Ime Udoka sets criteria for assistant coaching hires with Rockets

In contrast to the Daryl Morey years, current Rockets general manager Rafael Stone has made it clear that Houston’s head coach will ultimately be responsible for selecting their staff of assistants.

With Ime Udoka is in place as head coach, the process begins for filling out the staff. At his previous stop of Boston, for example, Udoka’s assistants played a key role in the team’s success — with future head coaches like Will Hardy (Utah Jazz) and Joe Mazzulla (Celtics) in prominent positions on his bench. The challenge for Udoka is to now make the correct staffing decisions for yet another cycle.

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So, what is Udoka looking for in Houston? At his introductory press conference this week, the 45-year-old laid out the criteria:

Some of the things I did in Boston when I became a head coach — I want an energetic staff, very hands-on and relationship-based able to relate to the players. That was a huge key for me. I’ll look to find some of those pieces, interview the guys that were here. I’ve heard good things about a lot of the guys but this is a first step here and then we’ll get to the staff.

Top internal candidates could include lead assistant John Lucas, who has held a number of key roles with the Rockets dating back to his days as an NBA player in the 1980s. Another promising candidate from the staff of former head coach Stephen Silas appears to be Mahmoud Abdelfettah, a younger coach with an offensive background who helped lead Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers, to the 2021-22 title. Silas and the Rockets then brought him to the NBA bench last offseason.

Other assistants from the 2022-23 group were Mike Batiste, Rick Higgins, Will Dunn, and veteran NBA head coach Lionel Hollins.

While there’s no set timetable for making all of the assistant hires, expect at least some of them to be made by late June, which is when young players participating in the 2023 NBA Summer League begin practicing. Typically, it’s an assistant who leads each team, allowing the head coach to watch and observe from the sidelines.