Houston Rockets: Jeff Bzdelik retiring doesn’t leave team empty-handed

Houston Rockets assistant coach, Jeff Bzdelik, vastly improved the team’s defense. However, his retirement does not leave the team empty-handed, here’s why.

Late Sunday night, Houston Rockets fans received a surprise #WojBomb from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that top Rockets assistant coach, Jeff Bzdelik, is retiring effective immediately. This is without a doubt a blow to the team and their prospects for this season.

Normally, losing an assistant coach isn’t that big of a blow, however, most assistant coaches don’t provide the boost that Bzdelik provided to this team. He was the mastermind behind a massive defensive overhaul for the past two years.

Bzdelik had a long, storied career as a coach both at the NBA level and the college level. He has been involved in some sort of coaching role since 1978 when he started with Davidson University as an assistant. He climbed and clawed his way into NBA in 1988 where he had a long stint with the Washington Bullets.

Bzdelik then spent a year in New York with the Knicks. After that, he was a top assistant with the Miami Heat from 1995 until 2001. After that, he moved on to the Denver Nuggets where he was head coach for nearly two years before essentially being forced to retire for the first time.

He then bounced around the collegiate world for nearly a decade. First, he was the head coach at Air Force before transitioning to the University of Colorado. Bzdelik’s last college coaching gig was at Wake Forest and lasted until 2014. Bzdelik then jumped back to the pros with the Grizzlies from 2014 to 2016. After that, he joined Mike D’Antoni’s staff on the Houston Rockets.

Bzdelik is renowned for his defensive chops as a coach and his time with the Houston Rockets did nothing to quell that. In the 2015-16 season, the last year before Bzdelik joined the staff, the Rockets defense rated 20th in the NBA. James Harden was the laughing stock of the league when it came to defense and the team was held back by subpar defensive play.

There was an immediate improvement following the hiring of Bzdelik for the 2016-17 season. The entire team played with more defensive intensity and the team defense, including the play by Harden, improved. The Rockets placed in the top half of the league in team defense that year.

The 2017-18 season saw the Houston Rockets take an even bigger leap. Adding stout defenders such as Chris Paul, Luc Mbah a Moute, and PJ Tucker definitely helped but the tenacity and energy instilled by Bzdelik were behind it all. The Rockets cracked the top five in team defense last year and even improved in the playoffs.

Bzdelik truly allowed this team to develop into a top-five team in the NBA, and not just because of their offensive game. He helped motivate this team to exert effort on both sides of the court. He helped transform this team into a defensive juggernaut. But, mere weeks before training camp, Bzdelik retired and by doing so he took away all of that defensive momentum…or did he?

Sure, Bzdelik retiring leaves a void on the coaching staff and on the defensive side of the ball. The team loses it’s motivator, mastermind, and architect behind a newly minted top five defense. But, he didn’t leave the cupboard bare.

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Just because Bzdelik left the team weeks before the 2018-19 season started doesn’t mean all that he taught the team over the past two years just evaporates into thin air. The lessons and schemes will still be in the minds of both coaches and players.

This is a team that now values defense from top to bottom even though they will be a perennial offensive powerhouse. The team also has an up-and-coming defensive mind already on the bench. Roy Rogers was a defensive ace during his playing career and has continued that reputation as a coach.

So, between the schemes and coaching this team has gotten from Bzdelik the past two years will stick with them. Sure the motivation and coaching from the bench is gone but, Rogers will take over that role. The defense is still in capable hands.

The Houston Rockets graded as the best offensive team in the 2017-18 season. They also graded out as the fifth best defensive team last year. That was the best combination of any team in the entire NBA.

Team stats come from teamranking.com unless otherwise noted.