Yeah I’m not sure Ime truly lacks awareness, it might be a strategy to never show weakness as a coach in order to keep the locker room / his job. This league is absolutely ruthless for coaches.
Fair point, the accountability part though supersedes it. I think he has carte blanche from the organization and therefore is not in a situation where he’s forced to step outside his comfort zone.
This year's situation has changed drastically from last year's. Last year, we were in the wake of a chaotic losing culture with six young players who needed to be taught the right attitude of playing professional ball. And they needed to figure out the pecking order, who's the franchise guy (although CF had already figured out all the franchise players ) They needed discipline. They needed veteran stability. This year, Sengun and Green were signed. The cornerstones are set, at least partially. (We still didn't know how Jalen would turn out at the start of the season.) The culture has been renovated. Most of the kids look to be self-motivated. What needs to be done is setting up a system to maximize the two top guys and let them be the alphas. And continue to develop the younger ones and figure out who will be here long term. The priority should be giving the young guys a lot of reps. The vets should take a supportive role rather than the lead roles. Udoka did a very good job in last year's situation. This year so far, it does not look like he is prioritizing development. FVV has by far the most minutes. Brooks is a close third to Jalen's second. Sengun has by far the lowest minutes among the starter. And there does not seem to have a system that features Sengun and Green as the centerpieces of the offense. With one year of "real coaching" under their belt, the whole team should have improved from last year's form. But so far, both offense and defense look to be on the same level as last year. Other than the apparent leap of Jalen, nothing has really changed. So if Udoka got an A last year, he is a C so far this year.
I mean yeah fans can go from one extreme to another but the players are not so fast. They need a gap year or two years......they are not moving that fast. But I get it, the coach has to answer for this in the end bc he signed a max coach contract....that is after this season.
Ime gets alot of crap for our offense but we're currently ranked 9th in offensive rating according to nba.com That's above average. I would argue that's an accomplishment for the team we have. Behind Sengun, our next best offensive player is Jalen or FVV who can struggle to shoot straight, when open, for nights (sometimes weeks) at a time. It's very difficult to build an elite offense without players that can consistently hit open shots.
The offense is pathetic. Rockets are 3rd to last in FG%, near the bottom in 3-pt%, 2nd in turnovers and next to last in assists. They are NOT above average. What bails them out is leading the league in offensive rebounding. In other words, their "best offense is a missed shot". They have a lot of problems to fix. Too often guys don't know where they should be or what they should do. On the other hand, players on teams like the Warriors and Knicks each seem to know their purpose every possession and how to react to different defenses. Fortunately, it's very obvious everything about this team is a work in progress. There are 76 games left and we just have to be patient.
Yeah, we have three elite offensive rebounders in Sengun, Amen, and Tari on the team. And Jabari is pretty good too.
I don't care if the best offense is from a missed shot. Offense is about scoring points. The Rockets miss more shots than the average team. The Rockets make more shots than the average team. As they don't deduct points for missed shots, scoring is based solely of 2pt FGs made, 3pt FGs made, and FTs made (i.e., miss shots onlym use up a possession when there isn't an offensive rebound). The offensive rebounding and lack of turnovers gives the Rockets about 7 more shots than the average team for a game's worth of possessions. There just isn't an NBA offense bad enough at shooting not to be an above average offense with 7 extra shots per game. I expect the rebound to go down a little. I expect the shooting to improve, though.
Offensive rebounding is a part of offense just like defensive rebounding is a part of defense. The total offense is quite literally above average, by the numbers. What you're referencing is shooting percentages. I agree and mentioned the poor shooting. That's EXACTLY why it's a miracle the team is where they are. The players know where they should be but don't trust their teammates and rightfully so. Our frontcourt goes to the glass EARLY anticipating a missed layup or shot. Also, I think by now we know the Knicks' coach Thibs is no offensive savant. The primary difference between his previous poor offenses and his current offense is that he has shot making all over the court. The rockets have a few streaky shooters at best that play the majority of the minutes. Even Kerr's Warriors had below average offense years when his shooters were out for long stretches. The Rockets can't play like the Warriors or the Knicks because we don't have the shooters to space the floor. It is a very important piece that people seem to gloss over. The team won't shoot well if the players can't shoot.
That is entirely due to the talent that Stone acquired and drafted. Amen, Tari, Db, Jabari and Sengun get so many rebounds they make up for bad shooting. Ime's coaching team has to do a better job at player development and Ime himself has tobdo a better job at rotations. I give him a B so far this season, he is getting the job done (4/3) but it could have been so much better.
Thank you! That's why Thibs went out and got shooters only, he can't even conceive of an offense that's non-heliocentric (1 star + 4 role playing shooters essentially). Same is happening with Udoka but he has to resist the urge. Partially improve the shooting but also for the love of god ask someone for help on the offense.
Couple of thoughts from the Bill Simmons podcast: He has the Rockets at 10 in NBA Power Rankings, and a top 5 League Pass team. Says that Udoka likes the Eason/Thompson lineup as reliable and that he wouldn't trade Thompson for Butler at this point. Hopefully we can keep this up!
The Spurs are a bad matchup for the Rockets offense. Tonight will likely be tough for the offense. Friday will be tough for the offense and defense with OKC. I expect one of two things wills happen in the next 2 games: 1) The Rockets offense will struggle and drop out of the Top 10. Others will say I told you the offense has been bad (It hasn't, but not sure if the offense is sustainable[i.e., I'm not sure the Rockets rebounding will keep countering the poor shooting]). 2) Somehow the Rockets offense stays in the Top 10 in Offensive Rating. Others will still ignore how good the Rockets offense is. I think Number 1 is likely to occur. Maybe 80% chance. If Number 2 happens, I will be jumping for joy. The 9 games after OKC is mostly average or bad defenses with the Clippers being an exception. I've not watched the Clippers so I'm not sure if that is just randomness. I think after 18 games into the season, the Rockets will likely have an above average offense as measured by offensive Rating. It sucks playing in the West. I think there is a good chance the Rockets finish with an above average offense, but it just seems like the stats will favor East teams due to the lack of defense in the East. I think there are 10 offenses the Rockets will easily be better than.
