Rockets fire McHale, look to salvage season
The first firing of the NBA season has happened, less than games into the year and the Houston Rockets have fired Kevin McHale per Yahoo Sports NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski. He dropped a patented “Woj bomb” this morning as he tweeted this breaking news. While it may come as a shock to some, Houston sees itself as a title contender and they are just 4-7 on the year. This was his fifth year in Houston after just receiving a contract extension. Leading the Rockets to 193 wins and 130 regular season losses in that span, his playoff record was 13-16.
The Houston Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 18, 2015
Yes, it is early in the season, but they play in the Western Conference. If they were in the East, maybe the coach doesn’t get fired, but they probably feel as if they have to do something to save the season. Another couple of weeks of bad play and that could cost you a playoff spot in that conference. J.B. Bickerstaff is to be named the interim head coach, the premise being that Houston would get back to actually playing defense. They’ve been horrendous and sometimes just offensive on that side of the ball. Even with their dearth of talent, the inability to stop opponents has cost them to this point.
Houston’s 4-7 start demanded change to right season; Bickerstaff will be charged w/ restoring defensive mindset that he installed year ago. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 18, 2015
Now how will this change affect the team? Will it shock everyone into realizing that they are playing far below their ability or will they continue to spiral? Houston’s added a few different pieces, so again the decision to fire McHale than let him work through speaks volumes. This could be a firing that has more to do with sending a message to those players in that locker room. Only time will tell, but I’m sure few picked McHale to be the first Head Coach dismissed from his post this season.
Houston has tremendous talent, needs to salvage season. That pushed Rockets to make move sooner than later on parting ways with McHale.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 18, 2015
While one player isn’t necessarily the barometer for how the team feels, Chandler Parsons waisted no time getting on twitter and expressing his feelings after the news was broke by Woj. Will this move spark the struggling Rockets or with the downfall continue?
What a shame about Coach Mac. He really helped me throughout my career and one of my favorites coaches and people of all time. Smh.
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) November 18, 2015
