Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
After a 4-7 start to the season, the Houston Rockets have fired head coach Kevin McHale.
The shocking announcement, first reported as a Woj bomb, means that the defending Southwest Division champions are hopeful a new voice will be able to get through to a team that seemed to lack fire. It is an embarrassing day for the Rockets, but maybe that is what they needed.
They came into 2015-16 riding the momentum of last year’s 56-win season, and Western Conference Finals berth. It was the franchise’s first trip back to the Conference Finals since 1996-97 when Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon still ruled the court. No one could have predicted this was coming.
Despite having the No. 2 seed in last year’s playoffs, the Rockets didn’t have any respect among fans or their peers. Charles Barkley has always been a harsh critic of their analytical style, even beginning a feud with Houston general manger Daryl Morey. Many picked the newly minted “contenders” to be upset by the veteran Dallas Mavericks in their first round matchup. They took their in-state rivals to task, and left little doubt in people’s minds that they were ready for the big stage. After pulling off a shocking upset over the villainous Los Angeles Clippers, and putting together three straight wins while down 3-1, Houston had cemented themselves as a championship contender.
The Rockets’ surprising struggles can’t all be blamed on their recently fired head coach. James Harden has shot the ball terribly and Dwight Howard has already missed four games. Houston looked like it was turning things around when it went to 4-3 on Nov. 7 after an impressive road victory against the Clippers. Instead, it went on a pitiful four-game losing streak starting with the previously winless Brooklyn Nets and culminating in Monday night’s home blowout to the Boston Celtics, McHale’s last game.
Despite his team’s success, McHale never received any praise, only blame when things went wrong. In 2013-14, McHale didn’t finish in the top 10 in Coach of the Year voting, and last season he received a total of 13 third-place votes. Maybe it was the reputation that he carried over from his time as an executive with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He did trade Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury, after all. Perhaps he would have been fired last summer if his former team had not reached the Western Conference Finals.
I’m not defending Kevin McHale. He is certainly not an outstanding tactician by any means and wasn’t the man to lead this team to a championship. If matched up against Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr, his chances are slim, but it’s hard to believe the chances are greater with interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff at the helm. Bickerstaff, armed with zero head coaching experience, will need to turn things around immediately for the coaching change to even matter.
This may seem like a rash decision right now, but ultimately it will pay off. A new voice is what this team needed. In fact, you can argue that regardless of last season’s success, Houston could have had legitimate reason to fire him. Bickerstaff is supposed to be a very well respected assistant, and if this doesn’t light a fire under the Rockets, then there is much more to the problem than just the coach. If the losing continues, Morey will not be afraid to pull the trigger if a tempting trade offer comes his way, which is something that will be on every player’s mind in their team’s current state.
According to Morey, the Rockets were not responding to McHale anymore. That’s why he was forced to let his coach go. The hiring of their next man will be one of the biggest decisions of the 2016 offseason, but until then, it’s up to Harden and Howard to increase their intensity before Morey is forced to make another move.
Chipper Murphy is a Beat Writer for the New York Knicks on www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChipperMurphy or Google. “Like” him on Facebook.
