Is Chris Finch's Future As A Houston Rockets Assistant Coach?

Chris Finch is not a candidate for the vacant Houston Rockets head coaching position, but the current head coach of the NBA D-League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers is apparently headed to the Rockets bench regardless next season.

Finch has shown that he has what it takes to succeed as a head coach during his two seasons with the Rockets-owned Vipers (if his gig as the British National Team's head coach didn't qualify him enough already). Along with assistant Paul Mokeski, Finch led the Vipers to a D-League championship in his first season as the team's head coach and followed that up with another trip to the D-League Finals this season before losing to the Iowa Energy in the three-game series.

Finch's success has apparently caught they eye of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey as well.

Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski threw in a tidbit last week that Morey's making sure there will be a spot for Finch on the coaching staff of whichever head coach the Rockets decide to hire.

Another element of the Rockets' job will be the prospective coach's willingness to include the Rockets D-League affiliate's coach as an assistant. Rockets management is enamored with Rio Grande's Chris Finch, and some see him as a future head coach in the NBA. Finch left a European coaching career to join the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2009.

This would be good news for Finch, if true, and open up another pretty decent job in the D-League. Methinks R.J. Adelman is probably not going to be mentioned as a candidate this time around.