I think there are camps at the end of both extremes. I think Udoka would have different challenges than Stephen Silas and while I think he is more competent, the results might only gradually and slowly come in. Reality check? Dude, Silas was crying, not just because his dad passed but because he lost that locker room. ------- so much frustration.
The Rockets were in a lot of games in the 4th period. They just failed to finish. The next season the players will be a year older and the team without a doubt will have a good if not great coach. We will have to see how it plays out … but … improvements on both sides of the ball should yield better play in the 4th and more wins. My expectation is that the Rockets will slowly get better as the season goes on. Maybe winning 30 games. Certainly trending toward an average NBA team who has got a shot at post season play in the following year.
I think some of what's going on around here is that folks expect us to be better next season. But not just that, they expect to be good (or at least decent) 30 wins isn't good nor is it decent. Its still terrible. But that could be very well be a realistic number. Much depends on how the off-season plays out.
I'm not expecting a miracle worker, but do want to feel good going into the next season. OKC's coach started out with two sub-30 win seasons like Silas, but most of their fans weren't clamoring to fire the coach as soon as the third season began.
Report: Rockets hiring Cam Hodges from Clippers as assistant coach Hodges previously worked with Udoka when both were assistants with the San Antonio Spurs (2017-19) and Philadelphia 76ers (2019-20). When Udoka left the 76ers for Brooklyn in the 2020 offseason, Hodges accepted a coaching associate role with the Clippers. With the Spurs, Hodges worked for renowned shooting guru Chip Engelland. At the time, Engelland led San Antonio’s player-development program along with Will Hardy, who is now Utah’s head coach after working as one of Udoka’s top assistants in Boston. https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/20...-cam-hodges-from-clippers-as-assistant-coach/
Yup, lots of talk about hiring. What your not hearing is how many guys from last year are not coming back. My guess is 1, possibly 2 is all the staff that survives from last year.
Kenyon Martin clearly thought Silas was an idiot lol. I wonder what he means by "they gotta switch that roster up...obviously". My bet is on KPJ.
Getting rid of Silas and bringing in Udoka was the biggest move of the off season. Even if they bring in Harden, I still think the coaching change will have made the biggest impact. Silas just isn't a head coach. I just don't think he has the right mindset for it from a technical and personality standpoint. I agree with him about KJ too. No way guys like Garrison Mathews, Armoni Brooks, Nix and even Lamb should have been taking any minutes away from Guys like KJ and Christopher.
I am not expecting any miracles from Ime Udoka. What I do expect is that Coach Udoka will hold players accountable, will treat all of the players fairly and not let the players drive the practices. If he does this, the Rockets will be a better basketball team and we will know who can and cannot hack it. The young Rockets largely had Club Med under Silas - players will not be coming into practice late.. they will not be able to go over the coach and to the GM to get punishment revoked or to have absences from practice excused.... they will not be able to act like fools, screaming and disrupting practices they don't like..... they will not be able to still start while giving half effort at practice at the game....... players will not be able to complain about calls as an excuse to not get back defensively. If Porter doesn't play winning basketball, he will see him minutes go away ......... If Jalen Green decides to not defend for stretches of time, he will be on the bench with someone that will defend getting his minutes....... it won't matter how many assists and points Sengun has, if he doesn't show the ability to laterally switch, he will go play elsewhere..... if Jabari doesn't switch when he is supposed to and blames teammates - he will end up with less minutes. I don't know how good Udoka will be at talent evaluation and designing plays - but he will hold his players accountable and they can sink or swim - and I would rather find that out now and not in 2-3 years.
Super excited about having TWO assistants in Sullivan and Hodges who worked for Engelland in player development and shooting. Excited for Sengun/Jabari/Green all 3 of them can take a major step up if these coaches can work some magic on their shooting. F the Spurs but I'm not mad at raiding their player development specialists. They're good at that sh*t.
I think ever since the hire, most of us knew what he brought to the Celtics. What I am wondering is whether the player transition from substitute kindergarten teacher to college professor is going to go smoothly and happen relatively quickly or will take the better part of the upcoming season or more. Sure, the players are saying they embrace Ime, and I don't doubt their intent. But its bound to happen (a lot) where Ime disciplines someone for something and said player doesn't take it too well. Or said player thinks he is a starter, but Ime has him coming off the bench. On the coaching side, Ime may or may not find implementing all his ideas to be easy. IDK about basketball teams, but in the work place, I have seen what happens to big hires that try to change too much.
You know there are lots of coaches who bark at players because of those things, but great coaches actually inspire the players to change something. Coaches like Thibs are strict disciplinarians as well but all that barking wears thin after some time. The lack of imagination becomes boring to the players. What I like about Udoka is that he seems to make a genuine and unique effort to make the team feel like they're rooting for each other. He creates a family atmosphere where people have to get each other's backs and the trophy comes first. If he's a man of his word, players will appreciate that and take criticism more openly. He does not differentiate between offensive and defensive sacrifices, he makes everyone move off ball, understands that not all players will be equal defenders if they all give 100%. The best coaches in the game are the ones who get the players to buy into something they feel is special. I really think Udoka is one of those people. It's going to be fun finding out who's ready to buy in to the team concept and who's not. As you said, better to find out now than in a few years. We also need to catch up on some development because the quantity of tanking we did surely slowed down their progress. I think these guys will play hard for him especially because they were fed up with losing halfway into last season. They just didn't know how to win and frankly no one made it a priority to teach them.
I like KJ. It's interesting - everyone seems to assume there will be roster changes, but that it will not affect them.
