The Houston Rockets have decided to let go of Irv Roland, the team’s player development coach.
The Houston Rockets have let go of player development assistant coach Irv Roland, who worked very closely with James Harden as well as Chris Paul and PJ Tucker, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 24, 2019
The reason behind Roland’s firing is still unknown at this point, but further updates should be released within the next couple of days.
Roland has been James Harden’s trainer since 2016, but they have been good friends long before he joined the Rockets’ staff.
Irv met Harden for the first time at the LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron back in 2008 when he was still a freshman at Arizona State University. Roland has already witnessed the reigning MVP’s potential to be an elite scorer in the league, but never really thought that he’d become one of the NBA’s greatest players today.
Roland’s hometown is Oklahoma City, and when Harden was still playing for the Thunder, Irv was also able to develop great relationships with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. He was never a part of the team, but he used to talk to the trio in terms of how they can improve their game.
Roland is one of the main reasons why Harden blossomed into the player that he is now. He closely worked with the All-Star guard and usually traveled with all over the US and Europe in order to find a good place to train and play basketball.
Harden has yet to give his reaction to the firing of not only his trainer but his good friend as well.
However, this is not expected to hurt his relationship with Rockets management.
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