The Cavaliers have offered Jeff Van Gundy their vacant head coaching job, according to several NBA sources.

Team owner Gordon Gund has agreed to give the former New York Knicks coach a five-year contract believed to be worth $25 million after negotiating with his agent Jim Ornstein this week, the sources said.

Van Gundy is mulling the offer, waiting to see how the coaching search plays out for the Houston Rockets, with which he is also a candidate. Van Gundy said Thursday he is only 50 percent sure he'll return to coaching next year.

No official announcement on his decision is expected by the team until early next week. But the Cavaliers probably are in no mood to wait considering the number of coaching vacancies in the league and may press Van Gundy to make a choice quickly so the team can move on.

General Manager Jim Paxson used a similar tactic to land former coach John Lucas two years ago when Lucas was being courted in Cleveland and by the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Rockets' coaching search Friday moved on to the next top name of free-agent coaches when owner Leslie Alexander and general manager Carroll Dawson met with former Hornets coach Paul Silas in Houston.

Silas, who called the position with the Rockets "the premier job," was the first coach to interview in Houston, touring the Rockets' new downtown arena, offices and training facility with Dawson before meeting with Dawson and Alexander on Friday afternoon.

"I've known Paul for 35 years, since he was at Creighton," Dawson said. "It was another good interview. I think it went very well. We talked about a lot of things. It was good."

Silas and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who met with the Rockets on Monday, are the top candidates for the position with the Cavaliers. Sources indicated the Cavaliers could try to secure a coach by the end of the weekend.

"I think it's the premier job out there," Silas, 58, said. "Whoever gets it has the opportunity to really do well. They are really on the right track to do something special.

The Cavaliers' coaching derby is heading down the homestretch with former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and former New Orleans Hornets coach Paul Silas the front-runners.

But Silas, who had his second interview with the Cavs on Thursday, interviewed last night with the Houston Rockets.
   
Van Gundy, who interviewed in Houston, recently declined to pursue the opening in Philadelphia.

Sources have said that Van Gundy is the first choice of owner Gordon Gund and General Manager Jim Paxson but those same sources said Van Gundy wants more control over personnel matters than Silas, and Van Gundy also wants more money. It was reported that Van Gundy wants at least $7 million per season. That would make him the highest-paid coach along with Milwaukee's George Karl.

Texans senior vice president Steve Patterson has emerged as a candidate to become president of the Portland Trail Blazers, sources familiar with the Blazers' search said Friday.

Patterson, who had been Rockets general manager from 1989 to 1993, did not return phone messages Friday.

Patterson, the son of former Rockets executive Ray Patterson, was with the Rockets for nine years before moving to the Aeros, then of the International Hockey League, for three seasons as team president and general manager.

Jim Boylen became the first member of Rudy Tomjanovich's coaching staff to land another position when he completed a deal to become an assistant coach with the Warriors on Friday, one week after Tomjanovich stepped down as Rockets coach.

Boylen had been with the Rockets 11 seasons, four as a video coordinator and the past seven as an assistant coach.

"I've very thankful for my 11 years," Boylen said. "Les (Alexander, Rockets owner) took good care of me. Les and Carroll (Dawson) and Rudy were such a big part of my development as a coach. This has been a great place for me. I had a chance to do a lot and learn a lot.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to make Jeff Van Gundy an offer to become their next head coach sometime over the next few days, according to league source.

The Cavs appeared to be waiting for the Western Conference finals to end before making Van Gundy a formal offer.

Whether Van Gundy will accept the job is unclear. He reiterated yesterday that he enjoys his job as a broadcaster and that he and his family prefer to live in Chappaqua, N.Y. Van Gundy is not ruling out returning to TNT, with whom he is under contract for one more year. "I've really enjoyed my time at Turner," Van Gundy said yesterday over the telephone. "I still don't know what is going to happen. Right now I'd say it's a 50-50 proposition whether I'll be coaching next season."

This is what Jeff Van Gundy knew after an hour on the telephone Wednesday night with newly anointed 76ers president Billy King:

For whatever reasons, this was the wrong time, the wrong team for a return to coaching.

The Sixers had received permission from New York to speak with the Knicks' former coach earlier that day, but if there were any courting to be done, it was over before it started.

Just when it appeared free agent Larry Brown, having commandeered the coaching carousel upon resigning from the 76ers, had the sway to get off at whatever NBA pit stop he pleased, Cavalier chatter reconfirms a previous report in this space that Jeff Van Gundy will sign momentarily with Cleveland.

While Van Gundy has been toying with the Rockets and 76ers (or was it the other way around?), his representative has been negotiating with the Cavs, who had targeted him weeks ago as their No. 1 choice, just ahead of Paul Silas.

At first, it looked as if the dialogue wouldn't go beyond the preliminary stage. Gordon Gund and GM Jim Paxson were put off by suggestions that the former Knick fatalist wanted an annual salary of $7 million and veto power/control regarding personnel decisions. Compromise and reason have prevailed on both sides of the table from that point on, which is expected to yield a five-year agreement in the vicinity of $25 million.

The Rockets' pursuit of a head coach brought no additional interviews Thursday, and none are scheduled, general manager Carroll Dawson said. But that could change soon.

Sources have indicated this week that the Rockets could look into talking to former Hornets coach Paul Silas. There has not been any contact between the Rockets and Silas, who is one of the top candidates for the Cavaliers job and had a second interview with Cleveland officials Thursday.

Dawson would not discuss his interest in talking with any potential candidate other than to describe earlier meetings with Larry Brown, Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Van Gundy as "very good, but preliminary."

"We've only been doing this for a few days," said Dawson, adding that he spent much of Thursday concentrating on the more customary work that piled up while he was traveling. "It doesn't happen that fast. But we're happy with how it's gone so far. The idea is to find the right guy."

Jeff Van Gundy won't be coaching the Philadelphia 76ers.

Van Gundy, who already interviewed for the Cleveland Cavaliers' vacancy, spoke to Sixers general manager Billy King on Wednesday night.

"We mutually agreed it wasn't a good fit,'' Van Gundy said Thursday in an interview on Comcast SportsNet, which is owned by the same company that owns the 76ers.

The Sixers have been looking for a coach since Hall of Famer Larry Brown resigned Monday after six seasons.

Van Gundy, who abruptly resigned last season as coach of the New York Knicks and remains under contract with the club until July 31, appears to be the leading candidate for the Cavs' job. Former New Orleans coach Paul Silas also interviewed with Cleveland. Brown also is interested in the position.