Ime Udoka after Rockets misfire from three in loss in Minnesota

Yes I agree with Edey.....I was pushing for Zach Edey a year ago. Part of my model of having a big Big
off the bench for some 18 to 20 minutes. My version of 6'6"-ish to 6'9"-ish is for starters getting
some 30 minutes or so. Having Tari Eason back helps. Cam Whitmore getting better helps.

Ultimately having multiple 3-point shooters make everything work by giving greater spacing.
We double or triple team Doncic and others made their 3's. Teams double and triple team Jalen
Green and others didn't make their 3's.

Story of both games.....Mavs and T-Wolves.

But there are only a few heavy big contributors in the league:

1&2) Robert and KAT on the same team......although Gobert has lost a lot of weight to stay relevant.
3) Valacunas
4) Jokic
5) Embiid
6) Nurkic

Sengun (Houston)

That's 5 teams out of 29 that we need a big bruiser to help matchup with.
I don't consider Sabonis as a big big.

Jan 5th
T-Wolves 120 ORtg....93 DRtg
Rockets 95 ORtg........122 DRtg
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202401050HOU.html

Sengun 96 ORtg....125 DRtg
Robert 145 ORtg....88 DRtg
KAT 111 ORtg........99 DRtg
-----------

Feb 4th
T-Wolves 110.5 ORtg
Rockets 89.6 ORtg
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202402040MIN.html

Sengun 87 ORtg......109 DRtg
Robert 162 ORtg.....81 DRtg
KAT 99 ORtg...........87 DRtg


You have to get Gobert in foul trouble by jumping into a shot blockers
chest and /or have enough 3-point shooters to force Gobert to come
out. Robert didn't contest 3's and we missed open 3's.

 

Probably all playing Call of Duty instead…

 

Cam hurt us in a stretch gambling for steals and not getting back … want to say when Kyle Anderson went on his lil run by himself

 

The Shooting looked like a very late April 1st Joke.

 

Then the follow up would be, if they thought about it, then why haven't they done it (done it enough anyways). Hopefully it's the case where it was a time constraint.

Or a worse case is they did practice shooting (a lot by NBA standards anyways), but still minimum improvements relative to their peers, in which case it's talent who plateaued.

Either way fan-coaches are right in calling them out on bad shooting: 'git gud'.

 

More practice for sho'. Instead of blaming on the coaches, players got to put in the work.

 

Our 3pt% is .351, ranked 23rd.

However, our 3pt% defense is .348, ranked 2nd.

Defense is not the problem. Shooting is.

 

They need to fire Ben Sullivan.

 

I over stand where you coming from and I was on Edey selection until he decided to go back to Purdue, but I would still considerate strongly to replace Adams at some point or just take the best shooter with size if possible, or just take best on your big board

Green was attacking Gobert, but the refs are only going to call the extreme obvious foul, he get major leeway because of his DPOY rep

You don't have to convince me with the numbers, the eye test says matches those numbers for most part, the numbers bring further clarity to topic at hand

Rockets are in good position to do both styles, which is a luxury in any sport

Options a beautiful thing, just run the highest % of what works which is would be your identity that can switch up on the fly when game does slow down to half court, the real good defenses tend to do that

Whatever they do.....just win

 

He said it was missed shots and poor defense against Reid and Anderson.... which is entirely true.

They made mistakes - poor decisions at times defensively that they can fix.... and as Udoka said, they shot poorly from 3, and had they shot even average, it would be a different game.

 

We are in agreement with most everything

It's hard giving an extension to a player just to have him come off the bench....or start when
facing those four other Bib Bigs.

And I was high on Naz Reid this past FA. I would've paid Naz $20M instead of Dillon.

Try not to undercut me please by locking me into
the lower end of the spectrum by saying I want
just the 6'7" players. I'll take four 6'9" players with one 6'6"-ish player as long as they are mobile and can shoot 3's. Play defense. I love the Dalton Knecht drafting but his defense looks very suspect.

But you can't teach size and Udoka will have to coach him up.

 

reed said hi

 

Anderson is such a Spurs type of player and was better than Udoka was.....

 

I said the 6'7''+, or that is what I meant based on your previous replies in threads

Its hard to get those types but the Rockets have something similar to what you are declaring

I will have to take a look at Dalton, college has really fell off to me ....that's why it is so hard to evaluate now as opposed to earlier gems

The Rockets can just take BPA or go for some much needed size on the bench

I Am banking on Sullivan to get and keep right Cam/Bari/Tari/Green and help with Amen mid range confidence and also with AS three ball/FT

If they can all get in the 35-40% three range that will be very helpful to offense taking pressure off of their top 5-10 defense

Ime seems to embrace the style you post about.....make sure noble Udoka gets your Memo.....asap

 

I know he has a lot to work with considering most of the team are brick layers, but I was expecting to see some improvement over the course of the season. The Rockets look just as bad shooting from the start of the season to now. It’s disappointing that’s for sure.

 

Its more disappointing because of the play-in situation

Where a good portion on here didn't even have them flirting with 40 wins this season

The Rockets just not too long ago hit like 25 threes in game

Its just we wished those would have happened the past two games

But its a miss/make league

Always & Forever

The lab this summer should be about shooting, from FT to mid range to every 3 pocket

1000 shots per day total

Get'er done Sullivan

 

It's a bad matchup for the Rockets... and a lot of teams as the Wolves have tons of height and length. We played a bit sloppy on defense and were ice cold from 3.

The play-in was always a long shot.

 

The best one can expect from a coach on offense is to give them a system where they get open looks.
If guys are getting those open looks but missing them, thats not on the coach.

Are we getting enough open looks?

 

I don't believe Udoka does prescribe to my philosophy.

Timeline:
*Udoka was going to move Jalen Green to bench. I said trade him to a team like Pacers or Celtics
this summer. Jalen Green would have less clutter in the lane and be able to pin his ears back and
shread teams. Will get the foul calls and be a face of the league.

*Jalen Green value would plummet, Udoka then decided to build up Greens trade value.
Did more high PnR.....Green started hitting those step backs which forced the drop back
cover guy to try and hedge the edge. Drawing that defender allowed Green to try to out race
both defenders to the rim (neither would stay with Sengun that far away).

*Sengun got hurt. This event forced Udoka to think smaller. Moving Jabari to 5 more which
helped open the paint. Using Amen in that PnR plus Jabari drawing a defender out of the paint.
Opened up everything. Not because a defender stayed with Amen.....but because Amen
finished as a roll man. Dunker Spot was destroying teams.

*Well Green is still not getting ticky tack foul calls others are getting; but I have heard national
pundits saying. Jalen Green was "looking like the best player in the game."


I'm not sure Udoka cares for this style. If Sengun can hit 3's the offense can work like that Celtics
team. But Sengun playing that Drop Coverage Robert Williams defender is probably not near the same. Not ideal.

 

He did want R Will I would imagine, didn't Udoka play similar style with Celtics?

Your style works but you have to have counters

Jalen was trying to find his way defensively early and was basically 3rd option and everybody was losing their mind with him struggling to finish the 3/paint drives

Green is a lot mentally stronger than folks want to admit

I don't think Ime was going to bench Green from start role, but he was rightfully so sitting him in 4th after his offense was not delivering for what was needed

Going small brings flashbacks of Westbrook/Tucker at 5,.....bring back the Chuckster Hayes

Make sure Stone gets your memo, maybe he can entice Udoka to roll with it, since they have most of the pieces already that you speak on