Yup, roster construction is slightly more to blame imo. The accumulation of young talent has major flaws. Amen and Sengun desperately need to evolve their game if we're going anywhere with this core.
Ime isn’t blameless but he was handed a roster with limited (now no) consistent perimeter playmaking or shooting. What coach would lead this version of the Rockets to a title? You can only coach the team you are given.
Shiiit, Texas is right ****in next to Mexico. All you need to get really is a case of Mezcal and an 8 ball and ****'s poppin haha
Winning with Sengun is a pipedream made for his fans in Turkey. We're not winning nothing with Alperen Sengun
Not accurate to say Ime was "handed a roster". Ime was heavily involved in creating this roster. You are correct however, that the perimeter talent deficit is the core problem. That's on everyone: Stone, Ime, and the players. None of them can solve it by just coaching harder or GM'ing harder or playing harder. In a competitive league where the best players almost never change teams in their prime, you've just got to make smart bets and hope they hit. All the best teams in the league are there because they got immensely lucky hitting on a player somehow. We won a few smaller wagers, but didn't hit big on perimeter talent. Time to make some more bets.
This is true, but he isn't getting the most out of the roster he has......and that is a problem. A great coach is able to maximize the skills to create something better with what he has, Ime is literally killing a lot of the team's abilities. DD
Right. He’s a great coach with players that align with his coaching and communication style. That’s NOT what he has here. And I don’t he’s changing any time soon. It was a necessary move from Silas where literally the nut jobs were running the locker room. I’m of the recent opinion that Ime wanted Castle, was outvoted (by sane talent evaluators), and has been doing EVERYTHING in his power to sabotage Reed’s development. At best, he’s not doing anything to maximize Reed’s skill set.
Ime isn’t blameless but he’s far from the reason why they are championship caliber. Firing Ime wouldn’t solve this. The blame lies in the FO.
You are right. The lack of elite perimeter shooting and playmaking is what's holding this team back. In this day and age, you just can't have non-shooters as your two best players. I think that's why Stone bet so much in drafting Reed. Unfortunately, we also have a coach that is not great at offense, or at least not great at getting the players to execute what he wants accomplish on that end. I've always felt that relying on offensive rebounding to boost your offense is like relying on the defense to create turnovers to win in the NFL. Last night, we took 104 shots versus the Thunder's 89. But we still made 6 fewer shots than them. Getting more possessions helps of course. But if you can't score on those possessions, what's the use?
Sengun is capable of winning formula but probably more of a 3rd option. I would say if Sengun had limited set plays like Jabari he would still produce like 18/8/5. Unfortunately Sengun is on a trajectory of players like Mobley, JJJ, JG, Domas and Paolo where more opportunities don’t translate to better results. Player like Lauri, Avdjia, or Jamal Murray whom can play at All-NBA level when given opportunity. Jury is still out on Amen but he has under delivered as well. Many media speculation was him averaging +24/10/6 performance once Fred went down and expect him to win Most improved
Rockets dont have perfect personnel, but they arent as bad as Ime makes them look. Offensively they just play way too much iso ball and are far too slow to move the ball. Im not a fan of the double big or some of the lineups ime uses but the way they play is just fundamentally flawed.
People talk about Reed’s treatment a lot but you can also see how bad Ime is as a coach by looking at what he’s doing with Okogie and Holiday. Okogie doing great with starters. Then instantly loses his spot. Holiday plays spot minutes. Then instantly becomes a starter. Then instantly loses his minutes. Then collects DNPs. Then instantly becomes a starter again. Only to get a DNP the next game. Then you add in the lack of in-game adjustments, the nonsensical lineups, inconsistent leash on players, every time we lose it’s because we didn’t play hard enough …
What coach is winning games without a starting point guard and no experienced backup point? Name one. What coach is winning who doesn’t have a starting guard that can both get to the paint and shoot? Name one. What coach has a winning team with 2 non shooters starting? Name one.
How many coaches have a superstar, an all-star, and a potential DPOY and have a losing record? Just because Ime has a winning record with a roster with some imperfections does not make him a championship coach. Most of the people criticizing Ime have legitimate concerns, especially with his rotations. The inconsistencies with Okogie, Holiday, and Reed’s roles and minutes is a legitimate gripe. The reliance on Durant to initiate the offense in the 4th quarter is a legitimate gripe. His overworking of Durant this year and FVV last year is a legitimate gripe. That being said, Ime’s not going anywhere this year and probably next so all the griping about Ime(myself included) is a waste of time.
Udoka's biggest contribution both to his original Celtics team and the Rockets teams of these past two years is an instillment of defensive intensity. That Celtics team that went to the finals had a historical level defense and even then, they had to go 7 games against the Bucks and the Heat to get to the finals. And those were not teams anywhere near the level of OKC/SA/Denver this year. That was his absolute peak as a coach. The current Rockets defense is sitting at #10 and had basically been in this area for the entire season. You may think #10 isn't bad, but imagine if MDA was coaching the Rockets and the offense is at 10th. Would you want D'Antoni to stay as head coach? For Udoka to be pulling his weight, that 10th on defense has to go up to around 5th, so there's no need to have Sengun or KD to look like superman on offense to be winning games against scrub teams.
