Ime is not a championship coach

Houston Rockets: B+
Preseason projection: 52.5 wins
Current projection: 52.3 wins

Why a B-plus for the Rockets, who are on track to finish almost exactly at their preseason line? First, I thought that expectations were inflated for Houston in the wake of Fred VanVleet's September ACL tear, which left the Rockets without any proven point guard options. As Houston hoped, recent lottery picks Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard have solidified the position, with Sheppard making a leap in his sophomore campaign. And Kevin Durant has been the difference-maker the Rockets hoped, leaving Houston top-five in offensive rating despite a recent slump.

Second, the Rockets have been one of the league's unluckiest teams thus far. Houston's record (25-15) is fifth in the West by virtue of a 9-12 record in games that qualify by the NBA's definition of clutch time (within five points in the last five minutes of regulation). The Rockets are 24th in clutch defensive rating, which seems unlikely to persist given their talent at that end.


NBA midseason grades: Rating all 30 teams at the halfway mark - ESPN

 

Ime completely turned this franchise around. Seeing comments on here that he's "worse than Silas" made me bust out laughing when I read that. He's probably second to Rick Adelman in terms of our best coach since I've been watching, right after Rudy T.

He has limitations offensively. I view him as similar to MDA who had limitations defensively. Both also struggle to make scheme adjustments. We would benefit from hiring an offensive mind as a lead assistant.

 

He is a decent coach, just not a championship one. As is, there is no apparent better replacement for him. In the next year or two, I hope one is available.

 

He has a pretty successful track record so far, I'm not sure that's the only metric we should use. He's still inexperienced and has already been to the finals with a very young team. MDA was a hamstring away from being a championship coach.

He should not have significant influence on personnel decisions though as some have suggested he has currently.

 

It’s a reasonable opinion, but he has shown no ability to recognize his own weaknesses which would be the first step to getting better. I hope you are right and he is not the Narcissist I think he is.

 

If coaches were drafted like players, Udoka would probably be picked at the 10th-15th range. He's the proverbial high floor low ceiling kind of guy.

 

very good analogy.

 

Yes agreed.

DD

 

I think fans either are not comprehending the fact that we have a weaker roster than the top teams in the league or they willfully don’t want to admit that we don’t have enough to win.

You didn’t answer my questions. I emphasized the fact that this team is unique in that it has an imbalanced roster that none of the contenders have this issue. And the usage of Durant as a combo guard highlights this. Again none of these teams start 2 non shooters. Whether you or these fans accept it or not, the fact is our roster construction is unique with 2 non shooters and no point guard.

What coach if inserted would drastically change this team given the current roster?

 

Your assumption is that things stay stagnant. That Amen and Sengun never improve and that Amen can never be a pg and that there won’t ever be a coach that might be available that is a more balanced coach. We have 3 point shooters on this team and Amen is growing as a pg. The Spurs, Pistons, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers have similar records to ours and all have 2 non-shooters in the their starting lineups and less 3 pt shooting on their benches. Denver and OKC are outliers. I’ve already conceded that there is no available coach any better than Ime right now (although some would say Mike Malone). My opinion is that Amen will end up a hall of fame PG and that Sengun will continue to improve and probably develop a really good 3 pt shot. I think it is foolish to mortgage your future to maximize a 37 year old oft-injured player’s time here and especially with a coach that has not demonstrated an ability to develop players or create an offensive system to fit the players he has. Just like their are no available coaches available there are no available players that will make us contenders this year, so why blow up the possibility of a run in a year or two when clearly our ability to compete for a championship this year is remote at best?

 

Nobody knew Mazzulla was one. Or Daigneault other than Presti. Mitch Johnson could be next man up.

• Does not matter, if he can get half the job done by not hindering the growth of Amen, Alpe and Reed.....
• 
  
• that is a touchdown on the job......
• You probably would need a Steve Kerr/Rick Carlisle to finish the job but folks would remember Ime as the Culture setter.....and be grateful.

 

Udoka stopped developing himself and never touched on Offense when he was an Assistant......you never quit learning!!!!!

 

I agree with you about mortgaging the future. If the Rockets weren’t in win now mode I would maybe hang onto one or both players a little longer. But the Durant trade changed the timeline for this team. My views are based on the team’s current goals and plan, which is to win a championship in these Durant years period.

I never said Sengun and Amen will never grow. I said it will take a considerable amount of time they don’t have in this Durant window. Developing a dribble pull up is very difficult and developing a 3 pt shot will take a few years. But I do believe in being careful with these players development and pulling a deal if they can while these players are young before they plateau. Timing in deals is everything.

Now onto the teams you mentioned. All of those teams have 4 guys that can shoot 3 except for Detroit. I haven’t looked at Toronto but they aren’t a top team and real contender so I’m not talking about them.

Detroit plays a different style than the Rockets.
Every single possession Cade dominates the ball. He gets screens from anyone from 2-5 but usually from Duren up top or wings. They play 5 out usually allowing Cade to operate and draw 2 defenders. He finds 3 pt shooters (Duncan, Harris) or lobs to Duren.

A lot of the actions are simple high screens with Duren. Duren doesn’t post or get isos like Sengun. There’s no players sagging back expecting a Duren iso drive play.

Cade wreaks havoc driving getting mismatches or drawing 2 defenders opening up the game for everyone. He does everything for them. The other guys get in position for a 3 or lob or cut for a layup or dunk. They usually don’t post players or iso so there’s no double teams or traps. Occasionally Harris posts and they cut hard with Duren and Ausar to crash the glass.

That’s how they play: pushing the ball full court/running, crashing the glass, cade dominating the ball.

 

It's hard for me to listen to is after game press conferences. Ime is as blah as it gets. You'd think he could show an ounce of excitement over the game last night, but not even a smile.

 

What could possibly make him smile? Rocket won, Reed shined. Everything points that he’s an idiot.

 

Why is he an idiot?

What specifically is he not doing as a coach?

What would you do better if you were coaching this roster?

What other coach do you think would do better with this roster?

 

How do you know this?

 

What do you think any other coach would do with this roster? I don’t see any other coaches doing much better with 2 players that are best as iso and 2 non shooters who can’t shoot beyond 12 ft. Like I said it’s the roster that hinders this team.

Now Udoka didn’t draft some of these players and inherited a roster built by Stone and Silas but he did choose to come here and add to this roster so it’s his responsibility to take this team to greater heights.

Again I just don’t see this roster wining a championship the way we are built and how we play. Only contending team that has 2 non shooters is Detroit and they play a completely different style than us which makes it harder to trap or sag back..

 

Odds are most coaches aren't championship coaches. So Ime is likely not a championship coach. That said, players have a lot to say about who is a championship coach and who isn't. Udoka probably has the best odds of being a championship coach of anyone they could reasonably obtain at the moment.

Are people really holding their breathe hoping Billups beats the gambling accusations?

 

Those teams do not have 4 guys in the starting lineup that can shoot 3’s better than league average and don’t have 2 on the bench either. This is one area where stats do tell the story better than eye test. I just looked at teams in the top 5 or so in each conference. San Antonio for instance has a starting unit that includes Castle 28.4 and Fox 34.1 both below average. Wemby above average, Champagnie above average, Barnes average at 36.4. The other teams are similar. 3 but not 4 good 3 pt shooters. We have Tari, Reed, Holiday (that shouldn’t count really) that all are shooting greater than 40% from 3. The Rockets may have wanted to build a championship contender around Durant’s window, but they have screwed themselves out of that with the Fred and Ime extensions. Not to mention that Durant is 37 years old and is more than likely going to miss significant time during his “window”.