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

We're just missing the claps from Milkhair!

 

It's ok to have no offensive playbook this time round apparently. You just have to look stern and say "we need to work harder on defense" and your apologists will handle the rest.

 

Only problem is we dont have a GOAT that can single handedly deliver wins.

 

We should trade The Thug, the Bad and Midget to the Clippers and get one back tbh.

 

You can only hold someone accountable for poor performance if there is someone that will perform better in that role. The Rockets were putrid in the 2nd half.

FVV has to play better. When he sucks, the Rockets suck.

 

It’s just one bad game, and I enjoyed the first half. So, it’s really just one bad half. Let’s see how we do in the second game. Hopefully we can shoot better than 37% going forward.

 

Yeah, FVV was shooting the rock as if he were at one of those carnival games where the basket has the same diameter as the ball.

 

I'm sure Ime told Freddy and Jalen "keep shooting, they'll drop." It didn't work out. If Fred turns it around and has a half decent shooting night, we win the game. That's the gamble he made and lost.

I would have made the offense run through Alpi (at the top of the key once they started doubling in the post) and have a little more movement to let Alpi facilitate. DHOs with Jalen is so easy for those two to get good looks.

Also, Cam struggled in the preseason, but he clearly should play over Reed right now, Tari as well. Reed is simply lacking confidence, and that will come, but not if you force him to share the floor with Fred when Fred is chucking or when Reed has to initiate the offense. Let him play with Amen and/or Alpi and play off ball so he can focus on being a shooter to get going.

 

Well, the other Cam Thomas went off 36 on 7-13 shooting.

 

I'm guessing the 7-13 was from deep or he got the Giannis whistle last night lol. I didn't see that game.

 

I'll also add that if Fred is shooting as poorly as he was last night, you may as well go big and put Amen in at the point. You aren't sacrificing shooting at that point. And then guys like Tari and Cam can get some more time.

 

Subbing Fred for Amen is the correct genius call but this is where the JVG and Ime comps come, he's stubborn to the vets and offensively inept.

It's not just 1 game for those people saying it, go read the Raptors forum when they had FVV, it's the same frustrations we are having right now. He's setting a bad contagious tone for the rest

 

I think it's more about the players on this team - none of them are particularly good shooters aside from Holiday & usually reliable FVV who went ice cold in that game.

The rest of this roster is full of mediocre to bad shooters.

Ime is getting them shots that most teams want to take - See Jalen Green - More often than not, they are not getting a better shot than the "open one" that he takes - the issue is that this isn't most teams, it's the Rock Chucker's .... errr Rockets.


All below average shooters
Adams
Brooks
Green
Amen
Apli
Tate
Jock
Uncle Jeff

Are about average.
Cam
Jabari
Tari



FVV and Holiday are the only really reliable shooters (Reed has no sample size so I'm excluding him for now).




Really, they probably aren't getting a better shot than the one's they are taking .... that's the fatal flaw for a team with a bunch of mediocre to poor shooters. What's normally a good shot isn't, and teams will give them to you making it that much more difficult to get the shots that you can make.

 

Holiday has a very low volume to be called shooter.

He doesn't drag you down but his low volume isn't that much of a game changer.

He is more of someone who is aware of percentage and selfishly kept it low.

Fred is an above average shooter.

 

I still think we are in the developement stage of our roster (even though we should have the playoffs or bust mentality). And for that I think we should play, as if all these players are reliable shooters: FVV, Holiday, Green, Jabari, Reed, Cam, (maybe even Tari). What do I mean by that? Not that they should be forcing shots. But that we should try to get them shots. How do we do that? Sure, parking them in a corner at times, or giving them on ball screens is stuff we already do. But what about off ball screens? Or having the whole team move after a pick and roll?

Our play call is basically only about the player with the ball in his hand and the player setting a pick for him. At times another player is cutting to the basket or we kick the ball out to a shooter if the help defender comes. But overall the other players are just standing around.

I really want Jabari to shoot at least 6-8 threes a game, Reed 3-5, Cam 2-4. And I am fine if that measn cutting the threes for FVV and Green down to 6-8, But I want these shots to be at least kinda open. I don't think that is would be that hard to do, especially with FVV and Sengun creating or Greens gravity when driving to the basket.

 

It was the starters that gave up the lead .... Most notably Green & FVV.

They were up 18 and Green missed 4 consecutive 3's while FVV contributed 3 of his own misses between then and the quarters end, that lead was erased by the half.

And their bad shooting was apparently contagious cause the rest of the team couldn't hit shiit either.

 

True.

It would have also been nice if Superstar Sengun wouldnt have gotten CLAMPED by a PJ Tucker clone AND have the game leading 3 hit in his mouth by the same dude AND then promptly gave the ball away to basically secure the win for Charlotte.

Right?

 

Sengun did mess up down the stretch, but he had a decent all-around game unlike every other player other than Amen who inexplicably only got 22 mins. This game was on Ime. Offense sucked, but his rotations were ridiculous.

 

According to Ime the offense was fine because the chucked threes were "open" looks. We just need to work harder on defense. I don't think Ime believes rotations or a playbook matters. We just need to work harder on defense. It's why Ron Artest and Dennis Rodman are the GOATs obviously.

 

Its time to win I dont give a damn about stats and efficiency and all that hot air when games are within reach I care about guys who rise up to the occasion.

I dont disagree that Udoka is mediocre at best as an offensive coach, he was out there just living the dream with so many talented players trotting out lineups that were strange AF to me and he lost sight of how to stop the bleeding once the momentum shifted. How in the world do we forget what to do when Sengun gets doubled? How in the world is Sengun getting locked up by a mouse in the house? Did Cam get hurt? If we were struggling to score why not insert one of our best scorers?

Plenty of blame to go around, but the "stars" should always bear the brunt. They are the ones who dictate outcomes more than a coach.