The Houston Rockets are set to part ways with head coach Stephen Silas, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. This came in after the club decided not to pick up the team option in the fourth year of their contract with Silas.
Silas and team general manager Rafael Stone are set to meet on Monday to formalize the split up. Amid this, Woj pointed out that the mentor is expected to become a top assistant or an associate head coach for some other teams moving forward.
“I feel proud,” Silas said after the Rockets’ season ender on Sunday, via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “I wanted to be a head coach my whole life like my dad (Paul Silas). I’m proud of these guys. There’s been a lot of talk about my job for a long time. They kept working and playing hard, playing hard for their coach. I’m proud of that.”
Silas joined as the team’s head coach in the 2020 offseason, taking over for Mike D’Antoni. Initially expecting that he’ll work with James Harden and Russell Westbrook, he was left hanging and became at the front of the sudden rebuilding phase of the team program, tallying a 59-177 (.250) record in the last three seasons.
Per Woj, the likes of ex-Celtics coach Ime Udoka, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and former Lakers coach Frank Vogel are possible candidates for the coaching vacancy of the Rockets. Current Raptors coach Nick Nurse, who has been drawing a lot of tagging to Houston, is also a considerable one for hiring should he decide to leave Toronto.
