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

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.

Next: Rumors

Coaches linked to Rockets

If there’s anything to be determined by the speculation, if there is in fact a change, it’s that the Rockets certainly are locked in on a defensive-minded coach. This makes sense considering how former defensive coach Jeff Bzdelik left his mark on the franchise in each of the last two seasons.

As long as the Rockets have James Harden and Russell Westbrook on the floor, along with an analytical offensive approach that’s predicated on efficiency and taking high percentage shots, they’ll be fine on the offensive end. Where they’ll need to significantly improve is on the defensive end, which is where they struggled this season, to tune of tune of giving up 114.4 points per game.

The first reports that surfaced regarding the Rockets’ plans involve Tom Thibodeau, who is certainly known for his defensive tenacity. But Marc Berman of the New York Post reported that the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets are also interested in Thibs, and with them both being in much larger media markets, they would seem to be the most likely to pay him more than the Houston Rockets possibly would.

Sam Amick of The Athletic shared reason for caution as it pertains to Thibodeau, specifically when considering the market in which the reports are coming out of. Amick said, “There is a disproportionate level of support for Tom Thibodeau that comes out of the New York media, so you sometimes have to wonder where the talking points are coming from.”

In this case, the report came from the New York Post, so could that mean the Rockets are being mentioned to make the Knicks or the Nets move quickly? For what it’s worth, Thibodeau joined ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday to downplay the rumors, stating that it was all speculation. The former Houston Rockets assistant also stated that none of the reports were true, which is what we would expect him to say considering how he’s the belle of the ball.

Another name that’s been mentioned by Amick has been Jeff Van Gundy, who had Thibodeau on his staff during his stint in Houston. Van Gundy is also a defensive-minded coach, but his offenses didn’t necessarily excel, as the Rockets were a bottom 10 offense in three of his four seasons in Houston.

It’s interesting that the Rockets would be pursing both coaches who are cut from the same cloth, but it’s possible they’re pursuing both because they know Thibs is in such high demand. If there was a downside to JVG, it’s that he hasn’t coached at the NBA level since his contract with the Houston Rockets expired in 2007, which could possibly make him more financially attainable for the Rockets.

Next: Not ready to move on?

Morey’s comments about D’Antoni

What’s really intriguing about the speculation regarding the Rockets potentially seeking a new coach is what we’ve heard from Rockets GM Daryl Morey, specifically of late. On the same day the coaching rumors heated back up, Morey was publicly endorsing Mike D’Antoni.

On Monday Morey was on ESPN LA’s Mason and Ireland and didn’t exactly sound like an executive who was ready to make a coaching change. Morey was speaking about the Rockets’ schematic change to the small ball strategy and gave a heap of praise to D’Antoni.

Morey stated, “Coach D’Antoni is a wizard. If you give him the right players, coach D’Antoni is a hell of a coach.” Morey also endorsed MDA while speaking about how the Rockets have gotten Russell Westbrook to cut down on his 3-point attempts per game.

“This is why I love coach D’Antoni. From day one coach has [told Russell Westbrook] be great. That’s all he had to say. It’s our job to fit the players around him and fit the schemes around him.”

Sure, Morey wouldn’t exactly say he’s parting ways with D’Antoni, a la Jerry Krause, but this is a bit more than one would expect for a team with its sights set on making a coaching change. But if that doesn’t do it for you, perhaps you might be sold on what he had to say on The Lowe Post, which took place just two games before the league’s shutdown.

“I like someone who I’m being challenged by. Mike comes in and is constantly like ‘hey we should do this.’ The reality is without Mike D’Antoni, this Clint Capela for Robert Covington trade never happens. I’d be shocked if there’s very many coaches in the league where I can get that trade done.

As a GM, if you’re making what is a pretty big gamble, if you don’t have the coach on-board in a way that he understands how to use what we were going to try and do, you can’t make that. It’s just too risky, too risky. Too much giving up.

Coach D’Antoni said ‘I trust what you guys are doing, I see what you’re doing and we’re going to make it work. That means so much.”

Next: Making sense of Morey's words

Making sense of Morey’s quotes

This certainly seems like an unnecessary amount of praise to dole out if the Houston Rockets had plans on parting ways with the 2017 Coach of the Year. We also have to remember that these are plans we were told the Rockets formulated much earlier than March, which is when Morey made those comments. Morey spoke about how D’Antoni is the reason he was able to make the Covington trade, which was the birth of the small ball experience Morey values and lives by.

He also stated that he feels he’s challenged by D’Antoni, which isn’t necessarily something that should be ignored. Morey cited D’Antoni as “understanding how to use” what the Rockets’ brass was trying to do, which isn’t exactly something you can plug and play with any particular coach, especially considering the Rockets’ numbers-based scheme. This is evident by former coach Kevin McHale‘s criticism of the Rockets’ system, and we can’t assume he’s the only coach that feels that way.

Stranger things have certainly happened, and especially as it pertains to head coaching jobs in the NBA, but it would be a masterful job of deception on the Rockets’ part to offer this much praise for D’Antoni on his way out the door, if they were planning on making a change,

It’s especially interesting considering that he had this much to say about MDA around the same time the rumors and speculation began to heat up. The one consistent thing we’ve heard about dating back to last summer was about the Rockets’ contract negotiations with MDA, as the Rockets made a contractual offer to him which he rejected.

On Tuesday, Sam Amick of The Athletic also referenced the Rockets’ contract talks with D’Antoni, saying that he’s heard they’re far apart on agreeing to a number, which begs to question, who would have leaked that out? And why exactly would it have leaked at this juncture?

For this reason, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this is a negotiating tactic the Rockets could potentially be trying to utilize, but again, crazier things have happened.