With the NBA lockout becoming official late Thursday night, Kevin McHale has been faced with a pretty tall order. He was only able to hold team practices for one week after the draft concluded, and his new team might not be able to get together again for a while.
↵Although McHale was not planning any revolutionary schemes with the Rockets for next season, it must be very tough on the new coach to build any chemistry without being able to meet with his team. It sounds like this lockout is the real deal, and the players are in for the long run as Kevin Durant noted earlier this week:
↵↵↵"No matter how long the lockout's going to take, we're going to stand up. We're not going to give in."
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Meanwhile, most of the Rockets players have scheduled workouts for this time off. We learned a couple days ago that Donatas Motiejunas will be traveling back to Italy to work out with his Benetton Treviso squad, and Jonathan Feigen wrote about some other players in the Chronicle:
↵↵↵"Lowry said he will work out in Houston but likely will return to the camp in Las Vegas he and Chuck Hayes attended last summer. Marcus Morris will work out with former NBA guard Pooh Richardson in Los Angeles. Jonny Flynn works with John Lucas in Houston. Kevin Martin and Courtney Lee have been working with David Thorpe in Tampa, Fla. Thabeet said he has been discussing options around the country but has not made his choice."
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This lockout is just going to be another obstacle in what could be an exciting Rockets season next year, that is, if we have one.
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