The Houston Rockets have fired head coach Kevin McHale on Wednesday after the team's disappointing 4-7 start to the 2015-2016 NBA season. Assistant coach John-Blair Bickerstaff will serve as interim coach while the team finds a replacement.

ESPN reported that the Rockets had a "players only" meeting at their home court on Tuesday, similar to what the Sacramento Kings did last week, but this time the result of the gathering was the dismissal of the team's head coach.

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"The team was not responding to Kevin," said Rockets GM Daryl Morey. "There is no time in the West."

McHale, a three-time NBA champion and seven-time All-Star, has coached Houston for the past five seasons after a two-year stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves where he debuted as head coach.

He led the Rockets to the playoffs in three consecutive years, the farthest that the team went under his care was a 1-4 Western Conference Finals exit against eventual champions Golden State Warriors last postseason. He had accumulated a 193-130 regular season win-loss record with the Rockets; representing almost 60 percent winning rate.

The 57-year-old mentor had signed a three-year, $12 million contract extension with the Rockets in December 2014, but as things have turned out, this was his last season with the franchise.

A lot of McHale's colleagues and former rivals have expressed unhappiness about his firing, with former Lakers player Magic Johnson tweeting that the Rockets have "made a big mistake" by letting him go.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said that "it's a volatile business, and sometimes it doesn't make sense... like Kevin McHale getting fired."

CBS Sports opined that McHale's sacking "appears to be a panic move" for Rockets officials, arguing that the decision was the result of either "a long-standing resistance from the players or an overreaction to early struggles".

Immediately after finishing with their best season and an improved lineup with two All-Stars -- James Harden and Dwight Howard -- it just seems silly to fire McHale only 11 games into the new season.

But only time will tell.

TagsNBA News 2015, NBA news, Houston Rockets news, Kevin McHale, Rockets fire Kevin McHale as Head Coach