The Houston Rockets amassed arguably more talent than any other team in the NBA over the past few seasons.
They took full advantage of the departure of James Harden to establish one of the most promising young corps in the league.
And even though having a young team is rarely a guarantee of success in this league, the lack of development mid-season raised doubts about Stephen Silas’ ability to take this team forward.
Now that Silas is gone, the Rockets will reportedly pursue former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Sources told ESPN that Nurse would immediately become a leading candidate in the Houston Rockets’ coaching search. He won the 2019 NBA title as the Raptors coach and was named the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 21, 2023
Nurse was relieved of his duties on Friday after months of speculation about his future with the organization.
There were rumors of him not seeing eye to eye with some players, and the situation could become volatile.
Notably, Nurse had four winning seasons in charge of the team, with his only sub-. 500 campaign coming in a pandemic season, when he was forced to relocate to Florida due to Canadian health and safety regulations.
In his first year on the job, he led them to an NBA Championship, followed by an NBA Coach of the Year campaign.
He would be a huge upgrade over Silas in terms of game-planning and adjustments, as the Rockets were heavily criticized for their iso-heavy offense and lack of fundamentals.
The Rockets are loaded with talent and will have some extra cash in the off-season, so look out for them if they manage to get one of the best guys available as their coach.
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