Why did the Rockets fire Kevin McHale? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets general manager, on Quora.
One thing the Rockets have done well over the years under our owner Leslie Alexander is we have had very good coaches. All winning coaches and all have stayed for more than 4 years. Kevin's long tenure with the Rockets by NBA standards was no exception. He was an amazing coach to work with who did a tremendous job. I believe he is the coach with the best winning percentage in Rockets history. Since owning the team, our owner has had fewer coaches than any team in the league except Utah. Bottom line, we have great coaches at the Rockets and they stay a long time.
Obviously, given this history the decision to change coaches was not taken lightly. Our team was reeling at the time of the change -- in just our first 11 games we had lost multiple games to non playoff teams, including two at home, and none of the losses were close, most were double digit losses. In the West, you basically can't do that for any stretch of the season and still reach our goals for the season. The prior year, for example, we had only 2 losses at home to non-playoff teams the whole season - we had already done it in only 2+ weeks. I believed that if we waited until what would be considered a normal timetable to make a change that it would likely be too late. Our only focus is on winning and I felt a material change was necessary.
Was this decision fair? No. Was it correct? That is unknown as we don't know what coach McHale would have done if he had stayed. I am comfortable we made the best decision for the team with the information we had at the time. I know this, when Kevin coaches again a team is going to get one hell of a coach.