With the news that the Rockets have apparently slimmed down their coaching options to three guys after seemingly interviewing every available guy who was willing to make the trip into Houston, I have a personal clear favorite.
Dwane Casey.
I know he may not be the name that Rockets fans were hoping to hear and he certainly won't make anyone forget about Rick Adelman or Jeff Van Gundy anytime soon, but Dwane Casey is exactly what a young team like this needs.
More after the jump.
When Dwane Casey was given the position of head coach of the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves back in 2005, inheriting the mess that Kevin McHale had left behind, within a season he had a lackluster roster sitting at .500 around the halfway mark. He had a team full of guys no one else in the league wanted, short of Kevin Garnett, and had them competing for a playoff spot in the stacked Western Conference. But then, the aforementioned Kevin Garnett decided that he didn't like being told what to do since Casey wasn't a "yes man" of a coach. KG completely sabotaged his position and the team owner, who feared losing his only attractive position player did away with Casey. The result for the Wolves was a 12-30 finish the rest of the way under interim coach Randy Wittman.
Casey falls under the category of "Young Coaches in waiting" but at 54, he isn't exactly young. But he is looked at as a guy that has many executives around the league wondering why he doesn't have a head coaching position as of yet. For some reason the Bulls and the Clippers chose Vinny Del Negro over him both times he had a head coaching interview. But it appears with the interest around the league Casey is getting, he will finally get his opportunity in 2011.
Lawrence Frank is a decent fall back option (notice I'm not even mentioning Kevin McHale? Yeah, there's a reason), but I just believe Casey would be a better fit here than Frank. The team has been awfully tight-lipped about how the interview with Casey went and he has been reported to have had an interview with Golden State last night.
My opinion is this; if Dwane Casey is your guy, hire him. Don't risk losing him to another team because you want to get cute and interview every single player from the 1994 & 1995 Rockets. I'm sure Pete Chillcut has better things to do. But unless Stan Van Gundy does become available, which is said to be unlikely, I think Casey is the guy. And I'd be fully on board with that for several reasons. And a big one would be that it means we don't hire Mike Woodson or Mike Brown.