Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale blames the lockout for the distant relationship he had with many players last season....
Last off season, all NBA teams faced problems because of the lockout and headed into the new campaign with as little preparation as possible.
The main problem due to the lockout was the urgency required to fit in free agency and training camps into only a few weeks. As a result, a lot of teams showed a lack of chemistry at the start of the season.
Among the prominent strugglers throughout last season were the Houston Rockets, who were came into the season under the new regime of head coach Kevin McHale. The struggle for the Rockets not only included the lack of cohesiveness
under the new system but also the distant relationship McHale had with several key veteran players on the roster.
It was this very reason which forced star guard Kyle Lowry to leave. The relationship got so bad by the end of the season that Lowry demanded for either one of them to be moved away during this off-season. It was ultimately Lowry
who was traded, but that does not make the legendary Boston Celtics player happy.
McHale feels hard done by the lack of time he had with the team last pre season and firmly believes things would have been a lot different had he been given a full training camp to work with.
"It's much more comfortable just knowing that we're here, planning with the coaches, having players coming in and out, being able to talk to them about what we're envisioning," McHale said. "We're just getting a comfort level with
each other as opposed to having the lockout lifted, two days and then getting started."
There is doubt that the Rockets weren’t the only team struggling to keep up with the fast paced schedule last season, but there problems became magnified because McHale was new to the team as well, and had huge shoes to fill, that
of Rick Adelman. He did a good job with the resources available and had it not been for an unfortunate losing streak down the stretch, the Rockets would have been in the playoffs.
In the midst of all that, McHale just didn’t have the time to socialize and understand his players and the gulf increased slowly. However, there is no point in dreading over the past. McHale certainly needs to get this out his
mind and gear up for the new season in which the Rockets have taken a younger direction.
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