Kevin McHale supports Rockets’ Daryl Morey in China fiasco

Former Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale recently spoke out about Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong fiasco, and offered a voice of support.

Before the Houston Rockets played a single game this season, they ran into a media firestorm. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and surely wasn’t anything Rockets GM Daryl Morey could have imagined or envisioned at the time.

What made matters worse is that the Rockets were in Tokyo at the time of Morey’s retweet, which certainly wasn’t ideal. This incident placed Morey at the epicenter of the biggest sports story in the world and many wondered how he and the Rockets would be able to recover, if at all.

There were also those like LeBron James and Charles Barkley, who were calling for Morey to lose his job. But the Rockets were able to get back focused and kick it into gear, and Morey certainly powered through the scandal in a way that we’ve never seen before.

On Monday, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta shared his thoughts on the incident with President Trump at a White House luncheon, and he wasn’t the only one to express his thoughts on the fiasco. Former Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale also shared his thoughts on the incident, as he was previously featured on the Houston-based ESPN 97.5 The Game and had the below to say:

“Daryl did not do that maliciously. He said what he felt. He might troll people but that’s normally when he says James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan. That’s what he likes to do. As far as something like that, he doesn’t do that.”

This voice of support may come as a surprise to many, as McHale has been vocal about Morey’s advanced analytical system, which has been referred to as Moreyball. It also comes as a surprise considering that McHale was fired by Morey after just 11 games during the 2015-16 season, which was ultimately a lost year for the Rockets.

But it’s not hard to see where McHale is coming from here, as we’ve never seen Morey or the Rockets get involved in an international storyline, and especially not a political melee. McHale recently pointed out how the NBA lost a significant amount of revenue due to the scandal, and we’ve recently heard that China isn’t over the incident.

One thing McHale did get wrong, however, is that Morey stating that James Harden is a better scorer than Jordan was simply him trolling. Because frankly anyone who knows Morey knows that he legitimately believes this, even though it’s not fair to make the comparison.

But regardless, it’s safe to say we won’t see Morey immerse himself in another political firestorm, because frankly McHale is right: that’s simply not him.