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

First round exit incoming - if we can make it in. Just pack the paint against Rockets.

We can't get a bucket to save our lives and he's been talking about hustle and defense the entire year. Almost every bucket we get requires crazy amount of hustle.

 

If we get fully healthy after the ASB and are fully rested as well, do we not believe this team would be the same buzzsaw it was earlier in the season? I fully expect something like 17-10 or better the rest of the way, which is a 51+win season.

Like i am frustrated, but deep down all season long i knew that at some point we would hit a slide like this. It was completely predictable. This team is just too young and inexperienced, coupled with a taxing play style, to continue the pace we had all year without having a low point.

We have had a difficult schedule thus far, and have a very "easy" schedule going forward against what should be a lot of "tanking" teams as well. Everyone should be coming back, everyone should be rested.

I still believe in the deadline approach we took because our young players will fall on their faces in the playoffs, and they need that type of pain and experience.

This off-season is when shiit has to happen though.

 

We're riddled with injuries right now...guys playing banged up.
But, I applaud Ime for keeping the pedal to the metal.

Despite our record, this is a developmental season.
Comparisons to veteran teams are apples and oranges.

This is about base culture...still.

Evidenced Stone not overpaying for obvious needs at the moment.

Give it the rest of the year.

We'll see moves in the offseason.

Ime IS our leader....he knows what he's doing.

 

He talks about things that are easily controlled.

There are no plays that are going to turn our brick layers into sharpshooters.

Beyond the occasional hot shooting night from our backcourt the only way this team can score is getting Sengun near the rim or our wings getting loose on a cut. If you pack the paint this team just doesn't have the personnel to consistently make you pay.

Unless there's some breakout shooting development from the young guys this team just doesn't fit together. And, that's the real problem.

 

I don’t think he deep down believes it’s a franchise player - he knows it is, and the front office knows it and everyone objectively looking at the situation knows it.

They also have been without some key players… lost to Memphis by one without Sengun, lost to NYN without FVV and Sengun, lost to NYK without FVV and Sengun…. No FVV in the other loses. With a true franchise player the Rockets win at least 4-5 of those games and the slide isn’t such a problem.

The Rockets as a team don’t have a large margin of error because they lack top end talent and they are in a very competitive Western Conference.

Where the Rockets end up is going to largely depend this year on how healthy they are and how hard they play.

It just isn’t a terribly talented offensive group. The shooting isn’t all that great, they don’t have any great creators or consistent scorers. They are ranked where they should be offensively.

 

We are a bad shooting team and Ime knows it. Yes, the only way we win is with hustle. Players shooting percentage usually improves as they gain experience, so we should see some improvement as our young players mature. Or, maybe we need to acquire players that can shoot. The Rockets did try to address their poor shooting when they drafted Reed.

Yes, we may lose in the first round. The Rockets have a ways to go until they are contenders.

 

It is largely going to come down to health. The Rockets cannot withstand injuries as well as some other teams because their margins are smaller.

I get fans are frustrated, but the offensive talent level of this group is what it is. If anything I am pleased with what Udoka and the players have accomplished so far this year. The Rockets (when healthy) have given away very few games and the effort is always there when healthy.

Let’s see what happens the rest of the way, let’s see how the younger guys play and we can worry about the lack of offensive talent this summer. At some point the Rockets will bring in more dynamic offensive players but have to be patient to get someone that isn’t just “better”,but can compete with the elite.

 

“We don’t have shooting (or a shooter).”

Who cares, he wouldn’t play the shooter anyways. Defense first, defense second, defense third, eating glass fourth, defense fifth, eating glass sixth, defense seventh, …. shooting 9,834,102,841

I don’t know, pick a random shooter, Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard, Malik Beasley, Gary Trent Jr., Quentin Grimes,…nope can’t play ‘em!

I believe @Mathloom did the research, Boston core guys had their worst shooting seasons under Udoka.

Maybe he can call them soft again? Has he tried that?

 

After watching last night, the main word that keeps coming to my mind is "unsustainable." This applies to all aspects of the game - the shooting, offensive rebounds, minutes, offensive sets, defense and so on. It's been thrilling to watch this team outwork other teams most nights, but even the greatest performance car will eventually run out of gas or outright break down if driven too hard for too long.

I think the general concept of how this team should work together is too nebulous at the coaching and FO levels - neither Jalen nor Alpi nor Amen are surrounded by enough deadeye shooters to enable their strengths. None of them are true shooters themselves, which means teams can pack the paint and the Rockets can't capitalize. Winning with such a lack of offensive clarity is unsustainable.

Ime's expectations very much reflect the type of player he was - he only averaged 18.1 minutes per game playing entirely off ball so it was feasible for him to hustle hard the entire time he was on the floor. But Sengun, Jalen, FVV or Amen are playing double the minutes and are way more involved in the play action. Expecting them to play like him is completely unsustainable, especially when given the lack of easy buckets and the missing rotation players.

I do believe Ime can coach the team to a winning record but this team will need changes at some point. We will probably have to say goodbye to a valuable player simply because we'll need to commit to a style of play with which said player simply doesn't mesh. Maybe Jalen will be replaced by a high percentage shooter or Alpi will be replaced by a more athletic defensive center with a reliable midrange shot. Maybe Amen has to play on a team with 4 distance shooters alongside him and that doesn't mesh with Alpi and/or Jalen.

The post ASB will be very informative on the future of this team - if Jalen and Alpi continue to be inefficient and Amen keeps turning the ball over in the dumbest ways possible, I would not be surprised to see this team make big changes this summer.

 

They went to the f-ing finals under Udoka.

 

Ime, iirc, is buddies with MDA. Bring in MDA as an assistant to help with the offense please.

 

The Rockets are 34-21 with a winning percentage over 60% despite not having a consistent go-to scorer or good-to-great shooting on the roster. They have maximized what they are good at (defense, effort, getting more possessions than their opponent) to compile a great record going into the All-Star Break.

Jalen Green has been an inconsistent shooter his entire career, Alperen Sengun’s biggest offensive weakness is he is not yet comfortable consistently stretching the floor, and Amen Thompson’s glaring weakness coming into the NBA was his shooting touch. Could Udoka improve his offensive sets to help the Rockets get better shots? Yes. That said, it’s on the players to get in the gym and improve their shooting touch. Every coach in the NBA would be fools to not play a zone against the Rockets and dare them to beat it with outside shooting. They simply do not have the personnel to be a great shooting team at the moment.

Also, from a pure talent perspective, most of these losses are coming against teams that have at least one reliable closer/go-to scorer. The Warriors last night have two starters that are better than any Rocket: Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler. The Knicks are more talented than the Rockets, and the Timberwolves were at home and have a better number one player in Anthony Edwards.

The two really bad losses in this stretch were the two games to the Nets, which showed their lack of point guard depth without Fred VanVleet.

The Mavericks loss was on Udoka because as much as I love Tari Eason, there is nothing he can do to get taller and bother Anthony Davis’ shot. Once the Rockets went big with Sengun and Adams, they started finding success and got back in the game.

 

But...but...the second round pick! Future deal sweetener! C'mon, man, get with the program!

 

I really think many on here just don't understand our own team. Maybe the fan perspective makes it harder to acknowledge both the good and the bad?

We have a lot of assets and a nice cumulative collection of overall potential, but the present day Rockets have a low level of offensive skill relative the rest of the league. This has been true since last year.

Offensively, schemes and coaching don't carry you very far in the NBA. Offensive skill does. He isn't perfect, but Udoka has done a great job papering over our skill limitations with offensive rebounding, transition, and a team culture that maximizes effort. Defense is far more "coachable" in the NBA, and we've outkicked our coverage there significantly. This season is something like a 90th percentile outcome for our group.

This is a showcase season that has gone very well.

In the medium to long term, the franchise is still looking for a singular player that gives us an offensive identity, and separately a player that makes our defense work without needing to out-effort the entire league. That's what showcasing the assets and young players is for (except Amen I'd guess, he's here forever).

 

Has Ime ever talked about the actual basketball that is being played on the court in his press conferences?

I fear if you forbid him to use the words "effort", "physicality", "competitiveness", and "aggresiveness", he's got nothing else to talk about.

 

If Ime Udoka cant turn one of these guys in to stars… eff them all!

 

So basically, Ime thinks it's a franchise player issue and then goes on stage and smears his players' effort and competitiveness when he doesn't even believe that's the actual problem. The front office think it's a franchise player issue and don't mind Ime lying in a way that reduces asset trade value. I don't believe this to be honest, but let's entertain it.

Is this description of Ime supposed to make us feel anything other than players are going to stop wanting to play for him when his reputation gets out? Durant was complimentary but it sure did sound like "that Ime tough guy act is good for the kids but not for me". Jaylen Brown didn't even call Ime after he got fired. This reputation of players wanting to play for him had yet to show itself in reality.

Very very alarming for our future if what you're saying is actually true rather than speculation or office perception. Essentially you're saying the outcome will be that Ime bandaids his flaws with the picks we worked so hard to accumulate. Before he even surrounded the non-shooters with shooters.

Getting so sick of Ime not liking what he sees in Tatum, Brown, Sengun, Green and now Amen. He just keeps trying to turn his stars into the player version of himself and that's a really bad idea.

If I'm these players agents, I'm showing before/after Brown and Tatum's stats to Stone and saying: "you're actually going to believe this guy that these players are at their offensive ceiling? He said that about the Celtics stars and he made them worse and the following coach made them better and won more. His team's TS% is worse than Silas although he has better players. Why are you trusting his offensive expertise when it's clear he needs someone who understands offense?"

What a spineless b*stard Stone would be if he is too scared to call Ime's offensive flaws out. I don't want to find out after we get a star that Ime has no idea how to coach scorers just because he's jealous he never got to be one.

 

This is on Ime. The McHale in him has caught up.

 

Seems like some seriously cherry picked stats to fit a narrative. Let’s look at the year they went to the finals.

Brown - .358% (shooting .324% this season)
Tatum - .353% (.358% this season)
Grant Williams - .411% (.365% this season)
Peyton Prichard - .412% (.411% this season)
Josh Richardson - .397% (career .363%)

Horford only played 2 seasons under Udoka. He was bad that season but the following one (where Udoka was suspended in February) he had the best shooting year of his career averaging his highest % (.446) on the 2nd most attempts (5.2) he’s taken.

As for Derrick White, it appears he’s just improved as a shooter/player.

 

This would be an interesting story if it was true. Unfortunately, it's not.

Jaylen Brown is currently having one of his worst shooting seasons at 0.461/0.324/0.746 shooting splits vs his Udoka year 0.473/0.358/0.758.

White only played 26 games with Udoka that regular season and part of the reason he was traded to the Celtics was because he was already having a terrible shooting season at 0.426/0.314/0.869 just with the Spurs, he just continued his bad shooting (0.409/.306/0.853). If you've watched White, you know he's had significant personal growth as a shooter, unless we're saying Greg Popovich is also a bad coach.

Tatum basically had the same splits with Udoka as he had his first year with Mazzulla (0.453/0.353/0.853 vs 0.466/0.350/0.854).

Anyone who's been watching basketball knows Udoka's Celtics year wasn't Horford's worst shooting but I can assume you mean of the last 5 or 6 years. I would argue although Horford has shot the 3 better this year his overall shooting efficiency was better his year with Udoka 0.467/0.336/0.842 with .574TS% vs 0.404/0.353/.889 with .541TS% this year.

I honestly don't know WTF we're even talking about Udoka's coaching. Udoka brought a team that was 0.500 the year before to the finals as a 1st year head coach. His former Celtics players rave about him and his impact on their development. Then, he came here and brought one of the worst teams in the league to being 0.500 and is on his way to pushing that team to the playoffs.

You should be praying he doesn't decide to leave and go coach Luka and put us back in the Silas purgatory years.

Ime Udoka is literally the best asset this organization has at the moment.