LAS VEGAS (SportsRadio 610)- Stephen Silas planned to re-watch all 72 games from his first season as Rockets head coach. The week before the draft he said he was halfway point, but on Sunday he told SportsRadio 610 he's unlikely to get through them all, and he explained why.
"It was just frustrating to see all the different lineups and see all that different stuff, so I kind of slowed down. I don't know if I'm going to make it. I said I was, but I don't know."
You can't blame Silas for not wanting to re-live his opening season with the Rockets. He hit more turbulence than one of those planes that flies into the eye of a hurricane.
He dealt with trade demands, training camp holdouts, COVID outbreaks, a never-ending injury list, and a 20-game losing streak. By the time the season ended he had a center playing point guard and he found himself giving minutes to players he only knew by watching their highlights on YouTube. It was a draining season to say the least.
"I didn't realize it until after the season, but it took a big toll," Silas said. "It took a toll on everybody, I think. Whether you were with the Rockets, a fan of the Rockets, writing about the Rockets.
"The COVID was a big deal, and changing rosters was a big deal, and the losing streak was a big deal, and trying to just manage took a lot of energy and a lot of thought and a lot overall."
Along with navigating around a new crisis seemingly everyday, Silas was learning how to do the job of NBA head coach, and as he's spent time evaluating his team over the last three months, he's also evaluated himself. In doing so, he's picked out one area he must improve from last season.
"I need to do a better job of trusting my assistants," he admitted. "When it's your first time (as a head coach), you just want to do it all yourself, and I think I'm at a place where I don't have to do it all myself anymore."
These days Silas looks happy and refreshed. It's been almost three months since the Rockets closed the 2020-21 season in Atlanta, and in the time between, general manager Rafael Stone added four talented 19-year olds to his roster, headlined by second overall pick Jalen Green. Needless to say, Silas is excited about the future.
"I'm walking around with a smile on my face because we have direction. Rafael did a great job with the draft. We have veterans that I love, and we have a really good group of good guys."
Silas took over a ready-made team when he was named Rockets head coach last October. The team was riding an eight-year playoff streak and had advanced past the first round four straight seasons. It was his team, but it wasn't HIS team. That's no longer the case today.
Following a complete overhaul over the last nine months only Eric Gordon and Danuel House Jr remain from the group Silas inherited. If he ends up with a successful run as Rockets head coach it will be with players he helped bring in, and the prospect of building a team up from the very bottom has him excited to start that process.
"It'd be so much fun to go through the growing pains and actually get rewarded for it. It's a day by day, week by week, month by month process, and year by year, but to be where we were last year, and still have the positivity around our group says a lot about the people, it says a lot about Rafael, it says a lot about ownership, and hopefully it'll say a lot about me."
