Houston Rockets no longer considering Jeff Van Gundy

Former head coach Jeff Van Gundy is longer in the mix to be the next head coach of the Houston Rockets in 2016-16. Houston continues to take its precious time.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo! Sports, former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach “Jeff Van Gundy is no longer a candidate for Rockets job.” Wojnarowski also tweeted that while Van Gundy “had interest in a reunion”, both “sides never set down to talk.”

This news comes as somewhat as a surprise, as many viewed that Van Gundy was actually the front-runner for the Rockets’ job.

Houston has taken an absurd amount of time in figuring out who will appropriately replace the departed Kevin McHale as head coach in 2016-17.

The problem with Van Gundy isn’t that he is under-qualified to lead the Rockets, as many of his former top assistants are now thriving in head coaching roles in the NBA, it’s that Van Gundy hasn’t been a head coach since Rockets owner Leslie Alexander fired him back in 2007.

Houston has reportedly interviewed around 14 people for their head coaching gig including Philadelphia 76ers top assistant and former NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni, former Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek, and former player turned NBA analyst on Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith for the job.

Expect Houston to come to a decision in the next few days, as they are one of only four teams with head coaching vacancies remaining, along with the Knicks, the Orlando Magic, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Houston is taking its sweet time in this hiring process, so hopefully the Rockets make the right decision for their organization. While a Van Gundy reunion would have been highly interesting, it now seems obvious that it isn’t going to happen in 2016-17.

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