Kevin McHale: Basketball is not complicated

Posted: December 1, 2011 -- 4:52pm CST.

HOUSTON – Kevin McHale appears to be a sports reporter's dream. McHale's no-nonsense, straight forward approach is filled with fantastic quotes at the ready. Time will tell whether his straight talk will return the Rockets to the playoffs in 2012.

"There are no excuses," McHale said. "You gotta go play. It's about hard work. Basketball is not complicated."

McHale has identified specific areas he wants the Rockets to improve this season.

"We've got to get better defensively. We've got to get better rebounding; and, we've got to get better spacing and ball movement."

McHale repeated those words to the media three times.

"I know some people have tried to make it seem difficult. You've got to reduce the space on defense. You've got to increase the space on offense. You've got to attack on both sides of the ball -- defensively and offensively.

"It's a simple game. We're going to put in some stuff that's basic. It's help and recover. It's basic basketball. It's something they've done their entire lives; so, it's not like we're going to put in some stuff that's going to confuse them."

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