Rockets' Stephen Silas Reflects on 'Rocky' James Harden Stint After Nets Trade

First-year Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas only had James Harden for eight games before a blockbuster trade sent the guard to the Brooklyn Nets. The short timeframe still left a mostly positive impression on Silas.

"I had an opportunity to coach a Hall of Famer," Silas told reporters on Thursday. "And that’s one of the things I was excited about. ... It was a rocky start and a rocky midway and a rocky end, but he was nothing but professional to me. He gave me good advice. He was engaged. ... [It] just didn’t work out.”

Harden was averaging 24.8 points, 10.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game at the time of his trade. Silas did get to see one star performance from the prolific scorer before his departure as Harden went for 44 points and 17 assists in his season debut.

It's already been a whirlwind few months for Silas. 

The 48-year-old believed he was taking a job to coach a contending roster led by the backcourt of Harden and Russell Westbrook. Then Westbrook was sent to the Washington Wizards for a package centered around John Wall just before the preseason began. He lasted barely a month with Harden. Now the contender looks more like a rebuild.

"The two guys who I spoke to last were [Westbrook] and [Harden] and now they're not here anymore," Silas said of his interview process. "Those were the guys who vouched for me to get the job. I assume if they didn't like the conversations that they had with me, I wouldn't be here right now. So for neither guy to be here, most recently James, it is kind of, I don't know, sobering." 

Silas did say he's still grateful to Harden and Westbrook for helping him get his first head coaching job. But it's clear he wasn't expecting immediate trades of his highest-profile players. 

Now he's leading a team headlined by Victor Oladipo, P.J. Tucker, Christian Wood and Wall, though if this is a full rebuild, how long any of them sticks around this season remains to be seen. 

As far as Silas is concerned, there are no hard feelings between him and Harden. The guard may have been done with the Rockets as a franchise, but it appears he left on a strong note with his coach. 

"The relationship that I had with James was good," Silas said. "And we had some good conversations over the last couple of days. I talked to him yesterday kind of before all this stuff happened and then we texted back and forth after it happened. It was all positive. All good."