Kristian Winfield: Stephen Silas could just be the Rockets' newest scapegoat

Stephen Silas, a well-respected assistant with the Mavericks, has agreed to replace Mike D’Antoni as the next head coach of the Rockets. In his first stint as a head coach, he will attempt to do the impossible: lead a Rockets team with championship aspirations to a Finals appearance they likely won’t ever realize.

The Silas hiring looks good on paper. He is NBA legacy, the son of former coach Paul Silas. He is 47 years old; D’Antoni turned 69 in May. He was also the Mavericks’ offensive coordinator who built the league’s most powerful offense around Luka Doncic, who is as transcendent a young star as the NBA has seen since James Harden.

Oh, and we can’t forget: He checks the diversity and inclusion box. Silas becomes — cue 2010 LeBron James — not the first, not the second, not the third, but the league’s seventh Black head coach. The others are Doc Rivers (76ers), Tyronn Lue (Clippers), Lloyd Pierce (Hawks), Dwane Casey (Pistons, after getting fired by the Raptors fired after winning Coach of the Year), J.B. Bickerstaff (Cavaliers) and Monty Williams (Suns).

There were seven Black coaches in the NBA last season.

There were nine Black coaches in the NBA the season before that, eight if you remove Earl Watson, who was given a two-week termination notice in the 2017 training camp before the Suns fired him three games into the regular season. Well, seven if you remove Jason Kidd, who the Bucks fired midway into the regular season despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s strong bond with his head coach. Actually, it’s six if you remove David Fizdale, who the Grizzlies fired 19 games into — you get the point. The last one is really partial credit, as the Grizzlies replaced Fizdale with Bickerstaff that season, then fired Bickerstaff at the end of the following year.

In an NBA composed of more than 80% Black players, Black coaches are the minority, and they are on a tighter leash than their white counterparts. It is one of the many ways sports are a microcosm for American society.

There’s only one more coaching vacancy left, and it’s in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have one of the league’s most attractive young cores and a massive stockpile of draft assets. History shows Black coaches are rarely hired into ready-made situations (see: Steve Nash inherits championship contender). They get jobs perceived as unwanted, the jobs that are set up for failure.

Which brings us back to the Rockets job, and their decision to hire Silas.

This is Silas’ second go-round in the Rockets’ coaching circuit, having impressed management while interviewing for the job in 2016 before Houston settled on Mike D’Antoni. This time around, he beat out notable names like ex-Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, John Lucas and Wes Unseld Jr.

The Rockets have delusions of grandeur. No analytics that can turn this roster into a legitimate Finals contender.

Not in the same conference as LeBron James. Not in the same conference at Kawhi Leonard. Not with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors roaring back. Not with Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and the Dallas Mavericks lurking in the backdrop. Not with the Denver Nuggets, who have the best point guard-center tandem in basketball. And probably not with the Utah Jazz, who underperformed and still took the Nuggets to Game 7 in the first round.

The Rockets are a team you would rank about seventh, give or take, in their own conference. They have played well in the regular season only to fizzle out year after year in the playoffs. Case in point: They needed seven games to get by the Thunder and only mustered one win in the second round against the Lakers.

The Rockets have tried, from Chris Paul, to Russell Westbrook, to small ball, to trey ball. Nothing has worked. The reality is this: The Rockets are in purgatory, far too good to tank for a draft pick, not good enough to win it all, and little-to-no flexibility to improve the roster.

Their two stars have three years left on contracts perceived as immovable, each worth more than $130 million due to Harden, 31, and Westbrook, soon-to-be 32. Silas signed a four-year deal in Houston, but coaches — specifically coaches of color — historically find it difficult to coach the entire length of their deal.

Silas may turn out to be an excellent head coach. He may very well unlock Westbrook, whose production is paramount to Houston’s slim championship odds. He may make more use of Harden off the ball, or run less isolation and more of a free-flowing offense predicated on player movement. He may take some emphasis from offense to defense, where the Rockets showed some improvement in spurts in the playoffs.

But you had better believe this: Every Rockets season will be judged by whether or not they escape the second round. They have lost in the second round three out of the last four years, and the season they made it to the Western Conference finals, they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Warriors and lost Game 7 by missing 27 consecutive 3-point shots.

They have made the Western Conference finals just twice in the Harden era, first under Kevin McHale, then under D’Antoni.

The Rockets blamed McHale. Then Carmelo Anthony. Then Chris Paul. Then Clint Capela. Then Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey. Houston is quick to place blame everywhere it doesn’t belong.

At the end of the day, the Rockets have given Silas an opportunity, if not exactly a golden one. An opportunity to maximize the abilities of a senescent roster that’s been drained dry. An opportunity to showcase his talent as a basketball mind, a leader, a teacher and a thinker in one of the NBA’s biggest markets.

He’s also in line to take the hits for the Rockets’ imminent struggles should they fail to meet the franchise’s desire to win a title with Harden.

Even if the Rockets keep Silas in town after Harden and Westbrook’s contracts expire, they won’t have any first-round picks until 2027. Houston’s 2024, ’25 and ’26 first-round picks belong to Oklahoma City as a result of the Westbrook trade.

The Rockets’ roster projects only to get worse as their stars age, and management armed with few tools to replace their production over the years.

But yeah. At least Houston checked the diversity and inclusion box.

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