Stephen Silas not returning as coach of Houston Rockets

HOUSTON (AP)— Stephen Silas won’t return as coach of the Houston Rockets nextseason, two people familiar with the decision told The AssociatedPress on Sunday.

Silas wrappedup his third season with the team when theRockets beat the Wizards114-109to finish the season 22-60. That’s tied with theSpurs for the second-worst record in the NBA.

His contracthad a fourth-year option that the team is declining to pick up,according to the two people who spoke to the AP on condition ofanonymity because the move hadn’t been announced.

One of thepeople said the 49-year-old Silas could remain with the team in anundetermined role.

Silas,speaking to reporters in Washington after the game was over, saidhe had a meeting with Rockets officials scheduled for Mondaymorning but did not confirm that his tenure as Houston’s head coachwas over. However, he seemed prepared for that likelihood andreflected on his time with the Rockets.

“I feelproud,” he said. “I wanted to be a head coach my whole life. Iwanted to be like my dad. Proud of these guys, proud of their hardwork, proud of their growth and maturity as they got through theseason.”

The Rocketsfinished with the NBA’s worst record in each of his first twoseasons as they traded or released all their established stars toembark on a complete rebuild.

Houston wonfour of its last five games, but it wasn’t nearly enough to savethe job of Silas, who joined the Rockets after spending 20 yearswith various NBA teams as an assistant coach and scout.

“There’s beena lot of talk about my job for a long time, right? For a couplemonths,” Silas said. “They just kept playing and kept working andtrying hard and weren’t worried about that. They were worried aboutgetting better and playing hard for their coach. I’m proud ofthat.”

It was adifficult season for Silas. His father, longtime NBA player andcoach Paul Silas, died in December.

“Definitely ahard year. Death is hard when your person closest to you, theperson who teaches you all about what you’re doing on a dailybasis, you lose him, it makes it difficult,” Silas said. “What madeit easier was a group of guys in that locker room who wouldn’tquit, just tried hard and wanted to do the right things. And astaff full of people who I could share quiet moments with or leanon.”

The Rocketswill be one of three teams with the best odds to win the draftlottery and get the No. 1 pick at 14%. Houston selected JabariSmith with the third pick last year and drafted Jalen Green at No.2 in 2021.

Houstonhasn’t had the first overall pick since 2002 when the team draftedYao Ming.