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This past season, the Houston Rockets were missing a huge piece of their franchise and they were forced to play without Yao Ming. Despite that, the Rockets barely missed the playoffs and they finished with a record above .500. Apparently that wasn’t enough for Houston to justify keeping Rick Adelman around as head coach. It appears to me the Rockets are at a crossroads with their franchise and they wanted a new voice on the sidelines. That guy is Kevin McHale. It’s going to be McHale’s job to try and bring them back to the top of the Western Conference. McHale hasn’t had a lot of experience on the sidelines as a head coach and he has a losing record so filling the shoes left behind by Adelman and making the switch from the broadcast booth to the sidelines will be a tough task. Kevin McHale joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about how it came about that he got the Rockets job, if he likes coaching more or being a GM, and what the future is of Yao Ming in Houston.
How he got the job in Houston:
“Yeah I was interviewing and kinda going back and forth and I had talked to a few teams. I have always had the coaching bug. I really wanted to give it a shot and get in with a younger team that had some good young talent and a very well coached team. Rick Adelman did a great job with Houston last year winning 43 games with a lot of trades and a lot of different things happening throughout the season. While I was doing games and studio work I was talking to people and it came around that Houston offered me the job and we got it done so I’m really looking forward to that.”
If he would rather be a coach or a GM:
“I like coaching more and I think you have more impact on the game. I like being on the floor and working with the guys. I enjoy coaching more and I just really like the fact that you can put your imprint on the team and really help guys get better and all the adjustments. It’s a long, long, long season. Believe me next year when you call me up I might be saying,’what was I thinking?’ I like being in the fight, I like being on the floor, the competition, trying to think the game through, outthink the other team, what they are doing, and preparing. There is nothing like playing. Playing is by far the most enjoyable thing, but that’s about as close as you’re going to get. It’s something that I really wanted to do for awhile and really get a start with a team and Houston seemed right to me.”
Whether or not he thinks Yao Ming will be back with the Rockets:
“I don’t know. We would love to see Yao Ming come back and play and stuff like that, but he’s got to get his feet healthy. That’s a tough thing. How many bigs have you seen that have started to have feet problems. I mean how many bigs have you seen that have started having feet problems. It’s just so hard. I don’t think you ever can say never on a situation like that, but boy it’s awful tough. Yao is such a big man, he’s so huge that I just have to believe that’s awful tough on the feet. We’re hoping, but I guess we’re just going to wait and see.”
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