Rockets down to 2 candidates Van Gundy, Dunleavy left as Brown, Silas head elsewhere By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle And then there were two. A week after the Rockets began their search for a successor to Rudy Tomjanovich by interviewing Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Dunleavy, they face a choice between Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Dunleavy. The other candidates on their Week 1 short list, and likely any need for a sense of urgency, are gone. Larry Brown agreed to replace Rick Carlisle in Detroit on Saturday, and according to league sources, sealed the deal on Sunday. Paul Silas, who on Friday called the Rockets' position "the premier job," accepted the offer to coach the Cavaliers on Saturday and will be named today. Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said Sunday that the Rockets had not targeted either remaining candidate or set up a second interview. But he repeated that he and Rockets owner Leslie Alexander remain pleased with the process and their options. "We don't plan to talk to anyone else, though that can always change," Dawson said. "We were happy with the people we interviewed all week. We'll move on to the next part of the process soon." In some ways, unless the Rockets would have preferred Brown or Silas, they might be better off than had they begun negotiations last week. Brown was interested in the Rockets' job enough to listen. But league sources said Brown preferred the Pistons' clearer path back to the finals. Though the Rockets, 43-39 last season, could have been the first team with a winning record to hire Brown, the Pistons went 50-32, advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, have the second pick of the draft and compete in the far less competitive East. With Van Gundy, who was also a finalist to coach the Cavaliers, no longer able to consider the position in Cleveland, the Rockets can negotiate with leverage they did not have last week. Dunleavy is also a candidate to coach the Clippers and the Hawks. But the Hawks cannot make a move until David McDavid is approved as owner, and the Clippers are unlikely to pursue anyone aggressively. After completing the first round of interviews on Friday, Dawson said he and Alexander had not chosen their preferences. But in some ways, a choice between Dunleavy and Van Gundy will offer a few clear differences in style, at least in their previous positions, to consider. Dunleavy has had more up-tempo teams, especially with the Lakers and Trail Blazers, using full-court defenses to create tempo. Van Gundy's Knicks excelled at a half-court game, especially defensively. Dunleavy, 49, took the Lakers to the NBA Finals and the Trail Blazers to the conference finals twice. Van Gundy, 41, led the Knicks to the 1999 Finals.
Great to hear that the Rockets will take their time on this. How many phases in the interview process are left after the second phase?
From what CD said on Fox Sports Net, the Rockets will take their sweet time since we don't have the Draft to worry about too much like most other teams. He will probably come up with a gameplan about the gameplan this week. Then next week maybe review the gameplan minus the gameplanning of the gameplan. Then take it from their... Real slow!!!
You are not allowed to vote. Just kidding. The national media seem all seem to say that Dunleavy is the man. I still can't believe that Dunleavy is the best the Rockets can get.
I am losing my patience on CD and Les now. How long will it take for you to make a freaking decision? Do you some rest, like Yao do? If you are going to wait a month or two, only Larry Smith will be left! Get the Rick Carlisle/JVG now and you can have a summer vacation!
well, the rockets wanna take it ssssslllllloooooowwwwwwww...... so, the result, LB and Silas got away, and we are left with MD and JVG which are great coaches too, but, we could have done better with LB and Silas.
Both candidates [Van Gundy & Dunleavy] have their advantages... going to be interesting to see who the Rox pick, but i'll be happy with any of them.
Great, by that time Dunleavy will got to the Hawks, JVG will decide that he doesn't want to coach anymore. There will be no candidates left. Maybe this is a scam to get Rudy back.
"In some ways,unless the Rockets had preferred Brown or Silas,they might be 'BETTER OFF' than had they begun negociations last week"-Jonathan Feigan trying to sugarcoat this mess
If The Rockets wanted Brown, they way Les was braggin, then CD & Les are the two biggest idiots in the world. Larry Brown sounded like he had genuine interest, but as of Saturday, had not heard a word from the Rockets. I personally think that Silas was the #2 coach available, and obviously so did the Cavaliers. Now he is gone! Now we are stuck with JVG and Dunleavy. With all the coaching vacancies, they will probably be gone within a weeks time. Whats Next? Hearing CD make more stupid comments about how they are taking their time and love their options. Idiots!!
Disappointing.... These are the two guys left.. What about Rick Carlisle??? Well I'll pick........man. I don't like either one that much.
It seems as though managements strategy was to wait until all the coaches are taken and sign whoever is remaining....
I know CD has been around a long time and all but he's seriously pissing me off with this stupid "oh I've been getting so many calls. I'm so surprised at the interest, yadda yadda yadda." Sounds like CD was out talking a stroll through his garden while Joe Dumars was working his ass off to get his guy the whole time. Geezus! And why settle on JVG and Dunleavy? Carlisle is a better coach than both of these guys. At least give the guy a freaking interview for pete's sake.
Are the Rockets still going to add veterens to the backcourt, pursue a power forward, etc..? If the offseason that started off with so much hope and ends with Dunleavy at coach and the Steve and Cuttino show still intact, this will be the worst collapse in Houston sports history. Worse than the Oilers Bills fiasco.
