HIGH ALERT!
Something is happening within the Houston Rockets that should worry everyone
A few years ago, a group of basketball writers took a dark turn and ranked the “50 Worst Coaches in NBA History.”
Topping the list was Sidney Lowe, who compiled a 79-228 record for a .257 winning percentage (more appropriately a .743 losing percentage) while coaching the Timberwolves and Grizzlies during 2000-03.
That made Lowe the worst of the worst.
Well, Rockets’ current coach Stephen Silas is worse.
Silas’ first year at the Rockets’ helm was 2020-21. The team went 17-55 and finished with the worst record in the NBA.
In 2021-22, the Rockets went 20-62 and finished with the worst record in the NBA.
So far in 2022-23, the Rockets stand at 10-34, the worst record in the NBA. Let’s play a drinking game, you have to take a shot each time I write the word “worst.”
Silas’ career record as an NBA coach is 47-151 for a winning percentage of .237. Take that, Sidney Lowe.
Put it this way, if Silas somehow keeps his job as Rockets coach, hard to believe, the Rockets would need to compile six consecutive seasons of 50 wins to get Silas’ career mark to .500. That scenario is unlikely on so many fronts, especially with the sword of Damocles hanging over Silas’ job security these days. As in any day now.
The Rockets are mired in an 11-game losing streak, and have dropped 16 of their last 17 games. Monday night, they followed three consecutive 20 point-plus blowouts by giving up 140 points, their worst defensive effort of the year, to the struggling Lakers.
How much more of these nightly drubbings can Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta take? Fertitta isn’t exactly a guy who takes losing easily. He is a firebrand with a ferocious personality. I remember sitting and talking with Fertitta in Hilton Garden Inn lobbies during Little League tournaments. He knew all the players and their batting averages. He’s intense.
Fertitta and Silas are a match made in personality hell. Silas is a laid-back, soft-spoken dude who doesn’t lose his cool on the bench as the Rockets go into hibernation during the third quarter (not that they’re so great during the first, second and fourth quarters, either).
The Rockets are a young team, which could use a raving maniac on the bench who’s kicking their asses to start winning games. In fact, the Rockets are a last-place team and trending downward.
Earlier this month, 15-year veteran guard Eric Gordon was asked if the team at least has been playing better since the start of the season.
His disgusted answer: “There’s no improvement. Same old thing all year.”
That’s an honest answer, and 100-percent accurate, but not what you want to hear from your team leader.
Meanwhile Toyota Center, where the Rockets have a 6-14 home record, has become a hospital quiet zone. The ticket office is getting by on smoke, mirrors, bobbleheads and cheap seats that include beer and hot dogs. The biggest crowd roar goes up when Boban Marjanovic takes the floor in garbage time.
If the worst team in the NBA isn’t getting better, what hope is there for the future under current management? Things can’t go on like this.
