Category: In the News

McHale agrees in principle to coach Rockets

Hall of Famer Kevin McHale has agreed to take over the vacant head coach job with the Houston Rockets.

The Houston Chronicle reports that . A remaining point to be settled will be for McHale and the team to agree on a top assistant coach to join his staff.

McHale was picked  by Houston owner Leslie Alexander over Boston assistant Lawrence Frank and Dallas assistant Dwane Casey.  

It’s an interesting choice considering McHale’s lack of previous success as an NBA head coach.  He has a career record of 39-55 in two previous stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves after earlier serving as the team’s vice president of basketball operations. After he was dismissed in 2009, he has been a popular NBA analyst for TNT and NBA-TV.

The Houston job will provide some unique challenges. The Rockets have a good influx of young talent, but their future is tenuous as long as oft-injured center Yao Ming is a focal point in their plans. The Rockets were the only team in the league with an above-.500  record that failed to make the playoffs this season.

And they will face a tough challenge in the Southwest Division, where all of the teams finished above .500. The balance in the Southwest is best shown by the fact that the Spurs led the division with 61 victories and two other teams from the conference — Dallas and Oklahoma City — played in the Western Conference Finals.

And it’s also a little unusual for a team to dictate assistant coaches that a new coach will hire.

Yahoo.com reports the Rockets will have much and may even dictate his style of play. Houston D-League coach Chris Finch of Rio Grande Valley will be promoted to McHale’s staff. And Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Dave Joerger is expected to be a candidate to become McHale’s top assistant, sources told Yahoo.com.

It will also bear watching as the Rockets transition from a team directed by a coaching veteran to a relative coaching neophyte. The Rockets formerly were coached by Rick Adelman, who ranked eighth in NBA history in coaching victories. McHale’s basketball reputation is based more on his playing career after he was a member of three championship teams with Boston and was selected as an all-time top 50 player in 1996. 

Alexander will receive more buzz by hiring McHale than either of the other two finalists. But it’s uncertain if that excitement will carry over once he starts coaching the team.

PTI weighs in on Tony Parker’s comments

Tony Parker pronouncement that he thought the Spurs could no longer challenge for a championship with their current roster was big news across the NBA.

Parker’s comments last week to a group of French reporters in Paris even got discussion on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser.

Here’s a link to the segment at , as well as a transcript of what Wilbon and Kornheiser had to say.

Wilbon: Tony Parker is spending time back home in France and that’s why perhaps he felt comfortable enough to say what he said about the Spurs in a recent interview unearthed by Sports By Brooks. ”I don’t think this current team will  play for the title in the future. We are aging.”

Kornheiser: So are we.

Wilbon:  ”We must be realistic. It was kind of our last chance this season.” Tony, should Tony Parker be saying this, even if he believes it.

Kornheiser: Sure, if he believes it. What he’s saying is the exact same thing that you and I have said. Everybody looked at the Spurs this year and said, “Wow!” Look at them.

Wilbon: Great run.

Kornheiser: We didn’t think they would be that good, so I’m O.K. with that. But what interests me is that I suspect that not only did he say this in France, but that the said it in French. I suspect that he did not think, because he’s in a foreign country that it would be unearthed back in the United States. I don’t think he would have told a San Antonio reporter this exact thing.

Wilbon: Maybe not, but Tony Parker’s been living ontwo continents since he was 15 years old. So I’m thinking … His dad is American so I don’t know. Maybe you have a point, Tony.

Kornheiser: If you were living in Australia and you were interviewed, would you think it would be seen in Kansas City?

Wilbon: Yeah, yeah.

Kornheiser: So you think you are actually that big?

Wilbon: Yeah. I actually know. I travel and you don’t and the world is actually a lot bigger to you than me. It’s small and you know stuff gets around. More importantly, Tony Parker is going to be the guy who gets traded.

Kornheiser: I forgot that I was with Conrad Hilton.

Wilbon: No, you’re with a guy who leaves the house every now then.

Kornheiser: My grid gets smaller.

Wilbon: Tony Parker is going to get traded. He’s the guy. But if Pop says no, but if they are going to get better.

Kornheiser (interrupting): They can’t trade Duncan, he will be 36 …

Wilbon: And Ginobili has some value. But Tony Parker is the guy. I’m surprised you aren’t lobbying for him to be a member of the Knicks. Or can he get there on a barge from San Antonio?

As you can see, Parker and his comments have proven to be so lively that they’ve moved past San Antonio and become a national topic of conversation.

Parker and his future with the Spurs will be talked about all summer — lockout or not — because of the comments he made in France last week.

Blair’s contract hailed as best, RJ’s as worst among Spurs’ players

We likely won’t see much trade action until the looming lockout is settled.

It will be interesting to see how the NBA’s contract unrest impacts the upcoming NBA Draft on June 23.

And it will be particularly intriguing to see if the Spurs are involved in much draft-day dealing.

Jim Mancari of the Bleacher Report had an and their abilities to trade. He looked at the team and ascertained who he thinks has the best and worst contract on the Spurs as far as the team is concerned.

Mancari writes that Blair might have the “best contract in the game.” Blair was paid less than $1 million per year to notch 8.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

And he opines that Richard Jefferson has the worst contract on the team.

“Jefferson used to be the star in New Jersey and Milwaukee but has found himself as more of a role player in San Antonio,” Mancari said. “He’s adjusted well, but his salary of close to $10 million still mirrors that of a major force.”

Blair and Jefferson were the two biggest disappointments for the Spurs in the playoffs. Jefferson struggled through the worst shooting period of his career in the Memphis series and Blair couldn’t even get off the bench against the Grizzlies.

Both players are in the crosshairs for Spurs Nation after the team’s disappointing finish in the playoffs.

I’m curious. Does Spurs Nation expect either Blair or Jefferson to be on the team’s roster when next season begins?