Ime Udoka benches starters, criticizes lack of competitiveness in loss to Warriors 2/13/2025

Really a sad day when Aaron Holiday and Nate Williams (lol?) are the two best players on the team after a painful rebuild that includes 10 first round picks.

 

Stone needs to wake tfu. It’s one thing to want to see players develop, it’s another thing to ignore the poor shooting that’s plagued this team for years now. If Ben Sullivan isn’t a real shooting coach, then f**** hire one or get someone that can put the ball in the basket.

 

Amazing how I was the only one to do multiple posts saying how critical this trade deadline was to this team and that Stone needed to make a trade (but never does because he sucks big time) only to get flamed by almost all on this board except for you and ApacheWarrior. As usual I was right. On a separate note…..Reed is awful awful awful on defense. Still think I was wrong about Edey?

 

Jeff Van Gundy was Fired and blackballed for years.

Ime Udoka will be a tough hire for anybody else after the Rockets.

 

Ime Udoka - Time to blame everyone but himself.

His offensive sets have zero impact against the Warriors. Celtics vs Warriors Ime Udoka was the Celtics Coach that got blown out. The Coach is the problem.

The players are genuinely confused against the Warriors Zone defense and 3 Second Violation No Calls. Ed Malloy is a Constant Warriors Supporter for Years against the Rockets.

 

Reed Sheppard was supposed to be the Zone buster has done nothing the whole year is alarming.

 

I consider mental make up in talent evaluations - but I get your point. I don’t see a future franchise player on this roster - but someone could prove me wrong.

Sengun and Green have their moments but are not equipped to be franchise players.

I don’t know the answer honestly - but without a top 10 player in the league, this group is likely capped.

The frustration of Udoka over the fact he doesn’t have a real guy to lean on has really bubbled to the surface. He has made some sort of inference or reference to it numerous times.

It is quite possible the only player that fits that criteria this summer is Kevin Durant and he doesn’t really seem interested in Houston and he is approaching 40.

There also won’t be any chance of Cooper Flag or Harper with the Nets swap.

I also think it’s possible when a really good player does become available that OKC, SA or another team could swoop in.

The Rockets may be looking at really flawed options like KD or Embiid or Paul George.

 

Speaking of which, I've seen championship-winning coaches come out after some games and say "that one was on me". Pop, Malone, Kerr, Spo, Bud. All 5 of those guys I've heard say "that one was on me, I made the wrong choice on rotation/tactics". Just a couple weeks ago, Jenkins opened his post game with "that was my fault, it's not on the players".

Has Ime EVER said such a thing? Has there really not been one instance in his mind where the coach who throws players under the bus more than any coach in the NBA has the awareness to understand it's ODD that he's simultaneously the least willing to admit a mistake in front of those same reporters?

 

Team is tired and dealing with injuries. No need to overreact.

 

Does Ime = I/Me?

 

Play harder clap clap. He expects playoff intensity for the whole regular season. No team can do that. He should start to figure out ways to win the games by making them play smarter not only harder.

 

Well said. And Jabari doesn't have the talent to be the lead dog. The jury is still out on Amen but unless he improves as a scorer, especially from outside of 15 feet, he'll never be him. Sheppard may never even be a starter, much less that kind of leader.

Honestly, it's a good thing we've got all those Sums picks. We're gonna need them this summer.

 

HALLELLUJAH !!!!!

100% this....harder works, but GS is just smarter.....we don't play smart basketball, we play hard, but not intelligently.

DD

 

If one or two guys had off games, that's not good. Nevertheless, it happens.

But if NONE of your starters showed up ready to play hard and smart in a home game against a hated rival, that's on you, Coach. It's in your job description that you need to make sure your team is properly motivated.

 

Weird that the first reporter framed it as losing 7 out of the last 11.

Although that’s true , most recently they have lost 7 out of the last 9.

You could also say they have lost 7 out of the last 13 but it’s 2-7 in the last 9 is what counts.

 

Missing

Fred VanVleet - Playbook, Passer in Low Post Alperen Sengun, Shooter if on

Jabari Smith Long Wingspan passing to Alperen Sengun, 3 point shooter, shot blocker, rebounder

Tari Eason - Defender, Rebounder.

 

I still dont believe Stone selected broken Zeller over healthy Springer.

 

Agreed. Typical middle of the season blues. The team's hit a bit of a wall, especially without FVV in there.

A bit of a break and getting guys back should help a lot. I'm not too concerned - yet.

 

Hopefully the Rockets will come out after the Allstar break refreshed and healthy. All these injuries and back to back restings caught up in the end.

I don’t think the rockets will drop lower than 6th if they can stay healthy after the all star break.