The Sacramento Kings are set to hire Houston Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair as their new head of basketball operations, as first by Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
The Sacramento position is clearly a promotion for McNair, since it’s the lead decision-making role within basketball operations. In Houston, that position has belonged to GM Daryl Morey for more than 13 years.
As a longtime member of Morey’s staff, McNair originally joined the Rockets as an analyst in 2007. From there, he became director of basketball operations in 2013; vice president of basketball operations in 2015; and finally, assistant GM in 2018.
“Monte has been absolutely critical to the success of the Rockets over his long tenure,” Morey said of McNair in October 2018. “His unique combination of analytical skills and ability to work with our coaching staff was a key driver in our record-breaking season [in 2017-18].”
More to come here, but a quick look at the Kings' decision to hire Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair as their head of basketball operations, as sources told myself and @ShamsCharania https://t.co/4aCV6XtxYR
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 17, 2020
In that 2018 press release, here’s how the Rockets described his role:
In addition to managing the analytic efforts of the Rockets basketball operations department, McNair is involved with all avenues of player evaluation, including trade, free agency, and the draft. Over the past four seasons, McNair has worked closely with the coaching staff to provide on-court strategy and analysis along with opponent preparation.
A native of Oak Park, California, outside of Los Angeles, McNair played football at Princeton University, where he majored in computer science. Prior to joining the Rockets, McNair worked as a researcher at STATS LLC.
With the NBA’s longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances (eight years), other franchises are naturally hoping to emulate Houston’s success. In May 2019, Minnesota hired longtime Rockets executive Gersson Rosas as its president of basketball operations. A year earlier, Philadelphia tried to lure Morey away, though he opted to stay put.
Monte McNair becomes the 6th person from the Rockets front office to land a head of basketball operations job.
Some others:
Daryl Morey
Sam Hinkie
Dennis Lindsey
Gersson Rosas
Arturas Karnisovas— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) September 17, 2020
The pre-existing relationship between Rosas and Morey may have helped pave the way for the four-team Robert Covington trade, which was organized by the Timberwolves and Rockets earlier this year. Perhaps McNair’s time with Morey could make the Kings a future trade partner.
It remains to be seen whether Morey will replace McNair’s position by promoting from within, or if he looks to make an external hire. Morey is already conducting a coaching search to replace Mike D’Antoni, so the assistant GM position might be tabled until later in the offseason.
Kings hiring Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair — a former Princeton football player and STATS researcher — as new head of basketball operations. https://t.co/R3RHRzU4Fo
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) September 17, 2020
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