McHale meets Warriors, Rockets finalist
CHICAGO – Kevin McHale met with Golden State executives Larry Riley and Bob Myers to discuss the Warriors' head coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Sources called the meeting "informal" and it could turn into a more serious sit-down later with team executives and ownership.
Also, the Warriors are meeting Boston Celtics assistant coach Lawrence Frank in Chicago for an interview on Saturday, sources said.
Ex-Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is still the leader to be offered the job, several sources told Yahoo! Sports.
McHale has a more serious second interview with Houston Rockets officials scheduled for later Thursday at the NBA draft combine. He’s one of three finalists for the Rockets' coaching job, along with Frank and Dallas assistant Dwane Casey.
The Rockets have been researching candidates exhaustively for weeks, calling everyone from ex-players, agents, front-office executives and coaches. The hiring of a coach could come down to the willingness of a candidate to accept a deal on Houston’s terms. It’s possible that an offer could come with only two guaranteed years, and $2 million per season.
Another element of the Rockets' job will be the prospective coach’s willingness to include the Rockets D-League affiliate’s coach as an assistant. Rockets management is enamored with Rio Grande’s Chris Finch, and some see him as a future head coach in the NBA. Finch left a European coaching career to join the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2009. He's won a D-League title and advanced to the finals in 2011.
