Houston Rockets: Kevin McHale On The Hot Seat?

In the NBA, very few coaching jobs are safe. After the league shakes itself up with the NBA draft and free agency through out the summer, teams begin to slowly build up expectations. There were plenty of examples of coaches losing their jobs, warranted or not, last season. Between Maurice Cheeks, Tyrone Corbin, Mike Woodson, Mark Jackson and a few others, there were plenty of openings among NBA teams for coaches. Kevin McHale could very well join this list of coaches who lost their jobs after this season.

McHale does have a very tough task next year, after all. Expectations will be high for McHale, as this Houston Rockets squad won 54 games last season. This team is a year older and has had a year playing with star center Dwight Howard. Fans and media will expect the team to be in the playoffs, hoping for the fourth seed once again. They will also be clamoring for much more than a first round playoff exit. Should McHale and the Rockets falter and lose in the first round again, McHale could find himself on the hot seat. Should the worst happen and the Rockets miss the playoffs entirely, McHale could quickly find himself out of a job.

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This isn’t really fair for McHale, who has done a splendid job with Houston so far. Although Kevin McHale has failed to coach the Rockets into the second round of the playoffs, he has kept his players focused and hasn’t had a losing season with the team. He has a combined 133-97 record with the Rockets, his worst season being his first year with the team. That was the team that went 34-32 in a lockout shortened season the year before acquiring James Harden via trade.

Kevin McHale certainly wasn’t helped by general manager Daryl Morey this season, as he opted to go after Chris Bosh, despite the costs. It ended up costing him quite a bit, as he ultimately lost Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik and Chandler Parsons. The Rockets ended replacing their combined production with Trevor Ariza and not much else.

Kevin McHale isn’t without flaws as he does have some pretty commonplace problems that fans and NBA observers like to point out. First and foremost is his problem with rotations. McHale often times uses his players in some head-scratching situations. A good example of this was during last season’s playoffs, when Kevin McHale had James Harden in the game to play defense, with only 0.9 seconds left on the game clock. McHale is also not good a drawing up set plays, as he rarely uses them, opting instead to go with the brilliance of Harden and his stellar offensive game. There’s also the very valid complaint that McHale and the Rockets use the pick and roll between Harden and Howard too little.

All of those are valid complaints against Kevin McHale, but it’s really only a small part of McHale. His positives far outweigh the negatives at this point. Say what you want about Kevin McHale as a coach, he is still a successful coach because he is a good coach. He has a good connection with his players and a good understanding of what it takes to win games in the Western Conference. He works closely with Daryl Morey and he’s a valuable recruiting tool for players because he is a good coach.

The only real way McHale will find himself out of a job will be if the Rockets miss the playoffs. I don’t believe Morey will fire Kevin McHale if he makes the playoffs and gets sent home early. The most recent example of the Golden State Warriors firing Mark Jackson was because Jackson and the Warriors front office never looked eye to eye on anything.

All reports out of Houston seem to indicate that Kevin McHale and the Rockets front office are on the same page and have similar expectations for this team. With the roster the way it is and the rest of the West, particularly the Phoenix Suns, getting locked and loaded for next year, it becomes a legitimate concern that the Rockets might not make it out of the West this year. That would be the worst case scenario for McHale, though it seems unlikely. Otherwise, Kevin McHale’s job seems to be safe. For now.

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