Report: Salary unlikely to dictate Rockets’ final coaching decision

“It’s sort of the going rate,” Jonathan Feigen said. “You don’t get this far into the process and then say, ‘Oh, that’s what you want?'”

The bad economics of 2020, caused largely by COVID-19, have not been friendly to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. Including the NBA, Fertitta’s businesses operate primarily in the hospitality space, which is among the hardest-hit sectors due to changes in consumer behavior.

However, veteran Houston Chronicle beat writer Jonathan Feigen doesn’t believe that those finances will play a major role in shaping the team’s choice between three apparent finalists for its vacant head coaching position: Jeff Van Gundy, Stephen Silas, and John Lucas.

When asked on Sunday’s Texas Sports Nation television show whether Fertitta would pay top dollar for a head coach, given the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, here’s how Feigen responded:

There’s sort of [salary] scales. I don’t think Stephen Silas will earn what Jeff Van Gundy — who has already been a [head] coach at two different places, has already been to the Finals — you’re not going to pay Stephen Silas the same amount. Now, if you make John Lucas his lead assistant, you might be paying him more. It might sort of even out. Ty Lue would have been even more, or Doc Rivers, if they had been able to get any traction with them.

It’s sort of the going rate. You don’t get this far into the process and then say, ‘Oh, that’s what you want?’ People know, this is what a veteran coach makes, and this is what a first-time coach makes. I think it would work out pretty close to evenly, because if you have a consigliere, he gets paid somewhat more. Kind of like Ty Lue did last year with the Clippers. He got more than other assistant coaches would. The guys who really get the giant numbers, they’re gone now. Basically Doc, and he’s in Philadelphia. So I don’t think that’s a factor.

In contrast to the players on each team’s roster, there is no salary cap on coaching staff investments for NBA teams.

Elsewhere in the segment, Feigen said that he believed the hire would be Van Gundy or Silas, with Lucas as a potential assistant for both. However, Feigen said Lucas could be especially likely as an assistant to Silas, since Lucas has previous NBA experience as a head coach and Silas does not.

Regardless of the choice, Feigen believes it will be known shortly. “It could be any day,” he said. “We really could be pretty close, at this point.”

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