Decision Day
Houston Rockets offer Kevin McHale their coaching job
Kevin McHale is set to become the next coach of the Houston Rockets.
After a month-long search that almost dragged into the NBA Finals, the team has offered McHale the job, according to the sources of Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski, arguably the most well-connected NBA reporter in the game. McHale and the Rockets have agreed on the major terms of a contract. Though a deal might not be officially announced Friday, McHale is the choice to replace Rick Adelman.
McHale is still most famous for the work he did as player on those storied 1980s Boston Celtics teams that also featured Larry Bird and Robert Parish. He didn't have much success as general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves (and that's putting it kindly) and he was only slightly better as a coach for those TWolves. McHale went 39-55 in two separate stints as coach.
Of course, he was working with the questionable talent he brought in as GM in those cases.
The Rockets are betting that McHale can do more with Morey supplying the players. The 53-year-old McHale did show an ability to work with young players (really, all Minnesota had during his tenure), a trait Morey prized in this search. McHale is credited with helping develop Al Jefferson into an All-Star level player.
Adelman, on the other hand, clashed with Morey and the rest of the Rockets organization on the playing time of young players and the philosophy of the team.