Vogel and McHale: Tale of Two Coaches

MANILA, Philippines - Tonight’s NBA preseason game between Houston and Indiana won’t be about only the players but also the opposing coaches. The Rocket’s Kevin McHale and the Pacers’ Frank Vogel will be in the spotlight as they try to outwit each other in becoming the first coach to win an NBA game on Philippine soil.

McHale, 55, played on three NBA title squads with the Boston Celtics in 1981, 1984 and 1986. The 6-10 forward averaged 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 971 games over 13 regular seasons up to 1992-93. He was named of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in 1996 and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. While there’s no argument that McHale was a legend as a player, the jury’s still out on his ability as a coach.

McHale made his coaching debut with Minnesota in 2004-05, taking over from Flip Saunders at midstream to pilot the Timberwolves to a 19-12 mark in an interim capacity. Then, he returned on the bench in 2006-07, once more at midstream to replace Randy Wittman and posted a 20-43 record. In 2011-12, McHale coached the Rockets to a 34-32 record and last season, broke into his first-ever playoffs as the eighth seed with a 45-37 slate.  

Writer Jan Hubbard had reservations in assessing McHale’s coaching career so far and said this season will show if he’s up to the task. It could be a make-or-break situation for McHale especially since the Houston franchise has invested heavily in revamping the Rockets roster.

“Although he has parts of five years as a head coach, McHale has actually coached only one 82-game season and that was in 2012-13,” said Hubbard. “He took over on an interim basis during two seasons in Minnesota and his first year with the Rockets was shortened to 66 games because of labor problems. McHale obviously has wonderful pedigree in basketball with a Hall of Fame career as a player. But he is still a bit of an unknown as a bench coach and motivator. He seems to enjoy teaching, particularly when he gets to work with big men and shows them his classic low-post moves. But he will be scrutinized closely this year since he was a team that is among the most talented in the league. Questions remain on whether or not McHale has the same coaching acumen as he did as a player.”

How McHale will generate teamwork among his players is something to watch for in tonight’s game. He’ll probably play 6-11 Dwight Howard and 7-0 Donatas Montiejunas together to form a stratospheric Twin Towers tandem with 7-0 Omer Asik providing back-up to either. There are also 6-10 Greg Smith and 6-11 Marcus Camby to lean on for depth. McHale’s history as a low-post operator may mean a bias towards block play and if that’s the case, Howard will enjoy the attention.

McHale’s luxury is he has James Harden and Chandler Parsons to open up things for his bigs. Parsons is an exceptional outside bomber who knocked down 50 percent of his corner threes last season to hike his scoring average to 15.5. He can spread the floor with his perimeter sniping. Harden can also light it up from beyond the arc and has the bonus ability to slash and dish. Jeremy Lin will put order on the floor with his playmaking.

Two things that McHale will want to improve on are rebounding and defense. Last season, the Rockets ranked 21st in boardwork and gave up 102.5 points a game, second most in the league. Unless those two issues are addressed and resolved, McHale will be in for a long struggle.

Vogel, 40, was never a star player like McHale. He was a three-year starter with the Juniata College varsity, a Division III contender in Huntington, Pennsylvania, then played on the University of Kentucky junior team in 1996. Vogel earned a biology degree at Kentucky where he was a student team manager and later, video coordinator.

Vogel got his NBA break as a video coordinator with the Boston Celtics under coach Rick Pitino in 1997. He went on to become an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers and an advance scout for the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards before joining coach Jim O’Brien with the Pacers. Vogel succeeded O’Brien at the Indiana helm in the middle of the 2010-11 season and took the Pacers to the playoffs where they were scuttled by Chicago in the first round. Vogel then piloted Indiana to a 42-24 mark and advanced the Pacers to the second round of the playoffs before bowing to Miami in six games. Last season, Vogel raised Indiana’s mark to 66-16 and brought the Pacers up to the third round of the playoffs, losing to Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In every season he has coached, Vogel has taken the Pacers to the playoffs and every year has seen an improvement from the first to the second to the third round. If the trend continues, Vogel will elevate Indiana to the Finals this campaign.

To prepare for the coming season, Vogel has shaken up the Pacers roster a bit. Gone from last year’s lineup are Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee both to Phoenix, D. J. Augustin to Toronto and Sam Young and Jeff Pendergraph to San Antonio, Dominic McGuire and Tyler and Ben Hansbrough. Coming in are 6-11 Hilton Armstrong, 6-7 veteran Rasual Butler, 6-8 Chris Copeland, 6-8 Darnell Johnson, 6-9 Luis Scola, 6-3 Donald Sloan, 6-2 C. J. Watson and rookies 6-7 Solomon Hill and 6-5 Ron Howard. Back for another tour of duty are 6-9 Paul George, 6-9 Danny Granger, 7-2 Roy Hibbert, 6-11 Ian Mahinmi, 6-5 Lance Stephenson,

6-9 David West, 6-3 George Hill and 6-5 Orlando Johnson.

Hibbert, a Georgetown center like Pat Ewing and Alonzo Mourning, is Indiana’s answer to Howard and their match-up in the middle will be a priority in the watch list of fans tonight. He made life difficult for Miami in the playoffs last season and with more confidence, could be a dominant factor this season. The oldest players in Vogel’s lineup are Butler, 34, Scola, 33, and West, 33. Butler, a 10-year pro coming off an impressive showing in NBA D-League as the Impact Player awardee, provides a wealth of experience and depth while Scola, a veteran internationalist from Argentina, is a hard-nosed frontliner. West is a power forward who averaged 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds last season.

 Writer Mike McGraw described Vogel as a coaching prodigy and made light of his strategic error in Game 1 of the Miami playoff series last season. It will be recalled that Vogel benched Hibbert with 2.2 seconds left in overtime and the Pacers up by one. The Heat took advantage of Hibbert’s absence as LeBron James sailed in virtually unchallenged to sink the deciding layup. If Indiana won the opener, the Pacers could’ve been in the Finals instead of Miami. “If that was Vogel’s biggest mistake, then he had a pretty good season, turning the Pacers into a defensive powerhouse and leading an impressive second-round playoff win over New York,” said McGraw.

In the offseason, Vogel lost lead assistant Brian Shaw to Denver but added former Seattle and Portland head coach Nate McMillan to his staff. Before Vogel took over the Indiana reins, the Pacers had missed the last four playoffs so his ascendancy has produced positive results. “I think the realistic expectations are to go out and try to win the whole thing,” said Vogel. “We’ve probably got more room for growth than any team going right now that can consider themselves a championship contender, especially getting Danny back. There’s a lot of reason to believe we can be even better this year.”

Indiana president of basketball operations Larry Bird took a year off for health and is now back in the front office. “I had a good year (off), feel good about it,” said Bird. “The ultimate goal here is to play for a championship. Just because we came close last year doesn’t mean we’re going to do it this year. But if we stay healthy and we get Danny back, chances are pretty good we’re going to do well. If you watch this team, they care about one another. They play together and play as a team and that’s exactly what I envisioned when I helped put this team together.”

One thing going for Indiana tonight is Bird’s familiarity with McHale as they were Boston teammates for years. Whatever Bird knows about McHale and his tendencies, he will surely share with Vogel. It won’t work the other way around because McHale’s familiarity with Bird doesn’t translate into an advantage over Vogel. So the coaching battle will be an intriguing dimension in the Mall of Asia duel.