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A great career as a player, in college at the University of Minnesota and in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, makes Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale a familiar name to basketball fans. A bad end to his tenure as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves may have diminished his legacy in some circles, but McHale has found a fit as Rockets’ coach.
The Rockets beat the Los Angeles Clippers in a Game 7 on Sunday, as they overcame a 3-1 series deficit to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 18 years. After losing in the first round in each of the last two postseasons, Houston also won the Southwest Division with a 56-26 record this season.
If Houston upsets the Golden State Warriors and reaches the NBA Finals, McHale may get his due as one of the top coaches in the league. But right now, he is the most underrated head coach in the NBA and I don’t think it’s particularly close.
Including his two separate stints as Timberwolves’ coach during the 2004-2005 and 2008-2009 seasons, McHale has a 228-178 regular season record (.562 winning percentage). Over his four seasons as Rockets’ head coach, the team has upped its win total each season with more than 50 wins in each of the last two years. Moves to add James Harden and Dwight Howard surely have helped, but having two stars has obscured the job McHale has done to get the most out of the complementary pieces around them.
McHale deserves credit for the guts he showed during Game 6 against the Clippers, in what was an elimination game for Houston. He stuck with a mix of players that was spearheading the Rockets’ fourth quarter comeback, while Harden sat on the bench down the stretch. Most coaches, at least this side of Gregg Popovich, would likely have felt the need to play a star player late in that kind of game no matter what.
Right or wrong, Timberwolves’ fans and followers probably still look back at McHale’s run as a front office executive with a certain amount of disdain. But his current role may have been his post-playing career calling all along, and I expect McHale to take home NBA Coach of the Year before too long.
Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
