Kevin McHale was dumped by the Houston Rockets 11 games into the season following a slow 4-7 start, that despite reaching the Western Conference finals the previous season.
On Tuesday, the former Rockets coach appeared on TNT and said that James Harden being out of shape and Dwight Howard being unable to play and practice on back-to-back days contributed to the team’s poor start.
“We had a rough camp — lot of guys injured. Dwight (Howard) couldn’t do back-to-back practices and was not going to be able to do back-to-back games until December. James (Harden) had sprained his ankle in the summer and came in overweight. And we just weren’t playing very well.”
McHale knew that with his key players limited, the Rockets were in for a slow start.
“I told our guys at the end of training camp, ‘we’re a month, six weeks away from our team jelling and playing well,'” McHale said. “So we got off to a tough start and I came in and sat down they said, ‘you’re fired.’ I was like ‘wow.’ It really really surprised me.”
McHale acknowledged that he was stunned by the firing and thought that winning 56 games last season would have bought him more time with the team. However, he recognized he was having trouble reaching the team.
“I’ve never had a team that I have not been able to motivate and get going. We were not playing well — I’ll be the first to admit that — but it was so short — 11 games.”
The Rockets have only fared slightly better under interim head coach JB Bickerstaff as they entered Wednesday 27-27. Their drop-off from last season to this season hardly makes sense, but it seems like the team may come apart after the season. Dwight Howard is expected to opt out and may want to leave. As for Harden, we believe this was the reason for his slow start.
