{"id":184439,"date":"2026-03-29T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=184439"},"modified":"2026-03-29T02:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T06:01:47","slug":"should-rockets-fans-get-to-know-potential-future-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/29\/should-rockets-fans-get-to-know-potential-future-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Rockets Fans Get To Know Potential Future Head Coach?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last season, the Houston Rockets finished second in the Western Conference with a 52-30 record. This season, they are currently at 44-29 and in sixth place in the West. They are 5-5 in their last ten. There have been some promising developments among the team’s youth<\/a>. But there have also been disconcerting offensive trends<\/a>. It’s the kind of regression that gets the coaches of hopeful franchises fired. In such an event, is there an (extremely) early frontrunner for the Rockets’ next head coach?<\/p>\n

Should Rockets Fans Get To Know Potential Future Head Coach?<\/h2>\n

First of all, it’s not completely fair to say the Rockets have regressed in 2025-26. The Rockets’ season was handicapped before it began with Fred VanVleet<\/a>‘s torn ACL. Nonetheless, the repetitive nature of post-game admonishments<\/a> has made one thing clear: the players have started to tune out head coach Ime Udoka. Once that happens in the NBA, the coach usually doesn’t stay much longer.<\/p>\n

Houston’s head coach since 2023, Udoka signed a lucrative long-term extension<\/a> in 2025. Nevertheless, there\u2019s a strong possibility<\/a> he will not return to the Rockets next season. Plenty of big names would probably be invoked in the search for a replacement. However, the latest fashionable trend is for head coaches to be replaced from within. Even so, the assistants of dismissed coaches remain habitually overlooked. The lack of transparency about their contributions is certainly a leading factor.<\/p>\n

So, who are the Rockets\u2019 assistant coaches?<\/p>\n

The Rockets’ Coaching Staff<\/h3>\n

The Rockets coaching staff<\/a> from their 52-30 finish is still in place today. It’s almost the same group<\/a> Udoka brought in for his Rockets debut in 2023. One exception is former San Antonio Spurs big man Tiago Splitter<\/a>. He\u2019s since moved on to become the interim head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. His stewardship has helped a confused roster wrestle to an impressive .500 record<\/a>. The remaining assistants include<\/a> former NBA guard Royal Ivey<\/a>, Ben Sullivan, Garrett Jackson, Cam Hodges, Mike Moser, and Will Dunn.<\/p>\n

Sullivan was part of Udoka\u2019s staff with the Boston Celtics and is certainly one of the more noticeable coaches on Houston\u2019s bench. At six-foot-ten, he holds the unlikely specialization of shooting coach. Supposedly, his tutelage was helpful for Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and contributed to the Milwaukee Bucks’ title in 2021. The assistant most easily pegged as a rising star, however, is Ivey.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

At 44 years old, Ivey has been an NBA assistant coach since 2016. He’s also the head coach of the South Sudan national team<\/a>. The squad was memorable for its exhibition nail-biter against the United States before the 2024 Paris Olympics. South Sudan finally lost 101-100 to a team led by LeBron James<\/a>, Steph Curry<\/a>, and soon-to-be Rocket Kevin Durant<\/a>. At the Olympics, the team had the brutal draw of playing the United States and Serbia in preliminaries and did not advance.<\/p>\n