Ime Udoka after Rockets brutal home loss to Hornets to open 2024-25 season

3 stars vs 1 Harden, he's not in his prime any more, and D'Antoni's not running the team to maximise him as a 1 man wrecking crew on offense...

 

If Harden can bring this Clippers to playoffs while Rockets still not make, Ime should be fired for not wanting Harden.

 

If Ime can't take a team this talented to the playoffs he should be fired regardless and we can find a coach who knows how to run an offense. They'll remember how to do the defensive hustle just like the Celtics remember.

 

Ime has a lot to improve on offensively, but “system” was not the problem tonight.

Run back through all our shots in this game up to the last few minutes and overall shot quality was good to great.

Charlotte played a soft, deep drop where the decisions were easy. If you’re FVV or JG, you come around a screen and the big is still in the paint, you shoot the 3. It’s an automatic and correct decision.

We just shot way below expectation on that shot quality. Missed too many open 3’s and bunnies at the rim.

 

Ime made the mistake of thinking that we have perimeter players who can create space and make open shots consistently. Our guys just aren't that talented. I agree that Ime should run an old school Pop like system. You need a "dude" or two who are effective iso players to make what he is trying to do work. Play tough defense and depend on your offensive stars to be offensive stars. Championships have been won that way, but when Alpi is still your only consistent offense on a given night you get what you get. Maybe the Rox should have hired Vogel. I think the fans would have been much happier with his offensive system.

 

Well, we missed that Brandon Miller was injured for 3 quarters, if he was playing well, the Hornets would still have another weapon to go to.

 

If you miss 2 3's in a row, you don't think it's a flaw in the system to keep chucking them? You might be the same caliber of offensive coach as Ime Udoka. "They'll go in at some point" is not an offensive strategy.

 

Wait, a, second....

You watched the game?

 

He isn’t and never has been an elite offensive coach. He is capable of understanding basically any offense - but his priority and always has been defense. Even in Boston, that team was geared towards defense and making stops. They replaced Ime with an offensive coach and they had to tinker and build a team that fit the style of their new coach.

In some ways this team is a bad fit for Udoka. They lack a top tier scorer to run the offense and it shows.

I expect growing pains and adjustments. Sengun looked very good… Amen Thomson as well… even liked Sheppard. I liked the aggressiveness of Green but he has to be more efficient and FVF isn’t a good offensive player anymore..

 

Harden is 35 years old with HEAVY mileage on him, lead the league in minutes over a 10 year span… still can do some stuff.

 

Genuine question though, he's getting paid $9 Million less than FVV, who's the better option when you've got a coach with 3 plays in his playbook, no ability to switch it up and no offensive creativity?

 

Honestly, he's the reason we lost the game. It's not just the bad shooting - as a leader, if shots don't fall, especially a young team starts to look shaky and start to act out of character. We'll be alright and Fred will be alright, just a terrible shooting night and we got complacent in the second half. Need to come back strong and I think we will

 

Harden wasn’t going to happen here - and it wasn’t Harden personally, they didn’t want someone that would do everything and that why they went with FVF.

Would the Rockets win more with Harden right now? Yeah, they would.

The Rockets lack a perimeter franchise player and that is really hurting them. Sengun is a really good player and the others have their moments but not consistently yet.

It’s one game but the lack of perimeter franchise player and poor perimeter shooting from the guards killed them - but this was a known problem coming into the year…. If they hit open perimeter shots, everything else will open up.

Udoka is a very good defensive coach and disciplinarian. However his attitude is basically that you cannot always defend and that will bail you out… sometimes it does but there are limits to effort on defense… at some point you need to hit shots.

 

Did he take any blame?

Or just a repeat of last season where he was always blaming players?

 

There are TWO all stars in Boston. Hard stop.

enough with the comparisons. That’s why he got to the finals and why his predecessor eventually won a chip.

this team doesn’t have a star and maybe doesn’t even have an all star, on the roster.

 

If he really blamed defense and thought shots taken were fine behind closed doors then we’re in for a nice losing streak. Great….

 

**** IN IME

 

That's because. . . They are. Those are two of the best offensive coaches the league has ever had. I was thrilled when we got them and they didn't disappoint on the offensive end.

 

You start/finish with Jalen but need him to also spearhead the second unit. You have to build that lineup around him. Essentially the lineup from March where Amen (or Adams) is playing the C role. The other 3 should be shooters (Sheppard, Whitmore, Eason). That lineup would be very successful and allow us to cater to Green for that portion of the game - he will score easily with this pace/shooting mix.

Unfortunately Brooks is sticking out like a sore thumb when we play fast. Really want Eason to win that spot, hopefully over the coming month. They're roughly equal shooters and defenders but at least Eason gives you more rebounds and transition opportunities. Feel like it would make the team a lot more dynamic.

 

Jeff Vam Gundy Style of Coaching and Post game Interviews.

Mehmet Okur shooting 3s Stretching the Floor, Yao Ming too slow to Guard Mehmet Okur. Jeff Van Gundy never substitutes Yao for a Faster Player on Okur.