Rockets general manager Daryl Morey announced that Bickerstaff would take over as interim coach when Houston host the Portland Trail Blazers later on Thursday.
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Word about McHale’s axing comes as a surprise to many, especially considering that the National Basketball Association great is coming off a good season which saw him lead the Rockets to the Western Conference finals last season with a respectable 56-26 last season.
Rockets 38-year-old point guard Jason Terry got his first start of the season, replacing struggling guard Ty Lawson, who was acquired from Denver in the offseason. Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle – who was McHale’s teammate in Boston for three seasons – called the move “preposterous” and “very disappointing” earlier Wednesday, and he didn’t back down from that stance ahead of the game. “The team was not responding to Kevin”. Apparently, the Houston Rockets thought that McHale was not going to get the job done this year like he had in years past though because otherwise, they probably would have kept him. McHale helped the Rockets improve in his first season before Houston went 45-37 in 2013 and returned to the postseason for the first time since 2009.
Thibodeau was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 2010 through 2015 but was sacked after not seeing eye-to-eye with upper management on a few key issues.
With Kevin McHale having been fired, Tom Thibodeau’s name has come up as a potential long-term answer in Houston.
Rockets owner Leslie Alexander watched from the first row at midcourt as his seemingly uninspired team entered halftime in a 46-35 hole.
“He’ll have some opportunities in TV, and maybe when the dust settles I can get him out to teach the slippery eel to Kelly (Olynyk) and Sully (Jared Sullinger) and Amir (Johnson)”.
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“He is doing more than he was a week ago”, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said, adding that he didn’t know how close Durant was to returning. Scott Brooks, who coached Rockets to the title in 1995, is a leading candidate. In that same Yahoo! report, Adrian Wojnarowski dropped in the little nugget that current Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford could be a target for the Rockets after this season is over. Star James Harden said he was comfortable with him from the moment they met. His team was not in a position where they would not be able to make up lost ground, but the Houston Rockets front office is not willing to take that risk.
