The Houston Rockets will interview Spurs assistant James Borrego for its vacant head coaching job Monday, league sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN:
The Houston Rockets, after focusing their coaching search on Mike D’Antoni for much of the past week, have opted to broaden the search.
The Rockets, according to league sources, have scheduled a Monday interview with San Antonio Spurs assistant coach James Borrego, who is a finalist for the Memphis Grizzlies’ coaching vacancy.
James Borrego emerged as a strong candidate for the Grizzlies’ head coaching job earlier in the week. The belief in NBA coaching circles is Borrego has an “inside track” with Memphis, a club that has expressed interest in the likes of David Fizdale, Nate Tibbets, Patrick Ewing, and other assistants over the past few weeks.
Along with Borrego, the Rockets are set to bring in Orlando assistant Adrian Griffin for an interview too, according to Mark Berman of fox26houston.com:
NBA sources: #Rockets bringing in Adrian Griffin for an interview.Griffin was a finalist for the Orlando job. Played with the Rockets 2003-4
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) May 21, 2016
Houston, meanwhile, reportedly has narrowed its coaching search down to just two candidates: Philadelphia 76ers associate head coach Mike D’Antoni, and Charlotte Hornets assistant Stephen Silas. Should Silas be hired, the Rockets would likely pursue former Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins to be his top assistant, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:
In addition to Mike D’Antoni, Rockets seriously weighing Stephen Silas as coach with Lionel Hollins as his top assistant, source said.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) May 20, 2016
Apparently, Stephen Silas and Mike D’Antoni aren’t the lone final candidates yet. James Borrego, 38, is viewed league-wide as a viable candidate to be promoted to head coach of a team in the near future.
Borrego had served as an assistant with the Spurs from 2003-2010. In 2007, he helped guide the team to an NBA Championship. Shortly after, Borrego left the Spurs for the New Orleans Hornets. After serving a brief two-year term there, he then moved on and became an assistant under in Orlando for three seasons. Technically, Borrego does have NBA head coaching experience. When Jacque Vaughn was fired in 2015, Borrego had served as interim head coach for 30 games.
Now, James Borrego currently is back with the Spurs under legendary coach Gregg Popovich. The Popovich coaching tree, which has produced the likes of Mike Budenholzer, Steve Kerr, and Brett Brown, may just produce one more successful name in the near future.
Along with Borrego, Adrian Griffin, 41, is viewed in a similar fashion. Griffin was a finalist for the Orlando Magic head coaching job before the team ultimately chose Frank Vogel last week. Griffin currently serves as an assistant with the Magic, and, much like Borrego, has bounced around the league as an assistant coach for his coaching career.
Griffin previously served under Tom Thibodeau in Chicago before leaving the team and joining the Magic.
Both interviews are set to take place on Monday in Houston, Jonathan Feigen confirmed.
Depending on how both interviews go, Houston may be forced to add more names to its narrowed group of finalists to become head coach of the team.
