Rockets: What’s going on with Mike D’Antoni and coaching role?

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Daryl Morey Tilman Fertitta Houston Rockets (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Rumors are running rampant that the Houston Rockets are seeking to make a coaching change, but the Rockets aren’t exactly sounding like a team ready to make a move at the helm.

The NBA world had been quiet ever since commissioner Adam Silver announced he was suspending gameplay and shutting down the league’s operations. The basketball world had been struggling to find things to do, up until the ESPN docu-series The Last Dance gave us all a sigh of relief. The Houston Rockets have found a way to one up the ESPN feature, as they’ve certainly gotten our attention within the last 48 hours.

Rumors circulated early in the year that the Rockets were seeking to make a coaching change at the end of the season, and those rumors have begun to re-circulate regarding the Rockets’ plans. The timing does seem rather odd, as it doesn’t exactly seem like a distraction a sixth-place team would want heading into the postseason.

Granted, we don’t officially know if the league will have a postseason, but everything we’ve heard is that the league is insistent on crowning a champion, despite whatever obstacles may exist. It’s been discussed that the league could potentially explore the possibility of having a shortened playoff format, which would seem to bode well for a 3-point dependent team like the Rockets.

This means they wouldn’t need to perform stellar from long-range for the normal four games it would take to advance in a series, which is advantageous because we know when you live by the three, you also die by it. Another interesting nugget as it pertains to the Rockets’ coaching speculation is that it was reported that they would be seeking a new coach if they don’t win a title (subscription required), and without knowing which direction the league will go in, it’s intriguing that the Rockets would leak reports of them pursuing specific candidates.

Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the candidates the Rockets have been linked to within the past 48 hours.

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