Report: Ex-Rockets assistant coach Bzdelik to unretire, return to team

Former Houston Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik, credited for much of the team's prowess on defense last season, will unretire and rejoin the team, according to The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen.

The 65-year-old will have a quick meeting with the Rockets before returning full time toward the end of November, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Bzdelik elected to step away from the team ahead of training camp this year after two seasons as the Rockets' defensive coordinator.

Prior to Bzdelik's arrival in 2016, the Rockets' defensive rating ranked just 21st in the league. The team improved to 18th in the 2016-17 season followed by a jump to seventh overall last year, when Houston boasted a league-leading net rating of 8.4 points per 100 possessions.

However, the Rockets' once-formidable defense appears to have hit a speed bump through its 3-5 start. The team currently sits 21st in defensive rating, conceding a whopping 111.3 points per 100 possessions.

Bzdelik had a truncated stint as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the early 2000s - including the rookie season of current Rockets veteran Carmelo Anthony in 2003-04. After initially finding success with the Anthony-led Nuggets, Bzdelik was dismissed just 28 games into the future 10-time All-Star's second season, leading some pundits to wonder if Anthony's arrival in Houston had anything to do with Bzdelik's abrupt decision to retire, a suggestion at which Mike D'Antoni balked at.

“No. No,” D’Antoni told The Athletic's Sam Amick in October when asked if the Anthony signing played a role in his top assistant's departure. “I’m almost 100 percent sure that’s not right. I’ve talked to (Bzdelik), and we even talked about it during the summer. I mean he likes ‘Melo. He’s like me. You’re fine. It’ll be good, it’d be interesting, it’d be fun. And he and ‘Melo had made up a couple years ago. They were fine, so no.”