The Houston Rockets have hired former Clemson star and NBA veteran Greg Buckner as player development coach.
Rockets coach Kevin McHale announced the hiring on Wednesday. It will be Buckner’s first coaching job after a 10-year NBA career that included stints at Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Memphis.
“He’s going to be coaching, a lot of player development,” McHale told The Houston Chronicle.
McHale said he expects Buckner to take a hands-on approach in helping develop the Rockets’ young players.
“He’s still young enough to run out there with them,”
said McHale. “He’s got to do a lot of that, a lot of player development. He just got done playing. He was a heady player, played with a lot of heart.“
“He came up the hard way, really worked his way around the league. Just a really good, blue-collar guy who understands the league.”
Buckner is the first Tiger men's basketball player in history to start for three NCAA tournament teams and four postseason tournament teams.
He was Clemson's leading scorer for four straight years, and became just the fifth player in ACC history to do so. He concluded his Clemson career ranked fourth in scoring with 1754 points.
Buckner was an All-ACC player in 1996-97 when he led the Tigers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and a number-eight final ranking by USA Today. He was also an All-ACC player as a senior in 1997-98, the last year Clemson advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
A starter in a Clemson record 122 consecutive games, Buckner was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1994-95, the only Clemson basketball player to win that award. A second-round draft choice in the NBA after his senior year, he was a starter for the Denver Nuggets this past year, his sixth season in the NBA.
Buckner was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
