Silas optimistic about Wall’s second act
With Rockets guard John Wall’s season almost certainly over after playing 40 games, coach Stephen Silas said he was optimistic that Wall would be able to play much more regularly next season, his second after coming back from multiple injuries and surgeries.
“I believe it, but I’m no doctor,” Silas said. “To me, it would seem he could really use this year to kind of evaluate where he’s at. We could use it the same way. Instead of having another year of the grind of working to get back, it can be an offseason of maintenance and kind of taking care of his body, as opposed to try to strengthen and fix.
“I would think next year will be better as far as the amount of games he will play because he will have some time to rest, recover and get better. I’m sure it was a heck of a grind he had to go through over these last two years just to get to the point where he was able to play this year.”
Wall’s hamstring injury was considerably worse than the Rockets anticipated. It also was nothing compared to the injuries that cost him most of two seasons with his comeback from knee, ankle and Achilles injuries viewed as a significant step back toward what he was.
An MRI exam Monday found that Wall had a strained hamstring that would normally keep him out for about three weeks, the balance of the season that ends May 16.
“It was definitely more than I thought,” Silas said. “It was early in the second half against the Clippers. I saw that he was kind of running funny, and I asked him, “Are you good?’ He was like, ‘I feel like I have kind of a cramp.’ He finished the game, and they were doing treatment. There was treatment, treatment. They thought, ‘Maybe we should do an MRI to check this.’ It ended up being a Grade 2 strain.”
Wall averaged 20.6 points per game, the third most of his career, while playing 32.2 minutes per game.
But his 40.4 percent shooting and 6.9 assists per game were career lows.
“He proved this season he can be still a very dynamic starting point guard in this league, a leader on and off the floor, someone who when we needed him the most in certain games would come out and give us 30 points and play 40 minutes and shot all the heart and character that he has,” Silas said.
“This year was a year to prove that he is back. The future for him looks bright because you can only go from where he was as far as not playing for two years and then you have this year to kind of get your feet under you. Next year, seems to me, could be even better.”
Finch: Rockets tenure was ‘everything’
Minnesota coach Chris Finch’s time with Houston was not just important to his career. It was, he said, “everything.”
The Rockets had made him the Rio Grande Valley Vipers coach in 2009, with Finch leading the Vipers to the G League title in 2009-10. Finch was a Rockets assistant for four years before stints with the Nuggets, Pelicans and Raptors. Former Rockets assistant general manager Gersson Rosas, now the Timberwolves president, made Finch the Wolves’ coach Feb. 22 after firing Ryan Saunders.
“In many ways, it was kind of everything,” Finch said of the importance of years with the Rockets to his career. “I learned a lot about some of the things we had been doing previously, why they worked. Was pushed to be experimental. Was supported greatly by the front office, coaching staff here. I enjoyed my time here immensely. We were able to build through the time here, had some great success, Western Conference Finals (in 2014-15) gave me confidence I could definitely coach at this level.
“It gave me the confidence I could work with superstar players which is really a bonus because if you want to coach good teams, you have to coach the highest end talent and be around them and understand them and build relationships that can help them.”
But before all that, the Rockets hired a coach out of Europe who was most known for coaching England’s national team.
They plucked me off the scrap heap of Europe and offered me an opportunity,” Finch said. “I’ll be forever grateful.”