Rockets Rumors: Wes Unseld Jr., Stephen Silas to Interview for Vacant HC Job

The Houston Rockets are "starting to receive permission to interview assistants for [their] vacant head coaching job," per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, which includes Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr. and Dallas Mavericks assistant Stephen Silas.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni left the team this offseason after Houston lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals. D'Antoni was not under contract for the 2020-21 season. 

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported earlier in September that the Rockets expected to reunite with D'Antoni:

"Rockets management knew that D'Antoni excelled. The team's expectation was that they would bring him back. Assumptions elsewhere were that a disappointing five-game conference semifinals beatdown by the Lakers would end his tenure. He might have assumed that, too. And perhaps negotiations would have gone sideways as they did last summer. But the Rockets did not intend to spend the offseason looking for a new coach."

Instead, they are now looking for a new coach. 

Unseld has a lot of appeal after the Denver Nuggets made a run to the Western Conference Finals, overcoming two 3-1 deficits before bowing out to the Lakers in five games. He received a major endorsement from Nuggets head coach Mike Malone during that run.

"Wes Unseld should be a head coach," Malone told reporters earlier in September.  

"He manages our defense," he added. "I trust Wes to do his job."

Silas has been an assistant coach since the 2000-01 season, spending three seasons with the Charlotte and New Orleans Hornets, two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, five seasons with the Golden State Warriors, eight seasons with the Charlotte Bobcats and Hornets and the last two seasons with the Mavs. 

Whoever takes over the Rockets will both have plenty of talent to work with (James Harden, Russell Westbrook) and a roster that was built to suit D'Antoni's floor-spacing offensive approach. The Rockets likely will make some moves in the offseason to adjust that roster a bit and could have a very different look in the 2020-21 campaign.