Programming note: Watch the NBA Finals pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders on Thursday at 4 p.m., streaming live on the MyTeams app.
The Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach Ty Lue after an 0-6 start to the season, after LeBron James left the organization following the NBA Finals sweep by the hands of the Warriors.
The Houston Rockets then tried to hire him.
Shams Charania of The Athletic has the details:
League sources said the Rockets offered Lue an assistant coaching position soon after he was let go by Cleveland in October and have not made a formal offer recently.
Remember, Houston associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik retired just before training camp opened and the Rockets had a vacancy.
Sports
Ultimately, Bzdelik unretired and returned to the bench full-time just after Thanksgiving.
But the Rockets parted ways with Bzdelik less than two weeks ago (about a week after losing Game 6 to the Warriors), and are undergoing a significant overhaul.
As The Athletic writes:
The Rockets are working to add to their staff following the departures of assistant coaches Jeff Bzdelik, Mitch Vanya and Roy Rogers, player development assistant Irv Roland and video coordinator John Cho. Lue would be a coup for the Rockets' staff as a former head coach who has championship pedigree and would provide his offensive and defensive instincts to the organization.
Additionally, head coach Mike D'Antoni is entering the final year of his contract and wants an extension.
A couple of weeks ago, it looked like Lue was going to be named the next head coach of the Lakers, but negotiations stalled.
[RELATED: Warriors-Rockets was actually the NBA Finals, Skip Bayless says]
Lue reportedly is focused on landing a head coaching job so it's unclear if he would even consider being an assistant with the Rockets.
Regardless, Lue's next gig surely will put him in a spot tasked with a job only he has been able to do in the last five years -- take down the Warriors.
