Jeff Van Gundy, Stephen Silas, John Lucas are Rockets’ finalists

With Ty Lue staying with the Clippers, it’s Van Gundy, Silas, and Lucas who are now finalists in Houston’s search for a head coach.

As many expected, Tyronn Lue is replacing Doc Rivers as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. While Lue interviewed in Houston earlier this week, he was a top assistant with the Clippers last season and was already quite familiar with the organization and its key players.

With Lue off the board, the Rockets are believed to have a list of three top candidates to fill their head coaching vacancy. Per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the finalists are former Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy; Dallas assistant Stephen Silas; and recent Rockets assistant John Lucas.

Lucas also has prior head coaching experience with three different NBA franchises. However, all of those stints came in 2003 and earlier.

Van Gundy is clearly the biggest name of the three, and that could be especially important in the aftermath of the unexpected departure of veteran GM Daryl Morey. Van Gundy interviewed with the Rockets on Wednesday, and those talks reportedly extended into Thursday.

Now 58 years old, Van Gundy hasn’t coached in the NBA since his previous stint leading the Rockets from 2003-04 through 2006-07. He has, however, worked as a coach for USA Basketball since 2017.

Known best for his emphasis on defense and toughness, “JVG” has a career coaching record of 430-318 (.575) over parts of 11 seasons as head coach in New York and Houston. Van Gundy is 44-44 (.500) in the playoffs, including a trip to the 1999 NBA Finals with the Knicks.

Since his NBA coaching days, Van Gundy has also served as one of the league’s top television analysts for broadcasts on ABC and ESPN. Away from basketball, he’s shown a clear affinity for Houston as a city, having chosen to live there even after losing his job with the Rockets.

Per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets had planned to bring back both Van Gundy and Lue for second interviews. Feigen did not report that Silas or Lucas would be receiving a second interview, which — when combined with Lue’s decision to stay with Los Angeles — would seem to point to Van Gundy as the current frontrunner.

Morey is staying on a short-term advisor to assist in the finalization of the coaching search. Rafael Stone, one of Morey’s top executives, will be promoted to his position as general manager.

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