NBA: Rockets make ‘tough call’, fire head coach Kevin McHale after disappointing start to season
HOUSTON— Six months ago, Kevin McHale coached the Houston Rockets to the Western Conference final for the first time in 18 years.
There are high expectations again this season behind James Harden and Dwight Howard, but McHale won’t be around to see where the Rockets end up: Houston fired McHale on Wednesday with the team off to a puzzling 4-7 start.
“The team was not responding to Kevin McHale and we had to make the tough call,” general manager Daryl Morey said a few hours before the Rockets, losers of four straight, faces Portland. “And we had to make it soon. There is not time in the tough Western Conference to wait for a turnaround.”
Three of Houston’s losses were by 20 points and two others were by 12 or more. Morey was asked what indications he saw that the team wasn’t responding to McHale.
“I think you just watch our team play and it’s not that difficult (to see),” Morey said.
“You’re a team coming off a Western Conference final run and you’re a team with mostly the same group and it was not working. We will change until it’s working. We win at the Rockets.”
Assistant J.B. Bickerstaff will take over as interim head coach.
McHale was in his fifth season with Houston and is coming off a 56-26 season where the Rockets fell to eventual champion Golden State in the conference championship. The 57-year-old hall of fame player went 193-130 with the Rockets.
The Rockets opened the season with three straight losses, then won four in a row before losing again. The same roster as a year ago added dynamic point guard Ty Lawson, but the team has not really gelled and McHale complained about the effort and sloppy play.
“At times, I wouldn’t say full effort all the time, no,” McHale said after a loss to Boston in which Houston blew an early 15-point lead. “Things aren’t going our way and we hang our head. We haven’t put together really good basketball all year long.”
The team had a players-only meeting on Tuesday to discuss the issues, something that encouraged Morey.
“It’s not all about the head coach,” Morey said. “Everyone needs to look and figure out what to do better and I think the players were doing that (Tuesday) and I think it was positive.”