The strain of the Houston Rockets' dreadful 2022-23 NBA season has worn on head coach Stephen Silas.
At 18-58, the Rockets have the worst record in the league, which is where they finished in each of Silas' first two years in charge. Buried within a profile of talented rookie Jabari Smith Jr., ESPN's Brian Windhorst included a detail about how the coach thought he was struggling to connect with the locker room:
"It was a rare bright spot in a first season that has been light on wins. Houston lost 18 of 19 games at one point and 11 straight games during another stretch. At one point, Silas broke down in tears after a game because he felt he couldn't reach his players. One of the team's then veterans, Eric Gordon, said in January 'there's no improvement' when summing up the state of the Rockets — not ideal for a young player trying to find positivity in early struggles."
It's easy to forget because of how much has transpired since then, but James Harden was a member of the Rockets when Silas came aboard. He joined a franchise that was in a period of transition rather than outright rebuilding after once again losing in the Western Conference semifinals.
Once Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, everybody knew Houston's playoff window was closed and getting back to that level would require multiple years.
