Brown University Grad Steve Silas Introduced as New Houston Rockets Coach

Brown University Grad Steve Silas Introduced as New Houston Rockets Coach

Brown University grad Steve Silas was introduced as the new coach of the Houston Rockets on Thursday.

He played for Brown Coach Happy Dobbs and played with Hall of Famers Eric Blackiston and Brian Lloyd in the mid-1990s.

Silas graduated in 1996.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

He will coach two of the NBA's biggest superstars - James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

Silas in his introductory press conference said that his vision includes what he called “tweaks” but not wholesale changes to the Rockets’ isolation-heavy offensive system.

Harden and Westbrook led the NBA last season in isolation points, possessions and frequency. As a team, the Rockets led the league in isolation.

But it’s not as if Silas doesn’t have any experience working with players that thrive in isolation. Serving for two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Mavericks, Silas worked extensively with Luka Doncic, who finished last season ranked among the top five in isolation scoring.

“I’ve worked with a bunch of guards. I’ve worked with Luka [Doncic], Steph[en Curry], Kemba [Walker] and Baron Davis when I was younger,” Silas explained. “The common thing is you have to set it up to where those guys can play to their strengths, but they can also help others play to their strengths.”

Silas after graduating from Brown worked for the NBA's Retired Players Association and then joined his father, Boston Celtics great Paul Silas coaching in the NBA.

“They were sixth in offense, and for me to come in and make wholesale changes, that doesn’t make sense,” Silas said. “What I will do is try to make it a little bit easier on those guys, put in a few little actions that’ll make the defense have to make decisions, and make them a little bit harder to guard; be a little bit more versatile on the offensive end, and again, let those guys play to their strengths, but make tweaks here and there so we can make that jump from being the sixth-best offensive team to first- [or] second-best offensive team. Hopefully, [we’re] playing up the floor, letting those guys pass ahead and attack defenses before they’re set; getting defenses on the move early in possessions and keeping them on the move, that sort of thing. Not so much kind of stand around iso-type of stuff, even though there will be that, and there will be times for that because that’s what they do well. But I’m not gonna take away what did well as a group. I’m just gonna add to it and enhance it.”