ASU Basketball: What Head Coach Will Fit Best with Harden?
The NBA Finals are right around the corner, and the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers will be preparing for a best-of-7 series to see who will become the new NBA Champions. For the other 28 teams, they are already in the offseason.
This includes former Sun Devil James Harden and the Houston Rockets, who are now searching for a new head coach after the team parted ways with Mike D’Antoni following their 4-1 conference semifinals exit against the Lakers. Now the focus shifts to finding a new head coach that meshes well with Harden, who is the face of the franchise. So below, I will dive into three options that would suit the Rockets and number 13 well.
Tyronn Lue
Tyronn Lue’s name seems to always be swirling around head coaching vacancies since his stint with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, when he went to three straight NBA Finals, winning one back in 2016. Lue is currently an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, who also just parted ways with long-time head coach Doc Rivers after blowing a 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals.
If Lue doesn’t get promoted in L.A., he would be a perfect fit for Houston and Harden. He’s already dealt with and coached a superstar player in LeBron James, and he has the experience of making it to three finals in his only three full years of being a head coach. He’s also a two-time NBA champ as a player as well, so the success is there. He’s used to working with two ball-dominant players as well since Kyrie Irving was the Robin to LeBron like Russell Westbrook is to Harden. So he should be able to bring in a game plan that will hopefully help the Rockets launch into the promised land.
Nate McMillan
Nate McMillan has been a coach in the NBA for 20 years now, so basically the whole century. He’s had head coaching stints with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers and most recently, the Indiana Pacers. McMillan made the playoffs in all four years with the Pacers, but each time Indiana lost in the first round. Even with injuries in the bubble, the team decided to fire McMillan after getting swept by the Miami Heat, months after he just signed an extension, which made the firing mind-boggling.
McMillan is a former guard with great defensive intensity, something that he preaches as a coach. For Harden, most of the time he’s been in Houston, he has had offensive-minded coaches. McMillan would be a nice change of pace for the former-MVP, as we know the Rockets can score. But what has been preventing them from getting over the hump and into the NBA Finals is their inconsistent defense. If McMillan went to Texas, I think he could bring some hard-nosed coaching to a team that lacked it under D’Antoni, and I think Harden would be just fine figuring out the offensive play-calling himself. I mean, he’s in isolation most of the time anyway.
Doc Rivers
The most recent coach to find himself in the open market is Doc Rivers. As mentioned earlier, he and the Clippers parted ways this afternoon after the team’s high expectations came to a halt after their loss to the Nuggets. Rivers is considered one of the best coaches in the league, so why wouldn’t Harden and company want him to lead their team.
Rivers has been a head coach since 1999 and has 943 career wins. Even though he only has one chip under his resume, he’s made deep runs in the playoffs numerous times over his career. He was the coach of the “Big 3” with the Celtics when they won the title in 2008. Arguably Harden will end up better than all three of those greats. Rivers is a great scheme-coach, that knows how to use his teams’ strengths. He would be the most decorated coach Harden has had, which can help come playoff time. Rivers would be able to utilize the role players around Harden, to give them the best chance at a title run.
No matter who ends up getting the coaching job in Houston, one thing is for sure, and that’s the fact that the Rockets will be looking for a coach that Harden approves first. Because after all, a happy star makes a happy team.