Houston, we do not have a problem. The Houston Rockets are finalizing a deal to bring in Dallas Mavericks’ assistant Stephen Silas as their new head coach. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the news Wednesday afternoon.
Houston Rockets to Hire Stephen Silas as Head Coach
In 2016, Silas was a head coaching candidate before the Rockets chose to sign Mike D’Antoni for the position. The Rockets narrowed down their candidate pool to three finalists: current Houston assistant John Lucas II, ESPN broadcaster and former Rockets’ coach Jeff Van Gundy, and Silas.
According to Wojnarowski, Houston was sold on the 47-year old assistant’s offensive creativity. In addition, his experience under Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle and Steve Clifford helped solidify his coaching methods.
Silas’s NBA Experience
While he has no head coaching experience, he makes up for it. Often, prospective coaches possess other traits and abilities to make up for lack of experience, similar to a standard job seeker. In Silas’s case, his scouting and player development experience helps his portfolio. The son of former All-Star and head coach Paul Silas became the league’s youngest assistant coach in 2000 at 27-years old.
He was promoted to assistant head coach with the New Orleans/Charlotte Hornets that same year. Silas left the Hornets to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he worked under his father from 2003-2005. He coached LeBron James in his first two seasons in the NBA. Then, Silas worked in the Washington Wizards’ scouting department during the 2005-2006 season. He became an assistant for four seasons with the Golden State Warriors, where he helped develop Stephen Curry. In 2010, Silas returned to Charlotte as an assistant under Clifford until 2018, when he joined Carlisle’s staff in Dallas.
What stands out is his recent success with the Mavericks. He helped direct and build an offense around Luka Dončić, who statistically had the most efficient offense in NBA history. Silas will have an opportunity to build a powerhouse offense with the duo of Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
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