Spoiler https://theathletic.com/4995272/2023/10/25/rockets-ime-udoka-fred-vanvleet/ On the first day of Houston Rockets training camp, in a gym deep in the heart of Lake Charles, La., a precedent was set, a coalescence of the old with the vision of the new. Intrasquad scrimmaging to close practice is universal, a practical approach to the day’s drills, film work and training. For tenured teams with clear and outlined flow charts, post-practice games are more conditioning exercises than anything else, a good excuse to get the blood pumping. But for Houston, a rebuilding franchise with a roster that saw much summer shuffling, these early moments were an orientation of sorts. During this scrimmage, one possession in particular featured a heavy dosage of isolation. Too much. In the past, as recently as April, such half-court proceedings were synonymous with the Rockets’ lack of structure. Chaotic. A mess. A cluster you know what. And in the past, while the others who shared the floor or those on the sidelines might not have preferred basketball be played that way, defeatist fatigue had taken over. They were young, inexperienced and losing games. A lot of them. Houston had drafted high in consecutive seasons and thrown its young players into the deep end, so by default, the green light was theirs to explore. But that was the Rockets of old. This new group, spearheaded by coach Ime Udoka, wasn’t going for it. Fred VanVleet, veteran point guard and NBA champion, definitely wasn’t going for it. During the ensuing dead ball, VanVleet called for everyone’s attention. He wanted to make it clear that this team, this collective unit, wasn’t going to play basketball that way. There had to be a pass, there had to be movement. There was no shouting, no arguments, no chastising and perhaps no need for Udoka to step on the floor to interject. Just a simple problem and a simple solution. VanVleet had it handled. In a vacuum, VanVleet’s approach was a mature, efficient one. But in totality, it was another example of the early organizational synergy that has eluded Houston since the days of Chris Paul, James Harden and Mike D’Antoni. Not in the sense of contender status and talent level; those two teams couldn’t be further apart. But more along the lines of mentality. Udoka’s mentality is similar to that of VanVleet — hard-nosed types who are unselfish on offense, aggressive on defense and well-versed in addressing things head-on. In the Rockets’ first preseason game — a 122-103 win over the Indiana Pacers — there was a possession that particularly bothered Udoka outside of the typical adjustment period that comes with a coach and a new team. He isn’t the type to let things fester; he had to deal with it in the moment. Again, it was the same message. We don’t play like that. Not anymore. “It’s all about changing habits,” Udoka told The Athletic. “And that’s what I’ve said from day one. A lot of the things we did that didn’t incorporate winning, we try to get rid of those, and that’s across the board. It doesn’t matter if you’re a young guy, veterans, whatever. There are things that every team needs to do to win, and for us, it was bringing in the right veterans but also changing some habits that the guys here had. If it makes you a more well-rounded and efficient player, I think all those things will help guys like Jalen (Green) and the young guys that might have done things a certain way. We want to make it easier on those guys. Changing habits is a big thing for us, and those don’t come overnight, but little by little, you see the growth.” The process of rewiring a rebuild is difficult. It takes patience, understanding and control, none of which is possible without the proper structure. For the past two seasons, three if you count the tumultuous 2020-21 season that saw Harden force his way away from the Rockets, this organization has struggled — mightily. There was talent on the roster, but talent can only take you so far amid disarray. When Udoka was hired, he wanted to do two things. First, he wanted to assemble his supporting staff, a collection of youthful, driven, familiar faces who all had ties to him. Each assistant knew their specific role. The terminologies, sets and actions were relayed to them in a continuous manner, all designed to function like a well-oiled machine. Second, he wanted to get to work. Udoka wanted to hit the ground running as quickly as possible — and that started with uprooting whatever defensive schemes were in place and replacing them with the tried and true method on which he had been brought up. Versatility with switching and toggling between coverages. Aggression in attacking the ballhandler and forcing shots away from the rim to create turnovers. Precision in rotations and communication to bridge the gaps. Udoka, having played in the NBA, has a rare connection to his players. He wasted no time getting on the floor with his team to work on putting in the new defensive approach, demanding excellence and maximum effort at every level. If the team could see their coach working up a sweat teaching defense, the excuses would evaporate. Drills were used to break down every part of the defense — rotations, communications and angles — and Udoka stressed repetition. If you can do it once, you can do it five times. You can do it 20 times. Sooner or later, the muscle memory reworks itself.
Spoiler By the time training camp arrived, the work was already showing. The Rockets had added VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green and Jock Landale to a roster that had Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., Jae’Sean Tate and now Amen Thompson, names with defensive potential — as a team, the options were endless. Some of the young players like Thompson and Cam Whitmore who had been a part of Houston’s summer league campaign were familiar with how things were run, having learned under lead assistant Ben Sullivan. Everything was detail-oriented and well-organized. It had gotten Houston all the way to the championship game. Although summer league is never a good measure of NBA success, it served as a small window into what happens when everyone is on the same page. “Just the overall philosophy of competitiveness, unselfishness, and defensive toughness,” Sullivan said of the structural similarities between summer league and the NBA roster in late July. “Those core principles of what we’re about and having that defensive mindset that Ime always talks about. Those are the types of things that really correlate. And then also the terminology, the language that’s used, the overall defensive structure and technique, all that stuff gets put in place.” Udoka isn’t one to inundate players with coach speak or speeches. He wanted to get a message across and make sure everyone knew what the goals were. In camp, Udoka found pockets of space for teaching moments. Both he and the assistants got on the floor, whether it was to set screens to show the angles he was looking for or moving his feet defensively to show how he wanted them to navigate screens. There was a different level of respect and appreciation for a former player, ensuring that accountability was a two-way street. “That’s the one that, for me, if you look at our personnel and some of our guys, that can be a change that you have overnight or pretty quickly,” Udoka said. “We guarded well in the preseason but obviously have to sustain that to whenever it counts. You look at our versatility and some of the guys and the things we’re trying to do with them. It’s different and will take a little bit of time, but they’ve done well so far and improved through those five games. We’ll have to carry that over into the season.” Udoka doesn’t like singling out people. Questions posed to him about specific players or things routinely get rerouted to the team concept — it becomes an observation about the collective. It’s not an accident. He wants the team to be thought of as just that: the team. But as noble as that thought is, it’s difficult to look at this team and not see why someone like VanVleet is so highly regarded. He was brought in to be a leader. As a point guard, an extension of the coach on the floor, VanVleet has the ability to disseminate information directly from the coaching staff to his teammates. Having won a championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, VanVleet arrives with a pedigree sorely lacking in the locker room. And at the position of biggest need, point guard, it’s perfect timing. Of course, VanVleet isn’t perfect. He has experienced some shooting regression over the past two seasons and isn’t without blame for some of the Raptors’ misfortunes. But for all the habits Udoka wants his team to have — constant communication, unselfishness and work ethic — VanVleet is a great example to follow. “Having guys that have been around, had success in this league and won championships, that just brings something to our locker room that we haven’t had,” Tate said. “Just being able to see how they do things and try to mimic them. They carry themselves as pros, they’re in here every morning and are the last ones to leave. They’ve had success and I see why — implementing that into our culture and helping our young guys (understand) that is going to be vital to all of our careers.” Things will take time. The Rockets, as much as they might have improved over the offseason, are still in the bottom tier of the NBA based on roster talent and overall expectations. This is a team coming off a 22-60 season, after all. During the preseason, their defense looked more improved than in seasons past, but their offense still remained clunky. Between VanVleet, Green and Alperen Şengün — along with options such as Thompson and Tate — Houston has several playmaking options but is still going to take time to figure out how everything jells. Şengün operates best at the top of the key or either post as a playmaker, while Green is still learning off-ball efficiency. VanVleet is trying to control things and direct traffic. Sprinkle in Smith trying to maintain momentum from his offseason work and Brooks determined to have a bounce-back year, and the results will be mixed. “We do have a make package that we like to run after makes, so we don’t slow our pace down,” Udoka said of Houston’s playmaking distribution. “And then dead balls, timeouts, we’ll run different things as well. It’s more game-to-game, but I think all of those guys are ones we like initiating. And it’s new for some of those guys to be on ball calling plays a lot instead of being the recipient at times. But I think our versatility with Jalen and Fred allows us to do that. Amen’s obviously an unselfish passer and Alperen, that’s one of his strengths. We’re digging in and starting to add more and more each day.” Still, that’s not enough to slow down Houston’s optimism. It would seem unlikely for the Rockets to make a jump like doubling their win total from last season, but there’s enough being built to ensure they don’t have another dismal year. Green, Şengün, Eason and Smith are young and talented. Thompson is going to have a big role and has already shown promise. Brooks has been an integral part of transforming their defensive approach, and VanVleet is the engine that wants to make this rebuild go. Culture is an abstract thing in the NBA, but it also can be tangible. The vibes in Houston aren’t immaculate yet; it’s too early in the year to say that. But they’re operating on a much higher plane than in the past three years — happier, hungrier and more focused. “Every year has been a little different,” Tate, the longest-tenured Rocket, said. “But this year, the guys that have been here are tired of losing. The guys that have been brought over, including the coaching staff, come from winning. There might be different mindsets but at the end of the day, it’s still the same goal. Whether it’s us wanting to win or them wanting to continue to win.” Udoka was asked if he’s seen the culture change already. “I would say yes,” he said. “I wasn’t here in the past obviously, but players and people within the organization feel the energy is different, the vibe is different. A big part of that is changing the environment mentality-wise and getting to winning habits. A lot of those things have stood out to some of the guys. We’ll be judged by what we do on the court ultimately, but for the most part, I wanted to have a fresh approach. Get rid of some of those bad, losing habits and just notice an energy shift in the building. A lot of our players have echoed the difference in that.”
Kelly Iko seems to write a team-friendly article lionizing the team's (managment's) vision every october - to wit, from Oct 24, 2022: In Houston, the development tree has three different branches. These work with each other toward a common goal. The first branch is physical, led by Willie Cruz (director of sports performance) and Antwan Floyd (associate director of sports performance). Cruz and Floyd are tasked with transforming their young players into seasoned, physical specimens with the use of plyometrics, weight training, and upper and lower body strength exercises. The other side of physical development is body maintenance and injury prevention, led by Jason Biles (director of athlete care and science), Dr. David Crumbie (team physician) and Motoki Fujii (assistant athletic trainer). The latter part is especially important given the arduous nature of an eight-month, 82-game season. The staff has to be as proactive as possible, understanding each player has different goals and needs. The second branch is the individual game, led by Lucas. This is accompanied by drill and skill work, again differentiated by the players’ needs. For someone, it might be ballhandling improvement. Another might need some help in the shooting department. Others might be working on footwork or negotiating pick-and-roll reads faster. The third and final branch is the team game, which brings all the parts together. Players who can grow physically and mentally individually can help the team concept improve — under the right tutelage. One major mechanism Silas has for advancing the team game is a continued dedication to spacing. His predecessor Mike D’Antoni was notorious for utilizing blue tape on the practice courts, urging his players to become more and more comfortable with operating beyond the traditional perimeter arc. Silas has taken that a step further by taping boxes in key areas like the corners and at the top of the key. He never reports on things being a chaotic mess and yet the next year, he writes a new article that says the previous season was a chaotic mess. Which is it?
Culture is only the basics for performing well. But it does not mean they will automatically be a good team from scratch.
I mean I guess you want to show me some chippiness. I do not mind, it was a clear loss, I can post whatever content I want though.
Of course you can. Nobody said otherwise. And I can post any response to your posts I want as well. I was just saying your response to the poster’s comment about Ime ripping the dudes in the film session was a non sequitur. Ime’s offensive vs defensive leanings are irrelevant to him ripping up the team for their terrible effort on both offense and defense.
Yeah, but you missed that I was not targeting the OP, just throwing something generic out there. I never think like a logical robot.
