Ime Udoka on loss to OKC, not wanting Sengun to guard Chet

OKC were playing below their standard and Rockets were playing above their standard, it’s just both team realized who they were at the half

 

to paraphrase the immortal Corey Brewer . . . we just ran out of talent

 

If OKC shot 40% from 3 in the 1st half.....then yeah....pretty much a blowout.

 

He talks about Sengun as if he's a complete liability on D

 

I think he hates drop defense and he's only making the team play it out of necessity i.e. Sengun not being fast enough to switch.

 

If this were a road game, maybe.
But the Rockets are a pretty solid home team. They don't often fall to pieces like this at TC.

 

The decision to commit to Sengun is going to be a massive decision for this franchises future.

 

'Understand the game plan' -- what if the game plan sucks?

 

glad to see coach sudoku back to his happy ways

 

Tough sell, it is asking a beggar to choose......from what pool of talent though?

 

Man I always struggle to hear what Udoka says with his low ass voice, maybe this is why the team doesnt follow the game plan? They cant hear it

 

He isn’t good defensively as a 5. I know that pisses some people off but it’s true. He is a very good player, but he needs to guard 4’s… if someone doesn’t want to believe me, I fully get it, but there have been multiple coaches coaching him that have had concerns about his defense…. He has some physical limitations defensively against centers. It honestly isn’t fair to him.

 

I don't think this is it though......

Team defense did work ...... the Rockets do not have one guy that is a top defender and that is not fouling himself out....maybe Fred but he is a midget.

 

He wanted a real 5 before the season started… missed out on Lopez. He wanted a real 5 at the deadline, and the best they gave him was Adams for next year.

At this point he is just trying to get them to play hard and execute and gather data and observations for next year.

This is where having a real and true, elite basketball background in the front office matters. Stone (or Morey) don’t know X’s and O’s as well as Udoka and what Stone suggests won’t hold as much weight as if JVG or Stevens or others did.

Adjustments will be made in approach and personnel this off season… but for now, this is what you get.

 

Teams were shooting uncharacteristically poorly from the perimeter against the Rockets early and at the time I said the Rockets defensive effort was not sustainable.

I am not saying the Rockets defense is bad, but would be better with the right 5, and with Sengun playing a lot of 4.

It isn’t a final product yet - but there is a reason Udoka wanted and wants a 5.

 

Talking about Sengun is a distraction from another Jalen Green assterclass.

 

They are not that good offensively to have a defensive Center In my opinion.....if you want them to look like the Pistons of Old but that era is like long gone.....

Those scoring droughts against halfway decent teams are pretty insufferable.

The newer NBA is about balance, if the Rockets cannot balance it out, then they are just a defensive team without much Offense or inconsistent Offense and it would stay that way for a lengthier time.

The best 2 way Centers are basically borderline stars or stars in this league.

 

Dude, almost everybody knows Jalen Green sucks.

People can talk about Sengun's (or Jabari, Whitmore etc.) weaknesses without having to acknowledge how Jalen Green sucks more.

 

I still think Sengun's lack of lateral quickness against power forwards would be a bigger limitation than his lack of an elite wingspan/leaping ability against centers. The best route to me is still having a long, athletic shotblocking power forward and just lots of length around him. Sengun can get stronger and improve his fundamentals, but he's probably never going to be any quicker laterally than he is today.

He does need to develop into a real shooting threat though.

But again, we're talking about Alperen Sengun's defense on a night when Jalen shot 38% from the field and 20% from three on 13 shots while continuing to be a defensive liability himself. Sengun has weaknesses, but Jalen is a weakness.