Houston Rockets Rumors
Can ‘Sam I Am’ the guard whisperer work his magic in Clutch City? The more I hear about Cassell — either from players or folks around the league — the more a fit makes sense. Jovan’s description only strengthens that stance, looking at the main points of his analysis and identifying what Houston needs. Cassell would be a first-time head coach should he accept the job, but it’s hard to argue the fit. For those that walk the storyline/narrative route, you’d be bringing back an influential guard who was a part of the most successful era in team history. The Steve Nash hire in Brooklyn raised a few eyebrows, but the knowledge of the game is there, the experience is there, the savviness is there. Cassell possesses all of those qualities in spades. For the sheer ‘prodigal son’ championship feel, I’d have a hard time believing ownership wouldn’t be jumping at that opportunity.
StatMuse: LeBron James has 15 career 30-point triple-double in the playoffs, the most in NBA history and more than the next two players combined. 15 — LeBron. 8 — Oscar. 6 — Russ pic.twitter.com/4tzB1W59xv
“Eric showed us a lot of his offensive skill work,” Kerr added. “But what we need now is for him to become a defensive force. It’s a physical league. You’ve got to be able to guard multiple guys, and he’s got the ability to do that. There’s no reason why he can’t become P.J. Tucker defensively. He’s got a similar body, got the strength to fend off bigger guys and he’s got speed to stay in front of guards. But it takes a commitment to become that.”
Paschall is ahead of Tucker in at least one other measurable asset: Athleticism. Tucker can run into a dunk, but Paschall can rise flat-footed into a double-pump jam. “Oh, he’s explosive, more explosive than P.J.,” Kerr said. “But P.J. has all the tricks. He knows every trick in the book, and that’s what Eric needs to learn. He needs to learn NBA defense, learn the tricks and then become a better shooter, like PJ has.”
Brian Windhorst on Rockets’ coaching search: Keep an eye on former Rocket, a guy who won a championship in Houston, Sam Cassell. And if not him, one of the favorites is our colleague here at ESPN, former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, in the mix for this job.
“Very, very disappointed,” James Harden said following Game 5. “Obviously we still have to go out there and play a basketball game and series, but it affected us. It was a distraction and he was a huge part of our rotation. But we still had to go out there and try to win games.” From what I understand, House apologized to the entire team before exiting the bubble. It was a bad decision made on his part, but one that didn’t just affect the team — it might have affected his future.
GQ: What did you make of the Rockets losing as badly as they did to the Lakers? Vernon Maxwell: I mean, I wasn’t surprised. They were overmatched against the Lakers. And then playing that small ball, I just don’t understand that. You’ve gotta have a big. Your tallest guy on the court can’t be 6’7”. That’s just not gonna work against AD and LeBron. All they were doing was playing bully ball. I said it before the series started, I felt like the Lakers were gonna win that series in the fashion that they did. I pretty much knew that.
Mike D’Antoni is out as head coach of the Rockets. You’ve been petitioning for your former teammate Sam Cassell to replace him. What about Cassell makes you think he’s the best option? Vernon Maxwell: I just feel like it’s his time. He’s been on the bench as an assistant coach for 15 years [Cassell started coaching in 2009]. I get tired of these owners and general managers, they just recycle all these goddamn coaches. You’ve gotta try something new. You’ve gotta give them a chance to see what they can do, and I don’t think that’s fair to guys like Sam. They need to give him a chance and a legit shot. Let him bring in his people that he wants and I think he’ll do fine. He’s ready now.
What’s the response you get from Jazz fans now on Twitter? Vernon Maxwell: Death threats, all that s—. They want to kill me. I can’t come to Utah. They hate me. I don’t hate nobody I don’t know. I’ve gotta know you to hate you, because you must’ve done something to me to hate you. It’s hard for me to have hate in my heart, but that’s the way they feel and that’s fine with me. I don’t have a problem. If they do come at me, when they come they better come for real. S—, they’ll print this s— back up and I can get back to being Mad Max again. I’m Glad Max now.
What’s the reaction you get in real life? Vernon Maxwell: People love my twitter account: ‘It’s hilarious, man. Keep doing what you’re doing.’ Everybody loves what I do except Utah and probably Oklahoma City now. When I go back to Houston everybody is cool with it. No complaints. [Houston Rockets] President, Tad [Brown] is not saying ‘Max you’ve gotta cool down with your tweets.’ It’s more, ‘man we love your Twitter page.’ So nobody’s ever said anything to me about it. I just do what I do. I don’t have anything else to do.
