Houston Rockets Fire Kevin McHale after Poor Start to the Season

The Houston Rockets have parted ways with their head coach, Kevin McHale after a slow start to the season, league sources revealed reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Rockets are currently 4-7 after a four game losing streak.

"The team was not responding to Kevin," general manager Daryl Morey said reported by ESPN. "There is no time in the West."

McHale told the Houston Chronicle after getting fired, "We were starting to address some of the issues that were the reason I was let go. We just weren't playing with any juice, with any rhythm. We haven't been able to get the problems solved. We probably had more meetings in last six weeks than in my previous four years here. It wasn't working."

McHale, who was offered a three-year contract extension worth $12 million last year, has a record of 193-130 with the Rockets.

The interim head coach will be J.B Bickerstaff, 36, who is the son of Bernie Bickerstaff. Chris Finch will fill in as the associate head coach. Wojnarowski reported that Bickerstaff, who many believe will become a very successful NBA coach one day, will now get a shot at the head coach position. If the Rockets are not impressed with him, future candidates could include Jeff Van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau.

This move shows how serious owner Leslie Alexander is about winning a championship title, especially since the Rockets have the strong duo of James Harden and Dwight Howard.

Harden, the runner up to the 2015 NBA MVP award, is averaging 27.3 points. His shooing, however, is at 37.2 percent from the field. The All-Star guard is also recording 4.8 turnovers per game.

The Rockets' defense has also gotten off to a slow start. The team is ranked No. 29 in defensive rating with 106.5 points per 100 possessions. They are ranked No. 24 in offensive rating with 98.5 points per 100 possessions.

After the four straight losses, three of which happened at home, the Rockets had a players-only meeting.

"It was a good talk for us. It was good for us to kind of communicate. Each guy said what their role was and how every single night they're going to contribute to that role," Harden said, reported by USA TODAY Sports. "After the talk, we had a really good practice. Guys communicated. We worked hard. Now, it's about carrying over. It's about going out there and carrying it to the floor."

The Rockets have also been dealing with injuries. Point guard Patrick Beverley, forward Terrence Jones and forward-center Donatas Motiejunas have all missed time so far this season.

The Rockets play the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET.