If Ime Udoka continues these Antics, he will be replaced by a Mike Dantoni, Rick Adelman type of Coach. Because Reed Sheppard, Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore are Fast Paced Players that want to play in a 7 seconds or less offense. This slow half court BS is very annoying to watch. Jeff Van Gundy 87 point game style. Tom Thibodeau same style slow half court players get injured one by one. Derrick Rose, Jalen Brunson look at their injuries.
Was this a situation where their player was schooling our player and our player lost his cool over it? Or, was there something else to it?
Pretty much that. Probably some words were exchanged that we didn’t hear, but they don’t hand out suspensions for words, that’s just part of the game. Ime amps our guys up, and this has been happening more. I like the intensity, but I would dial it down one tick personally. There’s no nonsense intensity, and there’s Draymond Green tomfoolery, and I don’t want the Rockets to become a bunch of Draymond Greens.
This is analogous to a lot of the penalites in a football game. The second guy responds to something the refs didn't see. Herro gave a shot with his elbow and was talking sh*t. He was also holding onto Amen's arms as they tusseled. Amen threw him off and he fell down. They should have reviewed it and fined both. No need for a suspension much less 2 games. NBA refs and discipline is a joke.
To me, it looked like Herro was being a douche like Brooks is sometimes trying to gaude Amen to respond. Amen responded. Herro was like the happiest I've ever seen a guy that got thrown down so easily. He was prancing around as the fight was being broken up by his teammates and then on his way off the court.
He hasn't really ever played more than about 6 minutes at a time without "being interrupted", I think. Very difficult to get into any sort of rhythm like that. I love Ime, but his substitution patterns sometimes leave me a bit puzzled in general. He seems to take players out when they are hot a lot (whether that's Alpi or Jalen or Cam or anyone). And sometimes it feels like he yanks players so quickly that they have no chance to even heat up.
Regarding Reed, he's not given Ime many chances to leave him in when he's hot. On substitution patterns, Ime typically doesn't feel like he can go more than 6 minutes without FVV such that it doesn't matter whether FVV is playing well or not. Sengun minutes typically comes down to defense. If Sengun is playing defense well, he usually goes back in there regardless of whether he is hot or not. If Sengun is not showing energy, Sengun could be making shots blindfolded and he would get pulled. SF and PF is really the place for Ime to really substitute people based on who's hot. I generally don't notice Ime keeping a hot SF or PF off the court. Green can play himself off for being really cold, but he's generally in there if he's at least luke warm. I'm much more critical of Ime's reluctance to shake up the starting lineup than his substitution pattern. Granted, I think having that starting lineup makes some of the substitution groups very weird.
His assumption that we can't survive without FVV on the floor is what is flawed. I would've agreed with him last year, but Jalen's improvement on defense and Amen's otherworldly talent trumps that sentiment. The other flaw is thinking that making the playoffs is of huge importance this year. It would be nice, but if it r****ds your ability to make the right decisions this off-season it is a luxury we can't afford. By the way, I put our current odds of making the playoffs at about 30% if FVV without a trade or several injuries to key personnel on our competition.
I think Ime is training the minds of the players to defense first because that is what wins Championships. When players start getting hot offensively they usually cool off defensively and get lackadaisical which leads to the momentum getting killed. I think it's brilliant to make the team trained to grind at all times but the substitutions need to be more frequent to keep the intensity up.
Why don't the Rockets play better with FVV off the court if it is flawed? The offense is horrid with FVV off the court. Ime basically is giving Reed and Amen the chance to sieze on ball minutes all season with FVV off the court and Amen and Reed's answer has been... nope, please bring FVV back in. Ime isn't assuming. He's given players chances to take over. He's forcefeeding Green even more on ball reps. FVV and Sengun are the most irreplaceable guys on the Rockets right now. Sengun based on merit. FVV based on default. On playoffs, you should be throwing down some serious dough against the Rockets. As high as you are on Amen, I have absolutely no idea how you can have such a low opinion of the Rockets' chances. I'm for trying to make the playoffs, but only those moves that bring in a player that will be a Rocket for a while unless it doesn't involve much (i.e., not a FRP). I think Amen being on a rookie contract this year and the next two give the Rockets a limited time to add a really good player or 2 while still having a manageable payroll.
