thinks that they can "outlast" Brad.  If you aren't with the program, you are gone, NOT him.


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