Houston Rockets: 5 candidates to replace Mike D’Antoni as head coach

5. Jeff Van Gundy

Despite the fact that he hasn’t coached in an NBA game since 2007, Jeff Van Gundy is a name that frequently comes up in head coaching vacancies, particularly in New York and Houston, where he’s found success in the past.

As The New York Times’ Marc Stein reports, there are rumbles Houston would be interested in bringing JVG back to Clutch City as D’Antoni’s replacement, especially since general manager Daryl Morey had interest in rehiring Van Gundy back in 2016 before ultimately going with Mike D.

Van Gundy boasts a career 430-318 record (.575), including 182-146 (.554) in four seasons with the Rockets. Despite spending most of his time as an ESPN broadcaster, he’s also spent time coaching Team USA, leading them to a 15-2 record in World Cup qualifying most recently.

This would be a risky hire, however. Although Van Gundy was successful during his time in the league, that was 13 years ago. The game has drastically changed since then, and although Houston attempted a fair number of 3-pointers during his final two seasons with the team, would his coaching philosophies align with Morey-ball in this entirely new pace-and-space league?