The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian T. Smith On Rockets Coaching Search: Nobody On Paper Is Perfect

Episode Date: September 14, 2020

Brian T. Smith On Rockets Coaching Search: Nobody On Paper Is Perfect

This is the Matt Thomas Show. 203 on Sports Talk 790. Today's edition of Believe it or not, it's coming up in 50 minutes from now. Topic is famous Sally's in honor of the latest named Hurricane. That and the fact we'll have to save our Lamar Jackson for, believe or not, for later this week. Right now, our buddy Brian T. Smith, Brian, you worked hard Thursday night in Kansas. City, right? Yes, I was in Kansas City on Thursday night. And then you flew home early Friday morning. Want to see the wife? I want to see the dog. You wanted to get back home. I slept for three

hours, and I had to leave for the airport at 4.30, and I flew out at 630. Yep. And we have a new puppy that we got from a rescue place. There's actually a great, you know, shelter rescue called K-9 Rescue Angels and the heights. And there's been a trend of, a good trend of people, you know, picking up, helping out with, you know, rescue dogs, shelter dogs, fostering them. And we fostered a couple. And then we adopted one. His name's Moni, and he's absolutely incredible. And he's six months old. Yeah, I wanted to get home to Monty. So Moni says, hey, Brian T, you've worked very hard. Come snuggle with me at 155 in the afternoon. Yes.

and turn your phone off. And I fell asleep on the couch. And I had my phone. I didn't know my phone was on mute. And I woke up with Moni on my lap at like 3 o'clock and I had like 20 missed calls. And you felt great though, though. I mean, sometimes those midday naps are really good. People take naps during my show occasionally.

I actually felt pretty empty. I felt really guilty. Oh, no, no, no. I don't get paid enough. Been there, done that. All right. So let's get what we will focus, you and I visit. on Friday about the Texans game come up, but let's get to, let's talk Rockets here.

You know, I honestly, I'm a terrible feel for coach who's need. Like when the Astros are going through their managerial search, I didn't know who the right selection was. And it's not because I don't have an opinion. I just, that's just not a strength of mine. I don't know what a team wants or needs because unless they let you inside the bubble or inside the peel the curtain back completely, you don't know what they need. All I've said was is that whoever becomes the.

coach of this basketball team is going to need to be get the seal of approval from the two-star players. And I think you'd agree with me on that, right? 100,000 percent. And I honestly, I think it's much more James Hardin than it is Russell Westbrook. And I've, you know, we could talk about this for an hour, Matt. I mean, the Rockets for as disappointing as they are. And in some ways, I mean, and I wrote this a couple days ago. I mean, who does less and more? Seriously, like, who does less and more? I would say, that the Rockets have done less with more. Now, they've come very close,

and it's a back and forth conversation with the Rockets, because for as much praise as you want to give, you know, factually, statistically, we can say James Harden is the best score in the NBA, and they fall short. And we can say Mike Van Tony is the best regular season coach in Rocket's history. Statistically, his winning percentage during the record season

is through the roof. I mean, you know, Rudy T. Kevin McAil, whoever you want to pick. No one's even come close to him, and they kept falling short, Matt. And part of it they fell short because of the Golden State War's dynasty. Part of it, they fell short because they underperformed. And they didn't adjust enough in the playoffs. And in a lot of ways, I think the Rockets have been forced to realize

that the way that they've been constructed has been, except for that night, 2018 with Chris Paul, they excel for the most part up to the last two years in the regular season. and at some point they hit a wall in a seven-game series. And guess what? James Harden hits a wall in a seven-game series. So you put all that together and you look at the state of this team right now. And there really will be – you mean, you can throw Tad Brown in the mix,

but it's really going to be Tillman Fratita, Darrow Mori, unless something completely changes and Tillman decides to move on from Darrow, which right now, I don't see that happening. And James Harden making this decision. But here's the thing. that was, you know, pre-Talman, that's sort of how it was before. Now, it was less before, and it was Darry and they went with Mike Van Tony. But, Matt, the reason they went with Mike Dan Tony was because they wanted to find a coach who could get the best to James Hardin, right? I mean, that's before it was Hardin and Dwight Howard and Kevin McHale.

And James Hardin was truly coming to his own. He was becoming the face of a franchise. Van Tony got the best out of James Hardin that he's ever been. and Mike Dantone chose, chose to walk away from the Rockets. So there's so much with this team, with this franchise. I've written about it a lot in the last few days in the Chronicle. I'll continue to have done it for the last few years. They're not a horrible franchise.

They're always in the conversation. I mean, they're in the national conversation, but they always fall short. And I don't believe that they're going to get to that next level that they want to get to, that James Hardin wants to get to, unless they get the right coach this time. And at this point, I mean, we're hearing so many different candidates from guys that have been coaches before to assistant coaches that want that opportunity. Is there anybody that you've heard, and you're reading the same stuff I am? Is there anybody?

My answer is I don't have one. Is there anybody that you're like, yep, I feel like that's the kind of guy? There's none of the names blow me out of the water at the start. I mean, of course, we're not going to know for a couple years. There's nobody right now that you can look at and say, oh, my gosh, that is, that person is so much better than Mike Dantonia. And Matt, I'll tell you a couple things for the fact, for a fact. Number one, Mike Dantone chose to leave the Rockets, okay? The Rockets were still considering whether or not to bring back Mike Dantone.

I mean, on the simple level, you at Garamori, I believe, into the bubble or going into the bubble saying, you know, the most important thing we can do this off season is to bring Mike back. Now, the series against the Rock, I mean, against the Lakers, ended up being horrible. Those last four games were incredibly disappointing. Games four and five were a joke. I thought it was going to be very difficult at that point to bring back Dan Tony because if you weren't going to bring him back the previous year on a multi-year deal that was favorable to him, why would you do it now?

But there are other open jobs. And there's nobody on paper right now that you can easily say, that's going to be the perfect fix. Here's the other thing that I don't know for a fact. if you look at maybe Tailu or Sam Cassell or, you know, whoever it's going to be, they will. Now, I don't know if they're going to follow through because sometimes the rockets talk big and then they don't follow through

and they kind of go in a different direction. But I know for a fact, Matt, right now, that they want to find a coach and the coach has to be able to bond with Hardin and just like Mike get the best out of them offensively and defensively, but they want to finally find a coach who will go head to head with James Hardin, who will call him out. And if it's not just Hardin, It can be Westbrook.

It can be the entire team. It can be the entire roster. It can be the Rockets on a cross-country trip. Tomentertito owns the Rockets. Darry has been the general manager since 2000 and freaking 7. And I said this on TV on Sunday night. I mean, think about all the grief. Texans fans gave the Texans and Bob McNair for Rick Smith.

Darry has been the GM since 2007 and hardly anyone mentions it. But they're going to try to find somebody that can get the best. out of James Harden continually, but can also challenge him, Matt. And it's not the numbers with Hardin. We've been doing this for eight years. It's not the stats. It's not the MVP.

There's really nothing left for him to accomplish statistically, except for a championship, and here's the kicker, except for being a better leader. And I still don't believe, as much as I praise James Harden, I still don't believe that in terms of leading a franchise, leading a team that he's anywhere near the leader he has to be, and I think in a lot of ways,

that continues to hold back the rockets when it really matters. Let me throw a few things at you just to play devil's advocate. And again, this is interesting conversation. You know, the thought about Darrell being with the teams in 2007, if Darrell was to be let go tomorrow, how long would it take for him to get another job? It wouldn't take long, but see, here's how the rockets have to filter it. I'm not, I mean, I've never said they should get rid of Darry, but I do believe that just about every other team would have moved on at some point, just like we understood. And Rick Smith.

But see, the thing is Rick Smith was not going to, yeah. But is Darrell the right GM, this is what Tillman, I don't have to decide this. Tomlin has to decide this. Is Darrell the right GM for the Rockets right now at this point in their franchise history to win them a title in the next one or two years? Because here's the thing, Matt, if that does not happen. And I think it's much harder for it to happen right now than it was in 2017-18 when they had Chris Paul. If that does not happen, James Harden is going to be 34, 35 pretty soon, and he will no longer be a top-five player. Russell Westbrook won't even be close to that anymore, and they'll be forced to rebuild without even wanting to do it.

So they don't have this three or four-year window. They've got a one or two-year window. When I try to compare general managers and coaches, I think about what their hireability is, after they get let go. And that's why people that complain about Mike Dantonie, Mike Dantone is going to be on the ends on potentially four or five jobs. So it's not what the fans think. It's not what you and I think.

It's what the league says. And the league says that Mike Dantone more than likely is going to find another job. I feel the same way with Daryl. So that wasn't just to be a little bit of a, you know, do you make the move or not? Because that would show you how much respect Daryl has run the NBA that he would get a job probably instantaneously. To the hire itself.

This is not about just the Rock. This is about anybody. If you don't pacify and make the superstar, the alpha dog, the number one or number two players in your team happy, you're never going to win. So that's the slippery slope that the organization is going to have to go through is going to get. Right. But have they not pacified, hardened to the point that it's just ridiculous the last eight years and they've always fallen short? Well, it's the thing. Yeah, it all depends on how much blame internally the Rockets believe that James is for where this team is.

right now. And I don't, and I don't believe that to be a lot of it. I think the Rockets, I think the Rockets do, it's a great conversation. I think again, we could talk about this for an hour. I think I, you know, the heck with the Texans and the Astros, I think in a lot of ways, by far, the most interesting conversation in Houston Pro Sports have been for years, the Houston Rockets, if you really know that your NBA and your pro sports. But here's, here's, here's the thing with Hardin, I have found for the last five freaking years, and I'm being 100% honest with you. Because it would be much better for you and 790 and me and the Chronicle,

if the Rockets would just get it over, and went a title with James Hardin, right? It'd be a lot better. It'd be a lot more fun. Well, it'd be all for all of us. I mean, James wants a title. Russ wants a title. We in Houston won a title.

It's been 25 years. So yeah, I think all of us would be, would cherish this opportunity, for sure. But I think Mike's gone because they were spinning their wheels. Kevin McHale was gone because they hit a wall. So now they're looking at a new coach, and this is what I'm about to say. I think the Rockets for the last five years, and they would never admit this.

Darrell would never admit this. None of them would ever admit it publicly, but I believe privately, and I know this for a fact, that they continue to say one thing about Hardham, because they feel like they have to appease him and pump him up and give him the keys to the franchise. Privately, Matt, every year, every year they get frustrated and there are questions and they want more out of them. And it's this give and take balance because they can't lose him. And if they don't have him, I mean, Westbrook's not a number one anymore. He's a number two. if they don't have hard and they don't really have anything, but they continue to want more,

and it's this tug of war that they have internally. They put on the happy face publicly, but internally, and they're dealing with the same thing right now, which is why the impositive, they believe and they hope that this next head coach can be the one that it all clicks, and the magic finally happens.

Well, leaving at that. We'll talk to you Friday 2 o'clock. Thank you for the time, friend. We appreciate it. Brian T. Smith from The Chronicle with us here on the Matt Thomas Show. good points, good debate. I love coaching searches.

I just do. I just hope it's the right one because, man, it has been a long time. I think all of us that our rocket fans believe that the way it's been long enough, especially after what has been put out there in terms of talent the last couple of years. 713-212-5-790. If you want to get in, 7-13-212-5-79.