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

I don't mean to trigger people but purely statistically speaking as an outlier, it's honestly not more shocking than Silas out-offensing Udoka with 19 year old Jalen Green, KPJ and Christian Wood playing pure street iso ball with no regard for winning basketball and never being held accountable. Ime added $80m per season of talent to Silas' roster and it has been almost 2 years since he started training the core in his first summer. We shouldn't be one percent better than Silas midway through Udoka's second season?

Someone has to tell me if Silas was actually good at something or if Ime is worse than we thought offensively - it literally can't be both because Silas had the WAY less talented roster.

 

Lmao.

I’m going to leave it at this. I’d take Udoka over 25+ coaches in the league. I’m highly confident only a select few would have this team at our current record or better.

Y’all keep conveniently ignoring my question. So I’ll ask it one more time. What team has performed better than us record wise with a roster of poor shooters and no star that can efficiently get his own bucket? You can give me an example from any season you like.

 

We don't give a sh*t about that in this thread, we've spoken fondly about his overall record constantly and will continue to do so as long as the record stays above expectations. We made a thread to discuss offense which is triggering the F out of you for some reason. We're not talking about overall record or best coach, we f*cking want to talk about offense if you don't mind. We don't want to talk about superstars joining and making a big change, we want to talk about marginal changes and efficiencies we can make with what we have. Marginal changes to TS% drive people up the rankings. You don't even seem to be interested in making a statement about his offensive skills, just keep repeating what a victim he is.

Dirk Nowitzki is an ATG and sucks at defense - easy example. You're litertally the guy jumping in going "how dare you when he won a championship". FFS can we have a technical conversation about offense that doesn't make you want to zoom out asap? Why can't you internally love something and criticize a part of it are you a child or faced serious trauma? Because those are the only people who can't do that (fact). We're talking about offense and if you're interested in joining the conversation about offense, I'm not going to do your work for you and re-post what someone obviously posted in giant beautiful well organized data showing that there are garbage tanking teams matching us on TS%. If you feel like we're secretly plotting to highlight his flaws and diminish his strengths, you shouldn't jump in with paranoia about that, it's your weird ass problem. I f*cking love Ime Udoka as a HC and you can't understand that. Think about what might be blocking you from such direct information and causing you to generate some paranoid mindset about what we must ACTUALLY intend by doing this.

Now YOU answer the questions which you full well know you cannot without looking like a fool:

Do you think there's any chance in the world you're going to convince someone that there's no difference between Rick Adelman and JVG on offense?

Do you think you're going to convince us that if you replaced Mazzulla with Udoka that the offense won't suffer when as a matter of fact Mazzulla took over Ime's team and improved the offense with the same roster? Just the offense, you REALLY don't think anything would change?

What about how Udoka HIMSELF is better offensively in every second half (post ASB) ever so far? Like HE is figuring something out super late and then with the same parts he's getting better offense for too long to be called a streak. How is he getting more offense mid season without any trades?

And right now you actually believe in your mind that if you replaced Joe Mazzulla with JVG, the offense wouldn't worsen at all? They'd just keep chugging along?

I know that you know you could never convince anyone of this. I know you would not even embarrass yourself outside this board and say such a thing.

I swear to god bro if you answer yes to these, I will open a thread on a big nba board somewhere with these questions and I will come back here and embarrass you with the volume of laughter I'll collect from making these statements.

Quit it dude. You know there are offensive systems, plays, different areas from which players shoot better, coaches who always increase the offense, coaches who always decrease the offense, coaches who motivate scorers and defenders better, coaching who teach better, you know all of these things. You know it's impossible that there's 0% difference among all HC's in offensive gameplan. It's just not possible even if they all tried to intentionally achieve the exact same thing, they would still all execute differently. You've seen all those things if you've watched the NBA for at least a few years.

Un-dig your heels and re-join the conversation dude, you don't have to die on this random ass hill.

 

Well, Silas was an offense first assistant coordinator, wasn't he..... I mean he assisted I believe the Hornets, Mavericks and Golden State.....amongst others.

He failed with the Rockets but he wasn't exactly nothing before the tenure.

I don't think Ime is totally inept on Offense but rather handles it old school like the Defense and Rebounding will work the Offense without any wrinkles on Offense.

The gripe is that he had Mazzulla (one of the best 2nds in Command) in Boston who was a very good Offense guy....that he never had with Houston.

 

Not going to read all this but it’s pretty hilarious you wrote an entire novel and somehow managed to not answer a simple question I asked.

This thread also wasn’t made to “talk about the offense”…it was his interview which got y’all so worked up talking about him not taking accountability and stupid **** like that. And at this end of the day, the only thing that matters is the record.

 

Hahaha, the classic "I got nothing so let me be pompous" line. Sorry a lot of text overwhelms you bro, the person who made you feel you're not that smart was wrong. Four to five paragraphs doesn't have to feel like a novel in your brain dude, you can just practice.

Also stop playing the victim, your questions were answered before you asked me and you've seen it and everyone else has seen it. Everyone can go back and see you posted RIGHT below it. So stop making up a story about how oh no one wants to answer your stupid ass question that no one is talking about or interested in. No one cares. You're jumping into a conversation about one thing and talking about something else, that's why the responses are cold, smartass.

 

Thanks for the laugh.

And I would consider reading the paragraphs if you weren’t all over the place in them. Try being more concise and stop saying bro and dude every other sentence. You might actually sound intelligent then.

 

Fine I'm not intelligent bro, I'm just letting you know that if you asked a therapist they will tell you that you are overwhelmed by your own false identification of intelligence because someone you spent a lot of time with as a kid or teenager made you feel like others are smarter. The person doesn't actually have to be intelligent for you to feel that, you could just be talking to someone who likes to write more and that's triggering enough for you to feel the need to make a statement about the importance of the size of those words. That's a fact, you can actually go ask any therapist.

No one here believes you didn't read the paragraphs. There are no serious answers to those questions and you already recognized my trap (any answer but no would be totally absurd). Good job.

Alright, that was fun. Thanks.

 

Offensively? Yea, pretty much.

Our top scoring option, Jalen Green, is on par with Jordan Poole (I hope he continues to improve but that's just what it is today). And, Kispert is a more consistent shooter than anyone on the Rockets.

Lamelo Ball, Trey Murphy III, or CJ McCollum would all be the Rockets' #1 scoring options if they were on the team.

Sengun is probably better but as has been mentioned earlier, you can just shut that down by packing the paint.

Agreed

What separates the rockets from these bad teams is the defensive talent/athleticism, rebounding, effort, and culture.

 

That's a crazy statement, come on man. Jesus. There is not a single player on the Wizards who will ever be as good an offensive player/hub as Alpi. If the superstar theory holds true to you, surely having by far the best offensive player is the defining factor for you:

Alpi vs Poole >> we crush them offensively
Green vs anyone else >> we crush them offensively
Amen vs their 3rd best scorer whoever you think it is >> we crush them offensively

On another example, which offensive force is carrying the Nets to 22nd in TS% way better than us? Sure let's ignore the entire story about how the coach they hired is offensively talented and that they hired him for that very exact reason because they believe he has an advantage there over others. Let's act like those are all lies that teams tell for some reason. What else brought the Nets to 22nd?

Are you now going to tell me that because Cam Johnson is good at catch and shoot 3's that he's better than Alpi beating double teams in a crowded paint on a top western team?

Why do you guys give Udoka credit for defense then??? Can we do the same and say Udoka had nothing to do with it, this is 100% the players?

Guys these are too far guys. How could it be? How could it be that coaches get hired for what they're good at and in the end it matters 0%? How can it be 0?

Can we extend a bridge, a truce: is it POSSIBLE that coaching has FIVE percent to do with it? Let's just start there to generate SOME kind of realistic scenario we can discuss. Can you admit 5%?

 

I mentioned Sengun is better but his offense is shut down if the opposing team packs the paint.

That's why Jalen takes so many shots on our team.

I'm talking about the team's shooters/perimeter scorers. Those other guys are just as good if not better shooting wise than Jalen/Amen.

 

Gotcha, didn't see your Sengun comment.

We're talking about the team's offense and specifically tactical choices. I know we don't have a superstar or great shooters. I'm comparing us to similar or worse teams. I'm not comparing us to teams with great shooters or unbelievable superstars.

Is it possible that the HC is 5% responsible for the offense's efficiency - after the personnel is set in stone? Just 5%?

 

Ime is objectively one of the worst offensive coaches in the league. If you don't agree with this statement, just watch the Rockets games and see how they NEVER get easy points.

Any team that runs back on transition defense, and show acceptable effort on defensive rebounds beat the Rockets. That's why they lost to the Nets twice in a week. That's why they're one of the worst offensive team in 4th quarters.

If Ime thinks constant 4th quarter collapses is on anyone but him, he's delusional.

 

I guess MDA is more so the thought than the actual hire. I dont know of the young chris finch's that are out there anymore.

I would just like someone to put together a more efficient offense. I understand that we run some princeton, a lot of dho, double drags and such but it just feels lackluster at times.

Some players cut but it always feels like freelance from the player rather than design, and i may be wrong there idk. But i sure would like more movement off ball. Id like more off-ball screens to either open a cutting lane or a catch and shoot. Especially when Sengun has the ball at the foul stripe.

Instead it is a lot of space it out and let him goto work while standing at the 3pt line. Which would work if we had 4 shooters but we dont.

 

meh

Ime has offensive shortcomings for sure, but somehow this team has the 12th ranked offense with no star, no PG that collapses the defense, and absolutely zero shooting being ranked 27th in FG%, 28th in 3 point percentage, and 27th in FT%

just having a legitimate star or someone who can consistently collapse the defense would do wonders

 

MDA has always required a good PG and shooters, and he doesn’t like post-up bigs

look at how awful that 11-12 Knicks offense was before Linsanity

clown Ime all u want, but a coach would have to work wonders never before seen to have a good or pretty looking offense with this level of shooting and your best offensive players being Jalen and Sengun

 

They don’t want to hear the truth no matter how you slice it.

This roster construction is WAY more of an issue than Ime’s offensive shortcomings.

 

Boston had the 9th ranked offense under Ime…that’s good enough to win a title if your defense is elite

Boston’s offense has exploded under Mazulla, but since Ime’s departure they have added guys like Jrue Holiday and Porzingis to replace Marcus Smart and Robert Williams…guys like White have improved dramatically as a shooter, and dudes like Pritchard have blown up

they take 40+ threes a game and shoot very good percentages while doing so…this season is a down year for them at 36.7% from deep while taking 49 threes a game…they hardly play any weak or non-shooters, it’s incredibly difficult to defend them

Rockets meanwhile shoot a blistering 33.9% from deep and have multiple guys the defense can ignore…can’t hit a three, can’t hit from midrange, and can’t make a free throw…can’t collapse the defense in the halfcourt either

We have a thread today talking about how Jabari is the best shooter from our core. He’s not even an average shooter!

How much can any coach do when their team is bottom 3 in anything that has to do with shooting?

 

So we give credits to Udoka for the things the Rockets players are elite at, but when it comes to their shortcomings it's "How much can any coach do when their team is bottom 3 in anything that has to do with shooting?"

What kind of f*cked up logic is that?

 

Wtf are u talking about?