The Houston Rockets have become one of the NBA’s main headliners over the last couple of years. While being a big media market certainly helps, much of the climb can be attributed to their superstar scorer, James Harden, and their outside-the-box approach in building the team and playing the game.
It’s no secret that the Rockets’ current foundation includes an aggressive execution of basketball analytics, arguably the most polarizing aspect of the game today. The team’s version involves a particularly small line-up and a barrage of three-point attempts, which is also heightened further courtesy of their offensive-minded head coach Mike D’Antoni.
NBA Hall-of-Famer Kevin McHale, who coached Houston from 2011 to 2015, is among the countless detractors of analytics. He was at the helm during its early and relatively rocky stages, so in a radio interview with ESPN Houston this past week, he talked about the management’s overreliance on the controversial style.
“You guys are caught up a little bit in Houston on numbers. Numbers do not win games. The one number that wins the game is if you have one more point than the other team. That’s the biggest number, but numbers don’t win games.”
I’m guessing that most of it is mostly directed on the Rockets’ general manager, Daryl Morey, the man who brought basketball analytics into the NBA spotlight.
Under Morey’s player movement and D’Antoni’s system, Houston has employed a small ball attack and cranked up its love for three-pointers to a more insane level. This is how unconventional it has been: the heavy rotation is consisted of Harden, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Robert Covington, PJ Tucker, Austin Rivers, Danuel House, Ben McLemore, and Jeff Green – yes, they have no true center or power forward.
Green is the tallest in that group at 6’8, and he plays the least minutes per game (20.1 MPG); Tucker, who only stands 6’5, is playing the center position in a considerable stretch. Through that core, the Rockets are averaging a league-high 44.3 three-point attempts per contest this season. The team has actually jacked up 50 or more threes in a single game 12 different times in 2019-20 – last February 4th against the Charlotte Hornets, they went 20-for-60 in regulation.
McHale’s dig on the Rockets and analytics is expected. He never fully embraced their fond of numbers when he was there. Keep in mind that he was a Boston Celtic legend, and his philosophy is about pure teamwork and blue-collar play.
“It’s all about teamwork, playing together, knowing who the hot man is, reading situations, shot selection, getting to the line at the end of the game, having plays that aren’t 3-pointers at the end of the game; plays that are driving and getting fouled. All those things come into play.”
Also, he left in bad terms. McHale got fired 11 games into the 2015-16 season despite guiding the Rockets into a Western Conference Finals berth in the season prior.
And last but not the least, there was also some beef with Harden:
