Coach criticized himself in post-game … first time this year?

Alpi will never be good at 3-pt shooting or guarding perimeter players. If he can be made irrelevant so easily, Rockets have a problem on their hands.

 

It's worse, they criticize and attack Ime based on conspiracy not facts. It's lazy and dumb.

 

They criticize Ime for playing players they don't want him to play while the Rockets way outperform how they expect the Rockets to perform.

 

Sengun ranks among the league's best defensive players this season. HIs DPM is +1.7 which is tied with Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert and Jaren Jackson Jr. He obviously struggles to defend the perimeter due to limited quickness but he makes up for it in other ways. I'm not sure why you would put "best player" in quotations either. If you don't think Sengun is our best player, I hope you would at least consider him our 2nd-best behind Amen.

We were down 20-11 when Ime benched Alpi 6 minutes into the quarter. The 76ers scored another 25 points in the remainder of the quarter. We actually were even worse when he sat. Why wasn't the entire starting five benched? Why just Alpi?

Ime seems to punish Alpi more than his other talented young players. Amen can bodyslam Tyler Herro for no particular reason and cost himself a suspension. Ime backs him up. Tari leads the team in stupid defensive plays and Ime nods his head in approval. Alpi makes a few mistakes in the context of the entire team failing on defense and Ime sits him most of the remainder of the game. He only put him back in at the end of the 4th when Tari and Dillon fouled out and there weren't any other regular rotation players available.

 

I don't think too many posters dislike Ime Udoka here. He's been a huge reason for our improvement and I think we're almost all grateful to have him here. He's not above criticism though. He has a few flaws. He's not a very good offensive coach and he seems to punish certain players for mistakes but not others.

Overall though, he's clearly among the top-10 coaches in the NBA right now. He's also young and has time to improve.

 

Then he needs to be traded - or take a secondary role.

DD

 

This is silly, anyone that knows basketball can watch him get burned over and over again on PnR....defensive stats are bullshit, and everyone knows it.

He is not our best player, but you are correct, he is our 2nd best, behind Amen - he is our only all star, so the question is, does the org trade him to get a more modern center, or do they build around his obvious flaws?


DD

 

Anyone who knows basketball understands that his ability to guard the 3-point line and keep quicker players in front of him is only part of defense.

Amazingly, the stats disagree with your eye test.

Part of Sengun's effectiveness defensively has to do with elite defensive rebounding. Limiting 2nd chances is part of the success of our defense. He's also surprisingly solid at defending the rim. His plus-minus at the rim is -5.3% which is pretty good for a guy who's not a vertical athlete. That's better than Nic Claxton for example who is considered a strong rim protector.

Sengun lacks traditional athleticism but makes up for it by being strong, having great balance, great hands and generally making good decisions. He will never thrive at defending guards on the perimeter but is already a major net-positive defensively. In fact, his improvement defensively this season is one of the two primary reasons why we have overachieved this season. The other is Amen's stellar overall improvement.

 

Very few centers in the entire league can guard perimeter players effectively. Whenever, I hear so and so will never do this or that at 22 years old, I lose respect for the poster. Everyone of our young core players has improved this year. There is no reason at all to believe that both Sengun and Amen will not develop a perimeter shot. They both have incredible work ethic and bbiq.

 

Here's the thing, Sengun only gets burned in PnRs when a team gets him in the PnR. Brooks, JSJ, and Sengun have great chemistry to allow Sengun to stay out of actions, and allow Sengun to stay close to the basket where his lack of ground coverage isn't a big issue, and his rebounding is a huge defensive plus. Sure, teams score well when they get Sengun in the PnR, but often they use up the shot clock trying to get that matchup.

I will say that when Amen is starting, the Rockets have fewer guys that pre-switch to keep him out of PnRs, have fewer guys that will scram switch with Sengun if there is a switch, and fewer guys that can handle the roll man if Sengun gets beat on a PnR as Amen is on the ballhandler instead of there to help like JSJ. Green in an off ball role (i.e., this happens more with Amen starting) doesn't preswitch with Sengun, doesn't scram switch, and provides the weakest tags on the team (Reed may get run over, but he doesn't give the ole Kenny Smith Matador defense).

 

First off, these are two completely separate issues.

Alpi does not do well in space on defense and that won't change. Yes, he's only 22 but his lateral and stop-start quickness on defense will not improve as he gets older. He's also not exactly a "quick leaper".

On offense, I'll eat serious crow if he ever becomes a good 3-pt shooter. Even if he does, it will only be a limited part of his arsenal. What he most definitely will improve is his mid-range game. When Alpi has the ball below the FT line and his defender backs off and concedes the jumper, Alpi usually holds on to the ball indecisively like he's unsure what to do. IMO, 100% of the time he should take the uncontested jumper. In fact, he should become automatic from 17-ft and closer. This would take both Alpi and the Rockets offense to another level. After his first two or three 40-point games, defenses will adapt and the paint will open up.

Agree with you on Amen's shooting. When he has to be guarded "honestly", 20 ppg will be easy and he'll live on the FT line. Off the ball, would be good to see him reach 35% on corner 3s. We'll see. Even better, but less likely: Shooting 3s off the dribble. We can dream.

 

Coach criticized himself … first time?

 

*Eight straight wins in a row, the longest streak in the NBA right now.

 

Good job winning that game for us Ime!