5 reasons Jeff Van Gundy isn’t a perfect fit for Houston Rockets
By John Buhler
Jeff Van Gundy could find himself back in the NBA as the head coach of the Houston Rockets. Here are five reasons Van Gundy isn’t an ideal fit for Houston.
The Houston Rockets have taken their sweet time in finding their next head coach to lead their talented, but a frustrating group of players. Houston went from playing in the 2015 Western Conference Finals as the No. 2 seed to a .500 record, a No. 8 seed, and a swift first-round exit in the 2016 NBA Playoffs.
The Rockets still have a lot of talent on their roster, but the conflicting personalities in the locker room proved to be the team’s demise in 2015-16. Former head coach Kevin McHale was the first casualty.
The team’s second-best player in center Dwight Howard announced during the holiday season that he would opt out of his final three years of his contract with the Rockets to become a free agent. It’s fair to say that Howard’s stint in Houston has come to an end.
Even interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t want to be the team’s full-time head coach in 2016-17, despite guiding a troubled Rockets team to the 2016 Western Conference Playoffs after taking over the reigns from the departed McHale.
No team has interviewed more head coaching candidates than Houston. Interestingly, perhaps the front-runner for the job is former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy who last coached the team in the 2006-07 NBA season. While Houston could decide to bring back Van Gundy into the fold in 2016-17, here are five reasons that it is not an ideal situation for either party.
Next: 5. Away from coaching for too long