Houston Rockets: No Clear Team Leader Yet, Says Kevin McHale

Apr 29, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale prepares for a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game four of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

While fans have already dubbed both James Harden and Dwight Howard as leaders of this year’s version of the Houston Rockets, head coach Kevin McHale won’t give the 2 superstars the title just yet.

“We have only had four practices so far,” McHale said. “Right now they are just trying to get through those.

McHale’s early approach in training camp is to try to hold every player accountable, and to establish a level of team unity. That means he’s not designating anybody to be the team leader. At least not for now. McHale spoke after Monday’s practice:

“They(players) all have personalities and really I don’t know if you can say, ‘This guy’s a designated leader. Players are going to follow who players follow and they follow guys for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes there is the older guy they follow because the guy is full of wisdom and he helps them out all the time. Sometimes it is the high energy guy they follow because they are just like, ‘that guy plays so hard.’ All that leadership stuff, as it always does, will all take care of itself.”

Indeed, it will all take care of itself; but for now, the focus at hand is to establish team continuity.