Despite coming up short in his debut as Rockets head coach Saturday night in Portland, Stephen Silas earned rave reviews from his two most veteran players.
"I thought he was good," Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said after Monday's shootaround in Denver. "He had a good spirit about himself, a swagger you look for in a head coach. Still, cool and calm as he always is."
Without four key rotation players, John Wall, Eric Gordon, Ben McLemore, and DeMarcus Cousins, the Rockets took a heavily favored Blazers team to overtime before falling 128-126 in what was the first time Silas' players had seen him in a late-game, high-pressure situation.
"He did a great job," Rockets guard James Harden said. "Very confident, knew what he was drawing up, knew where to put his guys at. It was up to us to go out there an execute."
Silas' first game as Rockets head coach came less than three weeks after his first training camp practice, so he is still building relationships with players he had little or no history with prior to his hire, and Tucker says he has one trait that stands out thus far.
"He's always cool, man. He's one of the coolest coaches I've ever seen in my life. He's just super cool. It's seems nonchalant, but it's not, it's just his personality, you get to know that by being around him."