Rockets fire Kevin McHale after 4-7 start

The Houston Rockets have fired head coach Kevin McHale, the team confirmed Wednesday morning. The news was first reported by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

J.B. Bickerstaff will become the interim coach.

"It was tough," general manager Daryl Morey said. "This is not something we take lightly ... the team was not responding to Kevin McHale," he added. "There is no time in the West."

With the perception that the Hall of Fame player McHale had lost the locker room, a move was made. Following Monday's loss to the Boston Celtics, a crestfallen McHale lamented the team's lack of intensity and hinted at lineup changes. Rockets players also held a team meeting, which was later described as "productive."

McHale said he could not get early results out of the team that reached last year's Conference Finals.

"We just weren’t playing with any juice, with any rhythm," McHale told the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen. "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."

The 4-7 Rockets have struggled mightily so far this season, sandwiching losing streaks of four and three games around a four-game winning streak. The team's defense has been in absentia, giving up 106.5 points per 100 possessions - good for second-last in the NBA.

"I've never seen my team ... team play as poorly and with less effort," said Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, who has owned the franchise since 1993. "I'm not attributing it to the coach. I had to do something."

McHale coached Houston for four-plus seasons, compiling a regular-season record of 193-130. He had signed a guaranteed three-year contract extension with the Rockets last Christmas Eve, and will be paid $12 million this season.

Bickerstaff is the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff, and oversaw the Rockets' eighth-ranked defense last season.