[Chron.com] Alexander has plenty of options

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/lopez/4795039.html

Alexander has plenty of options

By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

OVER the span of about five hours Thursday, former Rockets guard and NBA coach John Lucas opened the gym doors to some familiar young NBA draft prospects.

Among them were North Carolina guards Wayne Ellington and Tywon Lawson, LSU forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Texas A&M stars Joseph Jones and Acie Law, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-footer Chris Daniels.

Young NBA up-and-comers like Boston's Gerald Green and Denver's J.R. Smith stopped by. So did Rockets point guard and Luke's namesake — John Lucas III.

Previously, Toronto's T.J. Ford, Memphis' Damon Stoudamire and Seattle's Chris Wilcox all have come to Lucas for grueling work, rehab training and Lucas' unique brand of unfiltered counsel.

Lucas' tough love
For example: Only one of these millionaires and future millionaires was thrown out of the gym Thursday for not quite living up to practice expectations.

It was Lucas' son John III.

So what does it all mean? Maybe nothing. But the Rockets appear on the verge of changing direction and parting ways with Jeff Van Gundy.

Prevailing sentiment is that they will be looking for someone who can relate to young players, develop them, be a popular choice for fans and change the pace of the Rockets' attack.

If or when the move is made, there will be no shortage of candidates to lead a team with a pair of bona fide superstars at its core and changes in attitude and approach the charge from owner Leslie Alexander.

Most challenging is that every potential candidate seemingly out there has a big shortcoming.

Someone like Lucas consistently brings out the best in young talent — players like Vassilis Spanoulis, Steve Novak and Lucas III. He is extremely tough and demanding, but players inevitably like him. That's why NBA teams often send players to work with Lucas during offseasons or while rehabbing.

Elie popular but unproven
Ford, whose career was in jeopardy after suffering a spinal injury, credits Lucas for getting him back on track. But Lucas owns a career 173-258 NBA record at stops in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Cleveland. And then there is the fact that Lucas would be coaching his son with the Rockets, although he certainly didn't show any favoritism Thursday.

Other candidates have similar big potential in some areas, severe flaws in others.

Mario Elie fits the bill in the developing talent and popularity mold, too, having sealed his place in Houston sports lore with a kiss of death in the 1995 NBA playoffs. But fired a year ago as an assistant to Golden State's Mike Montgomery, Elie was out of coaching this year and is unproven as a head coach.

The Charlotte Hornets interviewed Elie for their vacant coaching job, and Elie certainly has a place in Alexander's heart, having been the first major acquisition Alexander made as an NBA owner.

Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni would enter the hiring pool with impeccable credentials as well and would have the added plus of experience with the fast-paced, entertaining style of the Suns. He has won a world championship (Philadelphia), learned under some highly regarded teachers and coaches (Pat Riley, Pete Newell, Mike Fratello and Mike D'Antoni). And he's a New York kid, like Alexander.

But would you put a team this close to contending for rings, yet in need of help as far as personnel is concerned to become a run-and-fun team, into the unproven Iavaroni's hands?

Then there's the obvious choices of proven commodities seemingly on Alexander's short list — Larry Brown, Del Harris and Rick Adelman.

They all have proven to be winners, with Brown and Adelman having taken teams to the NBA Finals.

But Brown is a notorious coaching flake whose head would figure to explode the first time McGrady didn't go hard to the basket or complained about an ow-ee.

Harris' nickname even among friends is "Dull" Harris, and he hasn't been an NBA head coach in nearly a decade. But Harris helped lead the NBA's best regular-season team in the Dallas Mavericks and coached Yao and the Chinese national team to a successful 2004 Olympic experience, including an upset of Serbia and Montenegro.

And Adelman's public demeanor makes Van Gundy's look like that of Carrot Top. His is a prickly, snide personality that wore on star players at Portland and Sacramento.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. There are qualified options out there when the Van Gundy parting occurs, but none is without severe imperfections.

As tough a decision as Alexander faces with Van Gundy and as much work as he figures to do making sure he gets the right guy, it will come down to guessing right.