Rockets' Ben Sullivan Should be Happy Blazers Passed on him for Coaching Post

The Houston Rockets' coaching staff has remained mostly intact ever since Ime Udoka arrived in 2023. Tiago Splitter is essentially the lone exception, of course.

But Splitter left the Rockets relatively early into Udoka’s tenure as head coach, as he accepted the head coaching position for Paris Basketball in the LNB Elite and the EuroLeague. However, the rest of the staff has remained.

This summer, Udoka seemingly came close to losing an assistant to a promotion. Both Ben Sullivan and Royal Ivey interviewed for head coaching vacancies elsewhere across the league.

Ivey interviewed with the Dallas Mavericks and Sullivan interviewed with the Portland Trail Blazers. Ivey was a finalist and remained a candidate late in the process, before the team hired Michigan head coach Dusty May.

Sullivan was ruled out fairly early on in the process. The team eventually hired Micah Nori, the long-time assistant coach, most recently with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And while Nori is a very deserving candidate (which feels like an understatement), his contract raised a few eyebrows. The contract is technically a three year contract but the devil is in the details.

The deal includes two years worth of team options. a one year deal with team options in each of the following two years. Which is essentially a prove-it pay scale.

Only one year is guaranteed. Needless to say, that pay structure doesn't exactly spell a vote of confidence.

And likely doesn't spell regret for Sullivan, either. A new coach should have multiple guaranteed years.

The last thing you should want is a new coach on the hot seat. Especially a first time coach.

Imagine waiting your entire career for a promotional career opportunity, only to get it and find that you only have one year of guaranteed pay.

NBA coaching positions are open for a reason. Generally because of a lack of success by the team. Or in some cases, dysfunction at the hands of the organization.

In this case, however, because of a tight, around the margins owner in Tom Dundon -- the Blazers new owner. We've gone to great lengths to outline his macro-spending approach.

Dundon opted against bringing scouts and two-way signed players with Portland during their postseason run. And declined to pay late fees at the team's hotel after their play-in tournament appearance.

Dundon also orchestrated a bit of a team layoff, which saw 100 employees suddenly find themselves unemployed, drawing criticism from Rockets legend Clyde Drexler, who was one of the impacted parties.

So perhaps the news of Nori's contract structure shouldn't be all that surprising. But either way, Sullivan should be happy to have dodged the bullet that is the Blazers owner.

Add us as a preferred source on Google