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

I’ve pulled the stats before and they were ignored then as well but this team is 28th in wide open 3 PT %. So you can’t even argue they “just aren’t getting good shots” as the reason they suck at shooting. Nah, they just aren’t good. And what’s crazy is Brooks has actually been solid - imagine if he was shooting like he was in his last year in Memphis.

We drafted Reed hoping he would be a sharpshooter off the bench and the guy is literally air balling wide open threes.

Eventually some hard choices are going to have to be made. Stone is going to have to make a move.

 

I'm talking about your hilarious takes. If there isn't anything a coach can do, why the **** he's getting paid millions of dollars? To find excuses like you do right now? Too bad you're doing it for free.

 

u seem a bit slow…keep up with the conversation and provide something worthwhile

 

So you have no answer for my questions, gotcha.

 

Maybe the players are starting to tune him out.

DD

 

This is a bad take.

 

Maybe they have serious injury issues and lack the talent to overcome their injury issues… so they are struggling.

 

So we're going to praise Ime for the improvements this team has shown on the defensive side of the ball in the last 2 years but we can't criticize him for the lack of structure this team has on offense.

So if you think Ime is not responsible for the abysmal offense this team has, what makes you think he's the reason behind the success the Rockets had on defense?

 

That better not be his excuse. He drove them into the ground now he's calling it a lack of effort? The whole team he's thinking the team is hopeless to win without a superstar?

This sounds like an out of control person to be honest and no one in the office to balance his aggression with some intelligence.

 

What? How is that being out of control? The fact the Rockets lack a superstar isn’t a secret, and it isn’t a secret that it’s very hard to win consistently in the NBA without a superstar. The best bet to win without a superstar is to maximize defense, play physical, limit mistake and play very hard. When the team fails to do that - he will call them out for it.

 

I think he is a coach - he isn’t playing on the court. His job is to keep them focused, get them to play hard and to win games and he has done that.

The Rockets are getting good mileage out of the players they have.

I don’t really care if you want to applause him for the team defense on not, some of it is having guys like Amen and FVV.

You can’t get blood from a turnip.

 

U actually thought u said anything worth answering? Lmao

 

1. The roster has flaws that prevent it from crushing it on offense.

2. Ime Udoka and co. hasn’t instilled a system on offense that maximizes the players.

Both 1.) and 2.) can be true.

3. In his introductory press conference (upon being hired) when reporters questioned about his sour breakup with the Celtics, Udoka emphasized that there’s gonna be accountability for his players and himself. So far especially in the last few weeks, his words on the podium prove without a doubt that he’s a hypocrite: he has (gradually?) removed himself from the accountability equation while shoving much, if not all, of the blame onto the players by using unnecessarily edgy language.

 

That's not a high school team. Nobody pays someone millions of dollars to keep a group of guys focused and motivated. If that'd be the case they'd hire a psychologist as a head coach.

If you think he's a great head coach and has no flaws whatsoever, that's fine; you're entitled to your opinion.

In my opinion, he is a head coach who is uninterested in the offensive part of the game and lacks ideas.

 

The team has not failed to play its hardest, he can shove that. The team is injured AF - exactly in the month I told you it would start - and more exhausted than everyone else because they worked overtime for Udoka more than any other roster.

For him to act like this is an effort issue is just a repeat of the stupid 6-16 stretch last season which I also told you would repeat itself. Just the team exhausted and no amount of throwing his players under the bus changed a damn thing. Only rest and different starting lineup changed it.

This is now going to be his third consecutive season doing this to a team. It's too late to call it a coincidence, it's so identical each season.

The best bet to win without a "superstar" is a balanced offense with enough shooting. They elected not to add a shooter to the bench for 2nd rounders. This is their construction now. Can't blame it on a draft from years ago, they've had multiple windows and assets to get role playing shooters while waiting for a star.

On offense, he can keep distracting us about superstars we will target in 4 months as his excuse for everything, but he can't give up on the offense he has a job to do this season. I don't accept we can't do better than the Wizards. Even if we stretch it and say they have similar offensive talent, we're trying to win and they're tanking.

You might as well be defending the Wizards offense here. You may disagree, but please don't act surprised at my paltry standard. No one is asking for superstar production. No one is asking for a turnaround in shooting. Just to not be one of the worst overall FG%, TS% and 3PT%.

 

The porous defense happened pre-injuries.

DD

 

The interesting thing about this whole narrative is that the same parties are making the same arguments a year later.

However, our record is significantly better.

We didn’t address shooting at the All-Star break. But cost wasn't the reason. And I’m sure we were at least able to bid on De’aaron Fox.

We aren’t conceding this year. we are going to let these dogs make a run at it and hope that they are healthy and that maybe the shots fall in our favor over a 10 game sample size.

Amen Thompson his clearly going to be a superstar player so I am not even sure what people are worried about anymore?

I expect some moving parts in the off-season.

We’re invested in a plan and we’ve been invested in a plan. Yes, Ime does push the guys pretty hard and yeah, we probably need some offensive ingenuity. Right now, though we are committed to the investments where we have them invested, and we will see what shakes out when we inevitably make the playoffs.

if we continue on our upward trajectory, some sort of impact player or players are going to want to be part of this thing.

Everything is on the up.

 

Or maybe they have players out at KEY POSITIONS and they are tired and need a break

Remember this is their first time being in this position, Top 4 in the West and playing competitive NBA basketball.

 

Good question!

And to answer, I'm not sure because of their flaws. But the question is, who has the higher ceiling and which one fits your team composition best moving forward.

Even though they are Top 4 in the West, I still don't think they fit each other's skill set. Jalen is a natural open court player, who needs a rim running big and Sengun is best in the half court. That's going to be an Ime question in the off season

 

We should have agreed to give Fox his extension and gotten him instead of keeping Fred.