Rockets Head Coach Stephen Silas Proud Of This Season
It is hard to say that a season is successful if you finish with the worst record in the entire league, but for the Houston Rockets, this year was all about learning.
Not only did this newer coaching staff have to learn about the players, but the players had to learn about them and there were very few experienced players on this roster.
Jalen Green, Josh Christopher, Alperen Sengun and Usman Garuba were all rookies, Kevin Porter Jr. was in his third NBA season, Jae’Sean Tate was in his second season and even Christian Wood was still learning his role in this league, as this was just his second full season as a starter in the NBA.
This truly was a “learning season” for the Houston Rockets and head coach Stephen Silas acknowledged this in his postgame press conference following his team’s final game of the season on Sunday.
“I told the guys in the huddle in the last timeout just how proud I am of them, and how hard they worked and how they all had great attitudes,” Silas said after the Rockets’ 130-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in their season-finale. “Each guy, to a man, was great. As far as the results of the season, definitely disappointing… but the growth we’ve seen, I guess the feeling I felt as the season drained away the last few seconds, was a feeling of pride.
“It’s hard. It’s a hard, hard season. Growing pains are really hard. Just making sure that they understand a few things; how hard it is to win in the NBA and how they should be proud of themselves, but how we also have work to do.”
They may have only won 20 total games this year, but the Houston Rockets proved to be a tough team to face during the second-half of the season simply because of how well things started clicking for this young group offensively.
Defensively, this team may have been a mess, however, they averaged 109.7 points per game on the year, ranking them 19th in the league, and the Rockets scored at least 110 points in six of their final seven games of the season, including 132 points in a loss to the Timberwolves last week.
With the amount of youthful talent this team has, as well as the ability to continue building on their young core through the 2022 NBA Draft, this franchise is trending upwards and Stephen Silas recognizes this.
“This is what I told the team: ‘When we’re in position of knocking on the door of the playoffs, and winning a playoff series and ultimately winning it all, remember this feeling,” Silas said. “It’s pretty raw right now, as far as being so proud of them, feeling for them that they went through such a tough season … but also the people, how they stayed together throughout the whole thing.”
Silas does not appear to be in danger of losing his job after two seasons with the team and the Rockets do seem committed to the young core they have built.
The future’s of John Wall, Christian Wood and Eric Gordon will definitely be in question entering the offseason, but something special is forming in Houston with Jalen Green, Josh Christopher, Kevin Porter Jr. and others.
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