Chris Mannix: In trade pursuits, Ime Udoka ‘a real asset’ for Rockets

@Hemingway lolol

 

I have no doubt that Ime is liked by players and could help attract FA’s. Doesn’t change my opinion that he is not a championship level coach, because he will still be horrible at offense and rotations. Maybe a superstar could come in and run the offense in spite of Ime. Giannis still doesn’t fit with Amen and Sengun so one would have to go. Durant doesn’t strike me as a coach on the floor type of guy and Jalen Brown is not worth the super max and would put you in luxury tax hell. That being said I think they should pursue Durant or Giannis and make subsequent trades to balance the roster. Then when Ime screws the pooch even with the players that love him, they will understand in a couple of years and get rid of him.

 

I suspect Amen will assert himself more and more as he grows more confident. We saw flashes of that in game 7. I wouldn't be surprised if Amen at some point outpaces Ime's knowledge and basically becomes the offensive coach on the floor. Kid is too smart and too committed to devouring tape and basketball knowledge to be held back. I don't necessarily share your belief that Ime will stubbornly keep running him out there off the ball--Amen is clearly his favorite of the young players, and I'm sure he knows Amen wants to play point guard.

Let's see what happens next season, I think there's a really good chance we start seeing Amen getting a lot more on-ball reps. Once that happens, it will effectively become his team in fairly short order.

 

We are certainly on the same page with Amen. I tabbed him as a superstar the first time I saw him play and have been fighting with half the board about him being our PG of the future. I hope you are right about Ime. I just was absolutely disgusted with his coaching performance on offense and his unwillingness to take any kind of responsibility when the team failed. He exhibits classic Narcissistic behavior and It is very hard for Narcissists to change their ways. I give him a lot of credit on how he turned the team around, but if he reverts to FVV 40 min dribbling around the logo again, I hope they can him and don’t waste another year while most the other teams in the West get better.

 

Nice, what are we getting for Ime?

 

Who are we getting for Ime, Mr. Stone?

 

Which is just a crazy thing to claim so early on in his tenure…

But on the other hand… there are so few nba championship caliber coaches so it’s not wrong.
But I just think you are just unable to accept that you were wrong about how good the roster is.

 

I have no idea what you mean. I think we have a pretty good roster, that is a few moves away from being championship calibre. I think we have one of the worst starting Pg’s in the league that one of the worst offensive coaches plays 40 minutes a game. People are too emotionally invested in certain players and are so in love with our progress that they refuse to acknowledge the weaknesses of our head coach. I hope he can learn to become a decent offensive coach. I wish FVV was a better PG. I just don’t believe either is a strong possibility.

 

Ime and FVV has been one of the best things for our young guys and the disrespect they get on here is amazing.

 

Not at all impressed with Ime's ability to implement an offense that suites the roster. However, what about Stone? Built a team devoid of shooting, scoring and playmaking. This offseason will tell us a lot about both. Can Stone make winning trades to improve the roster and can Ime utilize them correctly. Have serious doubts about both. Bari rarely having his number called was infuriating, while Brooks got isos in the high post where Bari should have.

 

I mean if you don’t win 80 games and your opponents offense and defense isn’t perfect. Never mind the parameters within what the gm and coach are working under. Never mind the age of the players. The options they had in free agency. Not wanting to mortgage the future to have better offense currently. Nor the fact that if you did trade players away and picks you would also not be able to give time and develop the ones you have left without inhibiting that short term success that you sold your future for.

I want everything to be perfect. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE ABOVE!

 

Someone needs to start a "what's the highest pick we can get in this draft for Ime" thread

 

Agree this off-season is Stone’s final exam. If he stands pat, he fails.

 

You can sort of argue that Stone did get shooters and playmakers - they just weren't developed during meaningless regular season minutes to the point that they could be played in the playoffs. If there was a bit more emphasis on developing Jabari and Reed (and to a lesser extent Cam), maybe we'd have won less games, but we'd likely be in a better position moving forward.

Let's just hope that this next upcoming season has less emphasis on Jalen/Fred - that would open up so much more opportunities for everyone else.

 

Udoka is the real draw because look at Fertitta and Stone, both not presentable......other than having money.

Baldy Crazy eyes or just grand mafia boss like.

 

That's a fair point that I agree with. For such a young team, the emphasis on regular season success over player development was so shortsighted, and killed us in the playoffs. Imagine if Cam and Reed were playable. Would have beaten the Warriors..No doubts about it.

Feels like this org is trying to speedrun the rebuild and is skipping steps along the way. All these reports about KD and Giannis point to this. Sure we need a Star, but one that is not 37 and one that fits with Amen.

 

I think that everyone recognizes what they have done, but there is likely a ceiling that exists with them, and we are already there. It’s hard to see the players that still have some potential (namely Jalen and Jabari) reaching it with FVV and Ime.

 

I find it amusing that people put FVV next to Ime's......the last Nurse years and FVV just look at them....

It was a redemption arc for Van Vleet because Scottie Barnes and him had some beef about who should captain the mediocre Raptors with Siakam and OG about to jump the sinking ship.

Fred and Dillon are tools that Udoker used for his purposes, nothing less nothing more......

He would have used Conley jr and Jaden McDaniels if he had them.

 

Last I checked we had a player develop into an all star and one into first team all defense in the regular season.

Some fans expect a microwave and to go from worst to first without incremental steps in between.

In NBA circles Ime is one of the best coaches in the league. The vets and him have helped elevate the team, people forget when we 'let the young guys play' and were under Silas we were one of the worst teams in the league. They didn't know what they were doing and had to learn from others, they are still learning.

Just like if you work at a company, skilled senior employees and strong management help teach talented new hires to the industry how to succeed at the job. The new hires can be motivated with something to prove and push the vets to be driven at times as well. Sports even more so as guys have to develop physically as well as mentally competing with grown men or the best in the world.