"If Jeff Van Gundy could do it all again, he would handle his relationship with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander differently. "I should have sought him out more," Van Gundy texted Monday. This is precisely the kind of thing Kevin McHale will hear from a lot of people at Toyota Center over these next few months. Of the many pieces of advice the friendly local columnist will dispense in the years ahead, this might be the most important. Once a week, pick up the telephone and touch base with your boss. When you're in town, stop by his office. Tell him what's up with the team. Tell him what you like and what you don't. Answer his questions. In other words, build a comfort level, if not a friendship. Most of these conversations won't last 10 minutes, but they could be hugely important in allowing the Rockets to function smoothly. If your job security is increased along the way, so much the better. Instead of having team president Tad Brown or general manager Daryl Morey serve as a go-between, instead of allowing tension to fester, why can't we all get along? Is it important? Of course it is. How silly to think otherwise. For one thing, it's basic common sense. How does it work at your office? In the NBA, there might be times the coach and general manager see a team's needs differently, and the owner needs to hear all points of view. Also, it's childish to put the general manager in position to go find out why one play was run at the end of the game instead of another. In the end, a coach can only help himself by communicating with the man in charge." Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/7598632.html
