Ime Udoka is putting together his first coaching staff as coach of the Houston Rockets.
General manager Rafael Stone said he would "encourage" the next head coach to look at Stephen Silas' previous staff for potential holdovers. And a pair of candidates have emerged as early favorites for Udoka.
According to KPRC, assistant coaches Mahmoud Abdelfattah and John Lucas II are candidates to join Udoka's staff. Abdelfattah and Lucas played prominent roles in the development of Houston's young corps throughout the 2022-23 campaign.
As lead assistant, Lucas filled in for Silas twice following the death of his father, Paul Silas. And as acting head coach, Lucas led Houston to wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons.
Lucas joined the Rockets staff as a player development coach for Mike D'Antoni in 2016.
Abdelfattah joined Silas' coaching staff last June following the departure of Jeff Hornacek and Will Weaver in May.
He has been a part of the Rockets system since 2018 after joining the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as an assistant coach. And Abdelfattah's background in player development has made him beneficial to Houston's young corps.
KPRC added that Udoka is looking into his former staff with the Boston Celtics to help assemble his team in Houston with assistant coach Ben Sullivan.
Udoka and Sullivan worked together under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. Sullivan joined Udoka's staff in Boston after spending four seasons with Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks.
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