There’s no question that Ime is ultimately responsible for in game rotations, lineups, and overall game preparation. However, I can’t help but feel that we’re lacking strength in the assistant coaching department. From what I’ve seen, some of our assistant coaches don’t appear to be contributing much beyond simply being present on the bench.It’s understandable if one young player goes through shooting struggles, but when nearly all of our young guys are struggling to shoot efficiently including someone like Jabari, who was projected to be a consistent perimeter threat that points to a deeper issue. This kind of pattern suggests problems in player development rather than pure talent. If that’s the case, part of the responsibility falls on the developmental staff and the training emphasis coming from the assistants. More attention needs to be directed toward improving player development structures and ensuring that our young core is actually being coached to progress, not stagnate.
It really is alarming how many "all time great college shooters" we have that have turned into absolute bricklayers the minute they become a Rocket.
Seems to be hit or miss. I've seen great names fail and average names make a big difference. You have to find the right guy. Offensive assistant coach is a huge hole for us I feel. We need someone who has a recent streak of offensive success. It would be so good for Udoka.
Among Ime Udoka's coaching staff, not everyone is a real assistant coach, more like some random guy that has a close relationship with Ime
All coaches want it that way (strictly their own click). It's the GM that has to challenge him to make it balanced and break silos.
Several teams in the league have shooting coaches. The Rockets have yet to invest in one, it seems like we don’t care much about offense.
That’s true. There aren’t any elite coaches on our bench, just a group of young, relatively inexperienced assistants who haven’t accomplished much yet. Ime clearly prefers it that way, likely wanting full control without a veteran voice beside him that could challenge his decisions. It’s baffling that the organization hasn’t made a serious investment in specialized shooting coaches to refine Amen’s mechanics. Amen has elite work ethic but it’s unclear what progress Ben Sullivan has actually delivered so far. I don’t buy the idea that Amen’s shot can’t be fixed; he simply needs the right developmental structure and coaching expertise to unlock his full potential.
True, but I don’t think you can separate between the assistant coaches and the head coach. It feels like it’s Ime’s responsibility to decide about the coaching staff, it’s not like Stone can just come to him one day and declare “today Dantoni will join our team and be your main assistant coach”. On the other hand, it is FO responsibility to confront Ime with the analytics that clearly show we are struggling offensively. The improvement he brought purely stem from a more experienced players on the roster and defense. But offensively? We are not much better than what we were in Silas’ era, despite having much better tools. So yeah, Ime should seek a good assistant, offense oriented one, that he could rely on. The question is whether he’s the type of a guy that is able to trust and delegate others.
Ime never updated his coaching staff, I think that was the thing, he had his guys to set the culture, now he has to bring new guys to add more wrinkles to the Offense while maintaining a high standard on Defense.
Facts. Setting up the culture from the losing team we were, to a competitive and tough team we are now was indeed important. I definitely agree with you that it’s probably the time to figure out which assistants can elevate our team to the next level. Unless Ime and his staff believe they can evolve, though the question is how long will it take them? Because Durant’s not getting any younger..
