Ime Udoka press conference after loss to Hawks 12/20/2023

I don't think they're doing that at all. They're asking him to hunt shots, not force feeding. They're benching him when he doesn't deserve shots and is not contributing some other way. I think the approach is fine. There is a point at which you bench him but it's not at game 26 of the first time he's ever had a competent coach in his career. A little more patience is warranted.

 

You are exactly right with one clarification. What is the definition of benching him? I think who starts is not material. It’s minutes within the rotation and who he plays best with. Once Amen finds his grounding, I want to see more of Jalen and Amen together in the rotation. If that means Jalen is with the second unit it’s fine. Jalen paired with Amen’s speed and court vision could really be magic no matter if it’s starting or off the bench. I do not want Dillon starting at SG and Tari at SF. Holiday and FVV are not the answer either. Tari is too valuable coming off the bench to artificially insert him into the starting five. Brogdon and a backup center are my solution, but until we have a legit starting SG, Jalen has to start.

 

I assume that if Jalen is benched it will be because we acquired someone significantly better or one of the rookies is popping. Till then, he has been a starter on a team that has way exceeded expectations especially defensively. We're not losing anything.

 

I don't believe that personally. No one is showing they can get us a good volume of paint points from the perimeter. That's the number one thing we need from Jalen or his replacement. Need the defense to collapse more often.

 

Put it this way Fox shot 37% mid range his second year. Booker shot 38% both those guys shot 47-49% mid range last year. Green shot 39% mid range last year. Its a marathon and journey not overnight process.

 

Agree on the marathon thing, but really nitpicking specific category on the compare. Comparing Green to Fox this year is night and day.

Fox's averaging 30pts per game. Even if discounting his accounting stats for his team's style of play, Fox is scaling efficiency at that large volume. 59.5 TS% (which is crazy for a guard); 40% at 3pt shooting at 8.3 attempts per game.

 

Im just responding to the guys statement about mid range dude

 

Dude Fox is in his 7th year. Aint no one even comparing him to fox this year. Don’t get your point

 

So are you for or against in Green cutting down his mid-range attempts?

Season is long, but he's struggling, should he pivot on his shot diet.

 

He needs to cut them down. They're slow, high elevation, and fading away with kpj scissor legs.

 

That was my point about growth and development. Players grow. You have to let players play their style and how they’ve played their whole life. Let them play not restrict. You never want to restrict players from playing including shooting. What you do is try to steer them into right shots and decisions not so much limiting them

 

Jalen Green really has no business taking midrange shots at this point. It's a bad shot for him. It's been bad for going on 3 years now and the sample size is enough to say he should be taking a lot less of them. and his 3 point shot isn't good enough to make up for it

 

TBH, with his speed, Jalen should be attacking the basket way more often. He has the sort of body type that allows him to bend and angle his body in unnatural ways, and more importantly, he has great leaping ability and hang time. He should be using these to his advantage.

Why he wants to chuck up a bunch of 3 pointers is beyond me. We would be better off running him through the post and keeping Alpe at the top of the key. It would allows us to open up driving lanes. It would also help Jabari's game.

I just don't know if Ime as a coach has that sort of offensive acumen. When he was in Boston, he basically just relied on tough D, and then a bunch your turn, my turn ball between Tatum and Brown. He also played Al Horford way too much (and he was burnt out by the Finals).

Ime has a lot of Thibodeaux/JVG in him, coaching wise.

 

he has the speed but he doesn't have the intermediate handles and the versatile finishing ability as part of his game that he can rely consistently on yet. You can have speed all day but if the latter parts of the game are lacking, it's still going to be a tough part of the game for him, filled with inconsistency

It's not definitive but what we may be seeing is JG isn't a fit in a Ime system. We clearly see plenty of the other young prospects ascending in this system so it's not like it doesn't work for the majority of the team. It's really on JG to be able to adjust and play better over folks putting it on Ime. he clearly has been trying to get JG going with different approaches as the season has gone on.

When a list full of guys are playing well in Ime's system and you have 1 guy sticking out like a sore thumb and struggling, it actually isn't everyone else's fault. A lot of folks don't get that distinction

 

Better question is why the coach doesn't make him pass the ball off more to guys that can actually hit those shots better than Jalen. Jalen is gonna try to get 20 pts, even if it takes 30 shots every chance he gets that ball in his hands

 

Yeah agree. Offense needs to open up lanes for Green. But this is the issue with Udoka wanting Sengun FVV to be Jokic Murray. And Jalen has been very passive in this new look offense.

 

Great point you made with JVG and Thibs who were both inflexible coaches. Remember when JVG forced a slow placed half court game with Yao in the post?

 

Yeah this. Sorry, but neither Alpe and definitely not friggin FVV are as good as Jokic and Murray.

I just remember him playing Horford like 25 to 35 min a game against the Heat and then the Warriors in the 2022 ECF and Finals, respectively. It worked against the Heat because they are as offensively inept as the Celtics were, but against the Warriors it got exposed.

I personally would not be surprised to see Ime ask for a trade to get Marcus Smart here. If that happens, then God help us. We will be perpetually a 48 to 52 win team that loses in the first and second round every year. Then everyone here will pine for the days of Harden.

 

Udoka is forcing them to play his vision which is simple 2 man PNR with Sengun, low/mid post Sengun, and FVV scoring on the dribble drive or make plays for shooters. Right now JG is a 3rd scorer behind those 2. His drives are down from 12.9 per game to 10. Touches down from 65 to 58. Udoka said he wants Green to be more aggressive that’s fair but you have to find ways as a coach to give him more opportunities and make it easier for him to score.