Shuffle of staff continues
Assistant Rogers, 3 others are told they won’t get new deals
The overhaul of the Rockets’ coaching staff continued Friday, with the team informing four more members that they would not be returning next season.
Assistant coach Roy Rogers will not receive a new contract for next season, his agent Warren LeGarie said, making Rogers the second top assistant on Mike D’Antoni’s staff who will not be offered a new deal.
Assistant Mitch Vanya and video coordinator John Cho also were told they would not be brought back, a person with knowledge of the decision said. And player development assistant Irv Roland said Friday that he was told that he would not be returning.
The contracts for Rogers and Jeff Bzdelik, who had been the Rockets’ associate head coach, are up at the end of the month. D’Antoni has one season remaining on his contract — the team option that the Rockets picked up before the season.
LeGarie said the uncertainty about D’Antoni’s contract situation beyond this season gave Rogers,
45, reason to consider other options, although he said the Rockets had not offered Rogers a deal for him to return.
“We have interest from other clubs because he (Rogers) is a good coach,” LeGarie said. “We don’t want to come back on a one-year deal. We made it clear that was not an option.”
ESPN initially reported that Rogers will not return.
Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said last week that D’Antoni would be back next season. D’Antoni has made it clear that he wants to continue coaching for three more seasons. Barring an agreement on an extension beyond D’Antoni’s original four-year contract, the search for assistant coaches to replace Bzdelik and Rogers could
be complicated by the uncertainty about D’Antoni’s contract.
The Rockets are 173-73 over the last three seasons — the best record in any three-year period in franchise history. They were eliminated by Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals in six games.
D’Antoni was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2016-17, his first season with the Rockets.