STOP!!! Tired of the Udoka bashing. He’ll be here through his contract because ownership kept Silas through his awful tenure. Stone is the problem as he handed Udoka Jabrari Smith and DFS and no backup point guard. No coach in the NBA wins with no point guard and no shooting.
Believe it or not, the defense has actually gotten better the last month. Or stayed the same. They are allowing the lowest opponent FG%, true shooting%, and PPG in January. Rockets are even rebounding better in January. That doesn't indicate "lack of effort", dogging it on the coach. Its the offense and 3's making has gone into the toilet. That's coaching philosophy or roster issue, or both.
We've only been better defensively because he was forced to play better rim protectors with Sengun going down to injury. I don't know if our performance is a coaching issue, but specifically the fact that our defense was better has nothing to do with Ime. Capela and Adams are bette rim protectors and rim protectors have exponential effects on defenses. Even a slightly better rim protector will slightly improve the defense at 4 other positions. I think it's more likely a combination of: 1) Ime has never been a very good offensive coach. Like, ever. His teams always finish with a lower TS% than what was expected before the season. He finished 9th in TS% with Tatum and Brown on his team. We finished 24th the last two seasons. We're 15th right now. He essentially needs 2 scoring stars in their prime just to finish in the top 10. This makes him obsessed with getting offensive rebounds as a band aid, and usually by December his teams are already exhausted covering up his weakness. Then he blames them for it. Then they yell back at him usually in January. Then he realizes he needs their buy-in. Then he capitulates and the second half is great. 2) We had a road-heavy schedule that required depth, so missing FVV/Tari/DFS/Sengun/Adams for all or parts of this thing has finally caught up to us. A fatigued person's effort is not the same as an average player's effort. The body doesn't respond the same way and the mind becomes slower and more erratic. The schedule is easing up and our heath is improving so hopefully this will all be behind us soon.
Aaron Holiday barely 6'0 was a -19 played 28 mins against Russell Westbrook 6'3, Zach Lavine 6'5 What is Ime Udoka doing? He really hates Reed Sheppard that much in Starting. Ime Udoka wants Reed Sheppard to leave in Free Agency. I want this Fraud Coach gone.
I never disagreed with you on Ime being a mediocre offensive coach. I didn't mean that it's ALL on the players. It is part coaching. Just that the players have shooting opportunities from 3 that they're missing Yes when you start grinding your players down with defensive exhaustion & big minutes, the lack of offense will get magnified more. Cuz there is no offense as a fall-back. Its zero margin for error or fatigue. How you mentioned Adams & Capela naturally having defense benefit due to lack of options. Last year Sheppard & Whitmore starting cuz of lack of options, was better than expected offense performance vs OKC NBA champs. Which can lead to a conclusion that Ime is getting in his own way. "Losing locker room" is a whole other thing Can only hope some good old fashioned home cooking will remedy things. If not, it'll be a crossroads for sure
Yes, he lost the keys to the locker room, yes, this includes the Vornado pedestal floor fans stored in the maintenance closet. I presume the fans & bases are still there but until he finds the keys I can't really tell you.
Ime's fault or not, the losing record against bottom tier teams just is a glaring sign of a lack of professionalism, and preparedness. It's probably not just Ime, but it probably speaks to the culture of the locker room in general. It's something you'd expect from a team like this year's Lakers team, or prior years Warriors teams who just mentally are uninterested in certain games. I think Dillon Brooks is the main cultural piece that is missing from last year more than anything. You need that one guy who just amps himself up, and gets everyone else going as well. That's probably more important to have that as a player than any coach can manufacture with rah rah speeches. I was hopeful Tari could maybe be that guy being brought into the starting lineup recently, but I just really fear that physically he's just too unreliable with his health to really push himself and the team defensively like Brooks would do on a nightly basis. IMO, I would probably look to make a trade for a guy like that instead of firing Ime right away. Maybe this Summer you could think about other guys available, but without the right players, coaches, regardless of how tough they are, cannot force that toughness onto the team from the bench, and in practice. You NEED that Dillon Brooks type of guy on the court.
I think the Rockets need to handle Ime the way Kentucky handled Calipari. You want a coach gone because they are terrible, but they have an absurd contract you don't want to eat.... no problem. Fire all of their coaches and bring in your own picks. Trade away his favorite terrible players so he can't use them in games. Be as disrespectful to him as possible and make things as uncomfortable as possible until he quits.
2 meetings in last 2 weeks. Not confrontational but role transparency. Minor: Ime and missed assignments among Reed, Tari and Alpi Major: KD and Ime communicating that KD takes the last shot under most crunch time instances . Alpi has issue with it more than anyone. Sidenotes: Jabari and KD are the tightest in the team. He's here as long as KD is. Same with Reed and Amen. KD is their unk. DFS is on a talent show run. Ime prefers Josh and there is an alleged conflict with mgmt and Ime playing DFS more than Josh. I continue to hear that Tari, Clint, DFS and Holiday will be used to bring in a proven guard and another scorer. DFS looks like hell out there and Josh shouldn't have lost minutes for him. Darkhorse: teams I've mentioned and more really want Reed and are willing to give up a lot. Sac is calling, Kenard wants out, Tobias may be bought out, Pels are calling and Don't count Gary Trent and the Clips from facilitating a 3-team involving us. Jose is the loudest name atm, following a Sac rebuild . But damn, they have our number . If he weren't so expensive , Ime and KD would go after DD and Russ/Dennis to address multiple needs. What would you give up Clint for? Think centers/PFs and focus in in Charlotte, Detroit and Boston . Much love. We will be a top 3 West team once we have a decent home stand.
Well, sir, if you're to bless us with your presence, old friend, any rumblings (even if small on the Richter scale) of whether or not Stone will aim to acquire someone who can actually distribute the basketball?
Y Yes, but think more of a tweener, unless the button is finally pushed sending Tari and Clint out. Even in a underrated guy like Keon can handle the ball
I don't know about the trade stuff. I'm eternally grateful to Cod for how much he's contributed to the board, but his recent source(s) on trades seems clueless about how trades work. Seems like it's coming from players rather than front offices. Probably Okogie or someone close to him. I can believe the team meeting stuff though. That's something players would certainly know. I can see the dichotomy on the floor. Certain guys are really kissing KD's butt and Alpi isn't one of them. I'm not mad at Alpi being mad, but I think KD is simply the better end of game option. They need to figure that out. Very happy KD is forcing Ime to have a hierarchy. They'll figure it out.
