They understand, when it’s a player they like - once they make their mind up (whatever the narrative may be) it’s no changing it They complain about things JG does on a lesser bases than the SGs they want to compare him too then when that’s debunked they try and compare his numbers to PGs He’s improved in almost every area this season, and our offense isn’t geared or setup for him to have 30-40 point nights unless he’s super hot from 3 … but folks used to say “if only he could shoot 36% from 3 I’ll be happy “ now it’s if he could only shoot 38% from 3 I’ll be happy …. His biggest flaw to me is he’s too unselfish, and not aggressive enough driving to paint consistently - he’s too much of a good teammate and he still (almost all nba players do this) takes the illadvised heatcheck 3
This is hyperbole. Udoka is one of the premiere defensive coaches in NBA and an average offensive coach. Udoka cannot be the worst offensive coach in NBA if none of his offenses have ever been at the bottom of the NBA. Udoka has lots to improve on offensively but we need to be responsible and not overstate just for effect, because this exaggeration will be perceived as "fact" and spread like wildfire.
I don't think it's unreasonable to say he's the worst offensive coach in the nba. Maybe he's not actually 30th, but certainly he's not top 25. Boston exploded the moment he left, houston regressed with him despite a massive increase in talent.
I agree with Legler that JG doesn’t particularly make his teammates better, but neither did Kobe Bryant. As long as the efficiency continues to rise, and as long as Udoka mandates a system that doesn’t include a whole lot of JG dribble-dribble, I think we are okay. I’d like to see JG in more off-ball scoring and finishing actions with Reed+Amen+Alperen controlling the decision making with Fred out.
That’s fine. JG, Jabari and Alperen in particular need to get tougher and more physical, and they need it ingrained. We can bring in our Adelman later. For now, let Udoka mold these young guys.
Regression from Silas is an illusion. Rockets are currently #18 in offense (which is higher than Ant's Wolves) and have been as high as #10 this season.
And missing Fred can’t be understated. Can’t over analyze this team without him. He is a damn fine Point Guard on both ends.
I agree with this approach and even willing to let Udoka develop with them but the problem is he wants to trade these guys so by the time our Adelman arrives, we will have let Udoka rather than Adelman decide who we should keep/trade/acquire. This is what's been annoying me the most, they passed on upgrading shooting twice and it's clear the HC is not very good at offense AND he's missing a great offensive assistant like he had in Boston. It's a bad idea to judge the young guys under these circumstances. We're in prime position to be the team which watches a young player go somewhere else and ascend to a higher tier. Some young guys will eventually have to go, but we really screwed up the test in the meantime making these decisions blurrier than they need to be.
Passing on trade deadline twice should not be a knock on Udoka, Rockets have needed an elite 3P shooter and star perimeter creator since Stone stepped into GM role.
Until we pull the trigger on a dicey deal, I am going to reserve judgement on this, but I get where you are coming from. Hopefully we don’t get lazy with the rebuild. You aren’t beating OKC or future Spurs with the available merchant stars, imo. Keep building and developing.
It's not an illusion. Our 18th in offense is because of offensive rebounding, not actual offense. Our actual half court offense is horrid.
The OREB emphasis is Udoka's strategy to circumvent the lack of offensive efficiency. Rockets being #1 in REB + OREB almost all season is not a fluke, this was an Ime goal from beginning. And I completely agree that half court offense has been hellish, Udoka has been hellish from almost day one this season. This is squarely on Stone for refusing to add components to address this glaring + longstanding issue.
It's on both of them, that's a joint decision according to both of them. Udoka doesn't want shooters, he wants a veteran star and doesn't believe we have a future one. Stone is not wrong to say no to that and he has to let these recommendations come from the coach. No reason to go against his will, Udoka just won't play whoever he doesn't like. If it were once maybe we can say it's on Stone, but twice they passed on adding a shooter to the worst shooting team in the NBA.
The talent is still MILES better than what silas had, udoka just isn't anywhere close to the offensive coach that silas was. He's better overall, but not on offense. It's fine though, i'm not bothered because i don't view him as someone who will be here when it matters anyway.
Yup I don't think people get that we need to both develop stars and probably acquire one too. Hope we have a big enough finish to the season to convince them the grass is not greener on the other side.
This is much more the GM's job than HC. GM takes input from coaching staff and analytics department then makes decision for betterment of franchise utilizing birdseye view. Coaches are oftentimes too close to the players + invested in the success of their systems.
The addition of Fred or Dillon did not affect OREB very much if at all. Silas may have the appearance being a better offensive minded coach but he was horrible in terms of efficiency. He ran the Rockets like an out of control AAU team, the offense was not aesthetic then either. And the culture was absolutely broken. And Silas gets too much credit for MAV's historic offense. Luka and Carlisle (repeated dynamic offense at IND) deserve the true kudos. Looking back with any fondness on those Silas teams is jarring because he fielded the absolute worst seasons in franchise history with offenses near the bottom + defenses at the bottom of NBA. Silas final season with Rockets, offense was 21st + defense was 30th. Brutal. Rockets definitely have offense issues that must be addressed and should have been addressed last 2 trade deadlines but pining for Silas is a bridge too far.
