By now most Rockets fans have heard about the rumors floating around the NBA about the Rockets head coaching vacancy. From candidates such as ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy, TNT’s Kenny Smith, to even ex-coach Kevin McHale, who was fired after a dismal 4-7 start to the 2015-16 season, Houston definitely has a wide variety of candidates. The question that remains is, who will be the Rockets next coach?
2015-16 Rockets Season
The Rockets fired McHale after a terrible start to what was supposed to be a championship run this season. After things took a turn for the worse, J.B. Bickerstaff was appointed the head coaching position. McHale obviously was not the problem as the Rockets finished as the 8 seed in the western conference with a record of 41-41. This was the same team that made it to the conference finals a year ago, and now they were out in the first round.
For most Rockets fans the season could not end soon enough. With multiple reports that Dwight Howard will not return to Houston, the Rockets must look at their options and plan ahead. The top priority is hiring a coach. The Rockets lost out on three big name coaches while they were playing the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, and Luke Walton all took jobs before Houston had a chance to interview them.
Top Candidates
Now the Rockets have listed many names and are looking for the perfect fit in Houston. Just recently the Indiana Pacers announced that Frank Vogel would not be returning and this caught the entire NBA by surprise. Vogel had done great things in Indiana and I was shocked that Larry Bird would not be bringing him back.
The names that I am hearing most are Frank Vogel, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike D’Antoni, Sam Cassell, Jeff Hornacek, Stephen Silas, and Chris Finch. While I have heard that Kenny Smith is in the running for the head coaching vacancy, I just do not see that working out. He has had no coaching experience and making a jump from TNT to a professional basketball coach is a big step. I realize that he played for the Rockets and was a part of those two championships the Rockets won in the mid 90’s, but playing and coaching are two different things.
Game Plan Must Work For Harden
The Rockets must make sure that whoever they hire can create a system that works for James Harden. He is the focus point for Houston so they must find someone that can work with him and create a system that is effective. This last season was some of the worst basketball I have ever seen by any NBA team. If no one could find a shot then they would just give it to Harden and he would just go into isolation and try to find a shot by himself. There was absolutely no team basketball being played and it was just an ugly sight. They showed some spurts of greatness but it was a rare sight to see and it costed them many games.
The Rockets need to strike while the iron is hot because I expect to see teams like New York, Indiana, Sacramento, Phoenix, Memphis, and even Cleveland pursuing some of the names on the Rockets’ list. Houston needs to move fast so they do not lose out on anymore coaches. In my opinion, Frank Vogel is atop the Rockets coaching list. Whomever they hire, I expect the Rockets to have made their decision and will have named a head coach within a week.
Next order of business is who will be added to the team’s roster. With Dwight Howard almost guaranteed to leave, I expect Daryl Morey to pursue some big names this off-season and turn this disaster of a season into something to look forward to next year.
