Silas and Bickerstaff share long friendship
After years of friendship, filled with conversations about their shared experiences as NBA assistants making their way up the coaching ladder as the sons of successful head coaches, the Cavaliers’ J.B. Bickerstaff and Rockets’ Stephen Silas had a different sort of conversation.
Bickerstaff offered Silas a job on his staff in Memphis. Silas turned him down.
Silas instead took the lead assistant position with the Mavericks and two years later became the Rockets’ head coach. The friendship, however, has endured.
“J.B. is someone I contacted and talked to a lot,” Silas said of Cleveland’s head coach. “When I was out for a season (in 200405) and I was living in Charlotte and he was an assistant coach with his dad in Charlotte, we established a relationship then. We have very similar paths and similar points of view and similar experiences. To have someone to lean on and talk to as you’re going through these experiences is invaluable.
“He’s definitely one of the guys … I ask questions and share stories and laugh with over the years.”
Bickerstaff and Silas have coached together, going back to a Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy a few years after they got to know one another in Charlotte.
“He and I have had a close relationship for a long, long time,” Bickerstaff said. “We talk pretty frequently about opportunities and how we can continue to move forward, and all those things.”
Bickerstaff described Silas’ decision to take the job somewhat differently, jokingly saying Silas “shunned me.” He also thought it turned out to be a good decision.
“It worked out well,” Silas said. “I would have loved to work for him. It worked out pretty good for both of us.”
Tate glad for visit to Buckeye State
Rockets rookie Jae’Sean Tate wanted to appreciate the return to Ohio for his first NBA appearance in his home state, and on some level, he did. But there was a more pressing concern that crowded out thoughts of a homecoming.
“It’s definitely motivation, one because we just need to get off this losing streak,” Tate said after Wednesday’s shootaround in Cleveland. “We’re facing the Cavs. They just got off their losing streak last night so they’ll be riled up. It’s just a good opportunity to get this bad taste out of our mouth.”
With an eight-game losing streak of their own before Wednesday’s game, the Rockets might have a difficult time concerning themselves with much else.
Typical of 2020-21, Tate and the Rockets had to adjust expectations and preferences to the times. Even with the Cavaliers among the 13 teams allowing a limited number of fans to attend games, Tate will not be able to visit with family members that will be in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse unless he can pick them out in the stands.
“I have a couple family members that have bought tickets, but with the COVID guidelines I won’t be able to see them,” said Tate, a Toledo native and former Ohio State star. “But it will be pretty cool for them to be able to see me in an NBA uniform.”
They could see him filling a role likely greater than most would have predicted so soon. The only Rockets player to have played in all 29 games, Tate had scored in double figures in six of his past seven games prior to Wednesday’s, averaging 14.3 points and making 59.2 percent of his shots in that stretch.
He is second among rookies that have played in at least half their teams’ games in shooting percentage, making 54.4 percent of his attempts, ranking second behind Christian Wood on the Rockets. He is the top scorer and rebounder among undrafted rookies in the NBA.
“He goes after it,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He works his way on the glass, he challenges people defensively, he has the ability to knock down open shots. He kind of fits that mold of Houston as far as his switch ability defensively. You notice … how hard he competes and how hungry he is every possession.”
Tate’s play has been strong enough not just to start at both forward positions, but at 6-foot-4, to be among their smallball center options.
“I’ve been like a smallball center since I was at Ohio State,” Tate said. “I’ve been comfortable my whole life being undersized but having to play that position. It works. Our communication still needs to improve. That’s one thing we’ve been trying to work on. With that, I think our defense will do what it needs to do.”
Tate was not about to ignore that for the first time in his NBA career he will be playing close to home. He just could not make it his top priority.
“Getting off the plane, it was definitely a breath of fresh air, some Ohio air,” Tate said. “I’m still approaching every game like I’ve been approaching it. Right now, my mindset is to try to get this bad taste out of our mouth. We’ve shown we can be on both ends of the spectrum, whether it’s winning a few in a row or losing a few in a row. We got to figure it out.
“We rode a high. Right now, we’re riding a low. We just got to get ourselves out of this slump. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played. Our whole mindset is just to get that started.”