Rockets' Kevin McHale Earns Extension with Style That Could Work for Josh Smith
Leslie Alexander, in his 21st season as the Houston Rockets' owner, had just done something he had not since Rudy Tomjanovich put championship rings on his fingers.
Alexander rewarded a coach, his third since Tomjanovich, with a contract extension. He signed Kevin McHale for three more seasons, roughly six months before McHale's contract would have been up and three months after Alexander said there was no real reason to sign a coach to a new contract while he still had one.
The Rockets had reached the point they knew they wanted McHale as coach well beyond the four years of his original deal and not just because he had somehow guided them to a 20-7 start despite playing without at least three starters, including Dwight Howard, for nearly half those games.
Alexander cited the way McHale and his staff have seemed to have dramatically turned around the Rockets defense. He pointed to the concern that McHale would be a popular free agent without an extension. Most of all, he praised the way McHale can be close with his players and still be tough and demanding.
When asked, however, if he needed to lock up his coach to be able sign free agent Josh Smith, Alexander did not say that keeping McHale was part of getting Smith, but he might have touched on a point that could become more important now that the Rockets have done both.
Whether extending McHale's contract was necessary to get Smith, the qualities that moved the Rockets to do it could make McHale right for the talented, but erratic forward the Rockets landed a day after completing the deal with their coach.
"Players love him," Alexander said of McHale. "He has that rare ability to be straight-forward and honest and tough, but at the same time, it's sort of like a brotherly love. Almost nobody can do that. He can. The players around the league love him. The whole league loves him."
At the time, Alexander and the Rockets were still waiting for word on Smith's decision. This was no Christmas Eve miracle. They were confident they would get Smith from the moment the Detroit Pistons announced they would cut him loose. The Rockets could offer a place on a contending team, a likely starting spot and a contract greater than the minimum most other top teams had for him.
They had childhood friend and former AAU teammate Dwight Howard recruit him. They had a track record of trying to get Smith when he cost much more than the $2.077 million they will pay him.
Yet, whether it mattered to Smith or not, they also had McHale, the sort of "players' coach" who is equally likely to come with a kick in the pants as a hug of a neck.
In many ways, McHale might be just right for Smith. McHale gives all kinds of freedom. He won't react to every shot that should have remained locked in an offseason gym somewhere. But when he does draw a line, it won't be blurry.
Pretty much every NBA coach can offer a clear picture of the sort of shots Smith should take—anything going toward the basket—and should not—anything from beyond the arc that is not in the corners.
Smith arrives in Houston with his reputation nearly as damaged as the rims he has clanged in his two seasons spent with the Pistons, especially this season when he has been on a pace to be the first player ever to shoot worse than 40 percent from the field and 50 percent from the line while taking at least 12 shots a game.
McHale, however, can come with the credibility of a playing career spent as one of the all-time best at Smith's position.
"He does what he has to do to get the attention of our guys," Howard said. "He played basketball. He understands the game. Why wouldn't you listen and learn from one of the best that ever played."
In many ways, NBA coaching is, above all else, about getting players to buy in.
It doesn't take one of the greatest collections of post moves ever to do that. Phil Jackson had the trust of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal when he arrived in Los Angeles because of the six championship rings he brought with him as a coach, not because of his career as a broad-shouldered floor burn with the New York Knicks.
Gregg Popovich earned all the credibility any coach could ever need long after his days at the Air Force Academy.
Regardless of how it is earned, however, trust is everything. With McHale, it starts with a playing career matched by few power forwards ever and backed by a direct, no-nonsense style that still sounds like one player talking to another.
McHale is in charge. There never was any question about that. That was why Alexander had no concern about McHale going into the season as a lame duck. But Smith arrives at a time he needs to hear straight talk about his game.
There is a pretty good chance he knows it now that a team has chosen to pay him $26 million to play for someone else. He will be a free agent again next summer, likely seeking more than minimum-contract offers no matter how much the Pistons will be depositing in his bank account.
At just 29-years-old and with relatively little lost from his spectacular athleticism, Smith has a chance to be the player the Pistons sought and the Rockets hope to have landed.
Smith might not know it yet, but the qualities Alexander saw in McHale when he made his decision a day before Smith made his might be what Smith needs most.
The Rockets locked up McHale because he is the sort of coach that tells players what they need to hear in a way that they listen. Smith chose the Rockets for a variety of reasons. But with his career at a crossroads, none could prove as good as to hear what McHale has to say.
Quotes obtained firsthand.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
