Two weeks ago, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst pointed to veteran NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy as a frontrunner to replace Mike D’Antoni in Houston. As of now, however, that may no longer be the case.
Windhorst has worked alongside “JVG” at ESPN for much of the past decade, so there does appear to be a relationship between them.
When asked on ESPN’s The Jump about Van Gundy and the vacancy with the Rockets, here’s what Windhorst said:
I think circumstances have changed.
Van Gundy, now 58 years old, completed two days of interviews in Houston last week. However, the second day of his interviews with the Rockets came on the day of Daryl Morey’s announced departure.
If Van Gundy doesn’t become the head coach, other finalists for the job are believed to include Stephen Silas, who worked last season as an assistant coach in Dallas; and John Lucas, who served as director of player development for the Rockets under D’Antoni since 2016.
According to Windhorst, it’s Lucas who may be the new frontrunner:
They’re not any sort of time pressure [to make a hire], since they don’t have a pick in this draft. It’s not like he has to work draft workouts.
When Daryl Morey decided to resign, there were candidates who decided they didn’t want to be in the process anymore. And that’s okay. But it narrowed their candidate pool. Many people in the league think that John Lucas, the longtime assistant there who hasn’t been a head coach in the league in 18 years, has a chance here. Part of that is his relationship with the players, and his relationship with Rafael Stone, who was just named general manager.
While there are other candidates, including Stephen Silas, I would say today that my guess is, it’s going to be John Lucas.
There is no still definitive timetable for a hire to be made. With Morey on his way out, new GM Rafael Stone is leading the search.
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