Houston Rockets: Mike D’Antoni extension talks have stalled a bit

Lots of things are happening around the Houston Rockets today, from trade rumors galore to potential coaching moves, it’s shaping up to be an incredibly active offseason for the team.

The Houston Rockets have plastered themselves all over the news today. They are looking to improve this offseason after another defeat to the Golden State Warriors in the postseason, their fourth in the James Harden era.

One of the people who seems to be safe, though, is head coach Mike D’Antoni. The offensive mastermind has manned the Rockets for the last three years and led the team to 50+ wins in each of them, including a franchise-record 65 last season.

With the success, it was reported that he was looking to extend his time with the Rockets and look for a few more years. Adrian Wojnarowski in his big article today, though, said that those talks have stalled for now.

D’Antoni has done great things for the Rockets and deserves to be the coach next year, in my opinion, but making sure he has a great assistant next to him to help man the defense is more important than trying to extend his contract right now. He has his flaws, but another coach to mend those flaws would be great for the franchise.

Potential assistants?

Now, we get into the next interesting article of the day. Kelly Iko of The Athletic wrote a piece where he delved deeper into the beginning of the offseason for the Rockets, including naming a few potential assistant coaches.

Some of the names, which we will likely look further into in another article, included the likes of Tyrone Lue (already known), Nick Van Exel, Kenny Ellis and Zico Coronel. Those may sound unfamiliar, but the Rockets surely will have heavily researched their potential fit with the organization. He also reported that they may be groomed to eventually replace D’Antoni as the head coach.

Be sure to check out the rest of Iko’s article, linked in the first paragraph of this section. The Rockets are looking to make big moves this summer, and coaching may be the first place they look to improve the squad.