With the Rockets heading into a short offseason, the Rockets have to find a new head coach to lead their tricky situation. The Rockets are seemingly on a downward trend. They have limited room to stay under the Luxury Tax, their core players are approaching or passing mid-30s in age, and they‘re in win-now with no head coach. Enter Chris Finch. Finch has been an assistant coach with the Rockets (4 years with Harden), Nuggets, and now the Pelicans as associate head coach. Being the lead man in Morey’s lab in RGV, Finch is familiar with the Rockets’ style of play. He’s coached Harden for 4 years as an assistant under Kevin Mchale and associate head coach later. Finch’s current position in New Orleans has challenges that are similar to the Rockets as far as fitting personnel. Namely at point guard where shooting isn’t the strongest skill. To find testimony in favor of Finch, look no further than Nick Nurse, who’s shared an eerily similar path as Finch. Both shared the coaching bench (Nurse under Finch) Both have been RGV Head Coach Both won championships as head coach overseas and D-League Both won D-League Coach of the Year Both are/were considered a top NBA offensive coordinator Both have been/are assistants in the NBA In the instances Nurse and Finch were on the same staff, it was Nurse who was under Finch. Their paths have been close and have paralleled each other for a long time. The only difference is Nurse got his opportunity to be head coach. And he quickly established himself as a formidable coach winning a championship and competing at a high level after a tumultuous offseason. Considering the success of former d-league coaches like Nick Nurse and Quin Snyder, I believe it’s time to give Chris Finch the reigns to his own NBA team. He’s a great balance in being accepting to Moreyball and having the ability to lead a Harden/Westbrook-led team. The only checkbox he doesn’t tick is the splash that Tilman Fertitta likes to make. But then again, Snyder and Nurse were unknown. Both of their franchises have bright futures and are currently competitive. Chris Finch is cut from the same cloth and has been groomed in the Rockets farm system. No one has the experience in Moreyball and time spent with Harden that Finch has. Couple that with Morey’s tendency to have a hand in hiring assistant coaches to complement the head coach, this could be the way the Rockets minimize any adjustment periods. Still regarded as one of the top offensive-minded coaches in the NBA, it’s Finch’s time to lift off. TL;DR: Very similar to Nick Nurse (Nurse was his assistant earlier in career) Coached Moreyball to a D-League championship and won CotY Assistant / Associate head coach experience Alum of Rockets Moreyball era Has worked with Harden before, so this will help any adjustment period
I love Finch. He always felt like Morey’s choice to eventually be HC while he was under McHale. This off-season is actually going to be long. Over 2 months until the draft. It’s equivalent to being out of the playoffs in the first round in 4 or even missing the playoffs. The off-season will inevitably get delayed even further. Getting a coach quickly is important though because the extra time needs to be utilized to get the staff in place fully.
It is possible that the Rockets are waiting to interview someone in more detail that is already on a staff. What the Rockets need to do is identify 3-4 very high level assistant coaches and see if they can get a couple of them locked up. We know the offense isn't going to be drastically different so someone like Alvin Gentry should be a top priority. There are others out there too like Brett Brown and Mark Daigneault that they should be trying to get on the staff.
i agree. I thought he was being groomed by Morey personally. Then MDA came along and while it didn’t make sense to me then, I could see why he got the job. He was one of the best established offensive innovators available. Finch has to move one. With MDA, I felt Nurse was the next man up to take over, but he found opportunity elsewhere. There just wasn’t room for an offensive coordinator with MDA at the helm. The stars are aligned for Finch this time. This is the break he’s been waiting for, and this is the void Morey prepared him for. The only way I see Finch not being here is if Tilman says there’s not enough star power in the name, or if Harden didn’t like Finch when he was here.
The Rockets pairing a top assistant with a Gentry as the lead assistant is my dream scenario. Gentry gets you a lot of what MDA brings on offense; it was always poor defenses that would get him in trouble. I'm intrigued with high ceiling risks like Silas, Finch, etc. Even Ty Lue intrigues me; I've never bought into the narrative that he simply rode Lebron's coattails.
Plus he comes in cheap Tilman just got a 300 million dollar high interest loan, so the cache crunch issue makes Finch a logical choice for Tilman . I still think Rockets will run the small ball experiment at-least one more year and Finch seems to be the right guy to run this experiment one more time.
I've kind of been wondering this. I'm not sure we've had that conversation yet as a team. I imagine Tilman and Morey and Harden will all want to be on the same page.
Good point. I haven’t thought of it from the financial crunch perspective. This is a rare case I’m glad Tilman has the penny pincher rep so Ty Lue is priced out.
I also don't get all this fascination and consideration about Ty Lue, or even JVG. JVG style does not fit at all with the players we have. He is a defensive minded coach who likes to slow down the game .....and everyone knows Ty Lue was not the "reason" Cleveland won the championship. He has not proven anything.
Not gonna lie, I was excited when I saw Cassell’s name. It’s the pick that skews more towards Fertitta as far as splashiness. But it could end up triggering a huge early rebuild or early termination.
I really want to see if Tilman will pay up for a quality assistant coaching staff. Have my doubts though. But it is needed. Player development and culture need to start now. The earlier the better
iono brehs, if finch is really as good as advertized, logically he would have already been head coach or picked up somewhere else. maybe maurley knows something we don't. anyway, he's white and i understand that our next coach has to be blek.
I have my doubts as well. He will spend money on something splashy or gets him attention but he cuts corners other places. My only hope is that he learned from last year and settling for Turner, who ended up having a lot of his defensive responsibilities taken from him. I tell everyone, go look at the Lakers assistant coaches....... then look at the Rockets assistants..... if you were MDA or Vogel and making adjustments, which group would you rather have input from?
I never thought Ty Lue was all that great either a tactician. However I have to give him his due, he made a number of crucial adjustments in the NBA Finals and out coached the Warriors great staff. He also is someone that will walk up to an elite player and tell them they are screwing up. The other thing to consider with Lue is that he likely would bring very good assistants with him. He is very close with Chauncey Billups, Jason Kid, Alvin Gentry and a number of others.
Looks better than Snyder. I dare him challenge Small ball and Moreyball. I think it's time to do his own thing, come up with 'new wrinkles', this time no lies. If he can stand up to Morey, he is the right guy. If he is another company guy, he won't change anything.
