Stephen Silas didn’t ask for this. He thought he was hired to coach the James Harden and the Houston Rockets to a deep playoff run. Almost weeks after being hired, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, Christian Wood was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and suddenly, Silas was the coach of the franchise’s rebuild in year one.
Many casuals around the league have glanced at the Rockets’ 18-54 record and, without thinking, knee-jerked into “fire Silas” opinions.
But as Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, a player with four championships playing for a top-15 all-time coach, knows, it’s not Silas’ fault.
After the Warriors played the Rockets on Monday, Green responded to the no-nothing fans who placed all the Houston Rockets’ blame on their head coach:
“You get in a certain situation, and it’s very easy to build bad habits. But habits are hard to break. You build bad habits, and it kind of becomes who you are,” Green said. “It’s important to try to play the right way.”
He continued to compliment Silas and assistant Lionel Hollins, the coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, during the highly competitive Memphis/Golden State rivalry of the 2010s.
“They’re well-coached, you look at the coaching staff over there,” Green said. “[Silas] has been around the game his whole life. Lionel Hollins, who coached the Grizzlies when I came in the league, he’s been around the game a very long time, the NBA game, in particular, a very long time. … They have a great coaching staff.”
Draymond Green on Stephen Silas and the Houston Rockets
Silas’ father, former NBA head coach and longtime forward Paul Silas, is a legend in the NBA as a player and coach. He won three NBA championships, two with the Boston Celtics and one with the Seattle Sonics.
As a head coach, the elder Silas won 387 games across 12 seasons with the then-San Diego Clippers, Charlotte (and later New Orleans) Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Charlotte Bobcats, where the younger Silas began his NBA coaching career as an assistant coach under his father.
Related: Why the idea of James Harden returning to the Houston Rockets is flawed
Draymond Green’s defense of Stephen Silas
Draymond Green is a student of the game and understands the family tree Silas comes from, a guy who grew up around basketball, soaking up everything his father taught him. Speaking directly to the Houston Rockets’ young core, specifically, the players who have contributed the most to the poor vibes and effort, Jalen Green (21 years old), Kevin Porter Jr. (22 years old), and Jabari Smith Jr. (19 years old), Green said:
“With a young group with no veteran leadership, really, it’s important that they hear those coaches,” Green said. “They know the NBA game in and out, they’ve been doing it for a long time.”
After the media, NBA Twitter, and the less informed lobbying verbal shots Stephen Silas’ way all season, it was great to see a four-time champion and future Hall-of-Famer sticking up for a young head coach trying his best over an immature roster.
Green is right.
The Huston Rockets lack veterans outside of Boban Marjanović. Outside of Boban, is anyone turning to Frank Kaminsky (the third oldest Rocket at 29 years old) for mentorship?
The other two teams at the bottom of the standings are just as atrocious offensively and defensively, but they both have one thing the Rockets don’t — veterans.
The San Antonio Spurs have the greatest coach of all time, Gregg Popovich, and veterans Zach Collins, Devonte’ Graham, Doug McDermott, Khem Birch, and Gorgui Dieng, to serve as elder statesmen. Not that the Spurs’ elite culture needs that many vets to get Pop’s message across.
While the Detroit Pistons are coached by Dwane Casey, who won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 as an assistant coach and architect of their defensive identity. They also have vets like Bojan Bogdanovic, Rodney McGruder, Cory Joseph, and Alec Burks.
This summer, Houston Rockets general manager Rafael Stone’s top two priorities should be bringing in veterans to fill out the roster and trading Porter Jr. (the number one malcontent on the team).
The next priority should be improving the second-worst defensive rating with roster upgrades. Role players across the NBA have hit career-highs on the Rockets, including Sacramento Kings rookie Keegan Murray, who scored 30 points on Feb. 2 on eight made three-point shots. Jalen Green, the team’s best player, must be surrounded by better leaders than Porter Jr. Even so, Jalen Green has stuck up for his coach, including after the Kings’ loss.
“He had every right to be angry,” Jalen Green said. “His message was just, basically, we got to play harder. That’s our second game giving up that many points. He was just saying we’ve got to play harder. We can’t come out like that. Have some type of pride for ourselves. He was saying we’re doing ourselves a disservice. So, I think everyone in the locker room agreed with him.”
The Houston Rockets earned the worst record for two straight seasons. They are on track to make it three consecutive this season. But it’s ignorant to pin that all on Silas, who deserves some blame but is also coaching the team with the least overall talent, and no clear future superstar.
The Rockets’ young players, Jalen Green, Kenyon Martin Jr., and Alperen Şengün, have all improved under Silas’ guidance. But again, casuals had pinpointed the minutes’ distribution of players like Şengün, who has repeatedly been benched in fourth quarters when the Rockets were going on runs.
Stephen Silas deserves more time with the Houston Rockets
Only Silas knows why he has managed rotations and minutes the way he has, as he might be challenging his players after missed defensive rotations or selfish shot selections. A foundation is being laid in Houston, much to the mismanagement of Stone and unlikable owner Tilman Fertitta.
Again, this is not the job Silas signed up for, but he has given it his all. The front office needs first to provide him with the veterans he needs to translate his message to the younger players and solidify the weak spots roster-wise, leading to defensive improvement.
We also need to see where the Rockets land in Lottery luck, as they are tied with the Pistons and Spurs for the best odds of landing the much-heralded Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Once Silas is given a functional roster and not a daycare, then we can begin to judge him as a head coach. As Draymond Green said, “Sometimes you need a veteran to relay the message the coach is trying to say, they don’t have that luxury.”
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo
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