Silas says he can handle heat

As the losses pile up for the Rockets en route to the worst record in the NBA, so too does the criticism.

There are plenty of faults to find within a 1-16 team and second-year Rockets coach Stephen Silas does not begrudge disappointed fans or fist-shaking Twitter users for their opinions.

Silas, whose father Paul was an NBA head coach for 12 seasons, said he is used to it.

“This has been a part of my life since I was little, so there’s a couple parts to it,” Silas said. “There’s the piece that this is entertainment, right, and this is so that people have stuff to talk about and people have stuff to argue about at the barbershop or on talk radio. It’s real-life stuff for me, but for the people who are engaged in it, it is almost like a soap opera at times. I can’t lose sight of that and that’s fair for people to have their opinions one way or the other.”

Christopher sent to G League team

The Rockets announced Wednesday that they assigned rookie guard Josh Christopher to the team’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

Christopher joins fellow rookie and first-round NBA draft pick Usman Garuba, who was assigned to the G League on Nov. 16. Silas said Christopher would have been sent down sooner if not for an injury to point guard Kevin Porter Jr., who returned in Wednesday’s game against the Bulls.

Christopher will presumably see increased playing time with the Vipers. Garuba played 31 minutes and 33 minutes in his first two games for Rio Grande Valley after not exceeding 10 minutes in any of his seven games with the Rockets. Last season, injuries led the Rockets to constantly shuttle players back and forth between Houston and the G League.

The 19-year-old guard, who Houston took with the 24th pick of the draft out of Arizona State, appeared in 11 games total for the Rockets and averaged 7.6 minutes, 3.0 points, 1.0 assists and 0.9 rebounds.

Porter returns to start vs. Bulls

After a bruised thigh sidelined him for three games, Porter returned to the starting lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Bulls at Toyota Center.

Porter’s injury first surfaced in a Nov. 7 loss at Golden State, then the following week forced him to exit in the third quarter of Houston’s loss at Memphis on Nov. 15. He did not play in the Rockets’ remaining three games of the road trip.