James Harden’s future with the Houston Rockets has surprisingly been the subject of plenty of rumors following the departure of Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey. The coach will work now under Steve Nash as an assistant and Morey joined the Philadelphia 76ers, which sparked rumors of a possible trade for James Harden to team him up with Joel Embiid in Philly.
That seems to be an unlikely possibility right now but that could change in the future since Harden didn’t agree with some changes the Rockets’ front office made in the last couple of days. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Beard wasn’t in love with the possibility of Stephen Silas becoming the team’s new head coach. He was favoring other coaches but the team ultimately picked the Dallas Mavericks assistant coach.
Mike D’Antoni walked away from the Rockets as head coach less than 48 hours after their season ended, with no promise of a new job, and will be a Nets assistant coach next season under Steve Nash. Daryl Morey then fled Clutch City, in the midst of a coaching search, to take over the Philadelphia 76ers’ front office.
And Houston didn’t hire either of the candidates Harden endorsed the strongest to replace D’Antoni: Tyronn Lue and John Lucas.
Rival teams are thus already wondering: a.) how perturbed Harden is, and b.) how long before the Tilman Fertitta-owned Rockets seriously entertain trading him?
Silas has a good reputation around the league but this time the work will be different and harder. He will have to coach one of the biggest superstars in the game in James Harden and the relationship they develop will be crucial for the team’s success this season.
Silas has always been well-liked, too, as evidenced by the praise his hiring drew on social media from the likes of Luka Doncic and Jamal Crawford. The relationship he builds with Harden figures to be the most important of his career, but it’s certainly promising for the Rockets that he has always been able to click with stars, going back to his early days in Cleveland and Golden State when Silas could often be found before games preparing LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Well, everybody within the organization expects this to work. They are running out of time and Harden isn’t getting any younger. They are ready to ‘cash in’ on Harden’s prime but it’s unclear how much time he has left before his level starts decreasing. If not, James will always have the option to request a trade and as we’ve learned, he won’t miss suitors.
