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NBA Rumors: Kenny Smith to interview for Houston Rockets gig

By John Buhler

May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; TNT television personality Kenny Smith prior to game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; TNT television personality Kenny Smith prior to game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Houston Rockets will interview former Rockets point guard and Inside the NBA’s television analyst Kenny Smith for their head coaching vacancy Tuesday.

According to ESPN’s Calvin Watkins, the Houston Rockets are going to interview former point guard and Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith for their head coaching position on Tuesday. This would be the eighth candidate Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has met in the last few weeks.

Watkins adds that Smith and Alexander have a solid relationship, so this could play a part in the television analyst getting an interview with the team.

Smith was a former lottery pick by the Sacramento Kings in the 1987 NBA Draft out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith would spend the bulk of his 10-year NBA career with the Rockets, playing on both of their NBA Championship teams in 1994 and 1995.

Smith retired from the NBA after the 1996-97 NBA season at the age of 31. He quickly began working for Turner Sports in 1998 and has been with the television network ever since.

While he is a former NBA point guard and a face that everybody in the NBA knows about from television, Smith has never been a coach in any capacity before. Though that might have been a serious road block in years past, teams like the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks have hired former NBA point guards like Jason Kidd and Derek Fisher to be their head coaches without any head coaching experience.

What Smith has in his favor that the other two former point guards didn’t is that he has a fantastic relationship with the Rockets owner and that he has spent significant time away from an NBA locker room. The latter could prove crucial in helping get the Rockets’ chaotic locker room turned around in 2016-17, as the players wouldn’t view Smith as one of their peers.

Smith shouldn’t be the first choice for the Rockets to hire, but it’s interesting to see him get the interview nonetheless. We’ll see how this all transpires in the next few days.

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