People bring up Boston all the time but fail to mention that he helped get that team to the finals in his first and only season as head coach. In Mazulla's first year he lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mazulla didn't win the championship until his second year until after they changed the roster to trade for Porzingis and added extra depth pieces. Also, the core group of Tatum, Brown, and White were more experienced and battle tested. You could argue that Mazulla doesn't win in 2024 without Udoka helping them get the post season experience they got in 2022. The narrative that Udoka was the main reason holding back Celtics is silly and dumb. I'm certain that if the Rockets stupidly fired Udoka this offseason, he would be hired by another franchise within a month and will elevate that team next season.
Fluke finals run vs banged up bucks and heat teams. Also in the east. Not impressive at all. Actually, your analogy now is even worse for udoka. Mazzula adopted and grew as a coach, as evidenced as how when they traded porzingis, holiday, and tatum suffered a achilles tear, they are still a far better team than rockets and a second seed, over a contender team in the knicks.
I hope you all realize you are fighting against two guys who are insinuating that all this Ime critique is racist. This isn’t about basketball, so you won’t get anywhere with bball related arguments - that’s not their intent. They are just not brave enough to come out and say what they think (which might have merit and is a valuable discussion to have) cause they know how ridiculously reductionist that would look on all sides. It’s just such a shame how much Rockets discourse got tainted by dumb politics on all sides during this rebuild. Politics are always part of everything no doubt, but it’s the sneaky, incredibly dumb and superficial way it gets threaded into every conversation in the background that gets me. What happened to standing behind a cause you believe in? I legit can’t trust any opinion about Rockets to have good intentions behind it anymore.
I don't mind if it is sports politics.....NBA politics, as long as it is not Trump related, USA politics related.
One can also say what chance did the Rockets have of beating Spurs, Warriors, and Lakers in those years? The fact they had the Warriors and by the neck and lost it is a monumental coaching failure.
A certain percentage of people here will quickly hate whoever is coaching. Every time the coach makes a decision they don't like its like they pickup a barnacle. Eventually when they are all covered up there is no turning back and they passionately hate anything and everything the coach does and blames him for all ills.
I’m puzzled most by how they think it’s some profound observation. Yes people have biases some subconscious some are full-on racist wow what a deep and nuanced analysis of how dumb humankind still is. Now can we stop framing everything through that lens and have a bball conversation? I’d like to be able to argue Udoka is a very mid coach that won’t get us a championship without the race card being played by whatever side. If your goal is to be constructive, point problematic rhetoric directly instead of spinning dumb yarns and maybe we would get to a better state.That’s where intentions start to get questioned.
But many if not most of them don’t even know specifically what they’re looking at or have solutions. What specifically is wrong besides offense sucks? What needs to improve besides rotations suck or too much iso? Not many have solutions yet yell, complain, and accuse.
What are you talking about? What politics? There’s no mention of political policies, laws, government systems, governance styles or current events involving legislative or executive decisions so who on this thread is talking about politics. So why would you accuse these 2 people and talk about politics when the discussions aren’t about these things? And why did you mention race? The discussions centered mainly on coaching ability and also fan’s perception of coaching. I asked specifically what people see wrong with the offense and what solutions they have and crickets as usual. Nothing but complaints and nastiness. There’s nothing wrong with questioning the perception of fans when it’s biased. That’s discussion and a conversation. Nothing to get triggered about.
Ime isnt a bad coach but he also isnt an elite coach. In the Portland game down 3 and needing a 3 to tie he benched both Reed Sheppard and Aaron Holiday but put in both Sengun and Amen. You can justify either Sengun or Amen for the inbound but why have both of them in and bench your 2nd and 3rd best 3 pt shooter when you need a 3? That tells you all you need to know about Udoka he isnt a championship coach. Even Celtics fans are saying the only reason Udoka went to the Finals is because Joe M was his assistant. No Celtic fan was missing Ime when he got fired they were celebrating Joe M was the one running the show now.
Would you put an asterisk * next to the Rockets championship if they beat an OKC team without Jalen Williams or Chet and went to the finals or won the championship? You can’t have it both ways. Also if a main player was out and other guys stepped up and their MVP played great we would call it gutsy or amazing testament of will and desire to win. That’s what Butler dd in game 6. He played out of his mind and he was balling that entire 2022 playoffs and his team was the num 1 seed in the East. Would you say Toronto didn’t deserve to win the trophy in 2019 with warriors injuries! Or how about Celtics winning in 24 over an injured Luka since you’re so big on Mazzula? Or Warriors in 2015 with an injured kyrie? Did any of those teams deserve those titles or should an asterisk be put next to each of those teams? You’re minimizing someone’s accomplishments by saying they were overrated in beating a team with one injury to one player. Point is that individual still won and that collective group still won. There shouldn’t be any shame or underserving feeling from that.
It's gets down to just Ime bad. A few here do put forth ideas but they seem so certain they own the secret sauce to championships if only one of the coaches would follow their ideas an all would be well. If they don't then coach bad. What's funny when we are on winning streaks all these folks are usually silent as a mouse, even though probably none of their plan is being followed. It's just makes them look too silly to call out what they think is cataclysmic when we are winning, they come out in force when we lose. Why? Of course the coach didn't follow the plan.
How? He lost the very next year to a lower seed team. They re-tooled the following year and won a title with probably a top 5 pg of the last decade and one of the best paint defenders and stretch 5 at the time. essentially they had 4 all stars on that team. If you guys think Udoka was lucky beating an injured Butler in 2022, Luka played with a knee sprain and throat contusion in that finals. And do you think Udoka couldn’t win a title with 4 All stars in 2024? Serious question. Personally I think a lot of coaches would win with that stacked roster.
Ime has his shortfalls as a coach. It's only his 4th year as a HC. But Ime can't make the shots for his players. I don't think it's his gameplan to not get into any action for the first 8-14 seconds. I don't think it's his gameplan for us to miss layups and lazily turn the ball over. What system could you run with this squad based on how they're playing this year? We have 3 non shooters in the starting lineup. That's right, Tari is now a non-shooter after going dry-ice cold for a month straight. They straight up ignore Amen. So what can you do? IMO Amen should attack anytime he brings the ball up. If not, it goes to Sengun on the block and he needs to make immediate decisions -- make a move or move ball to KD. They're playing Alpi 1on1 a lot. He wants doubles so he can pass. Teams are content letting him miss 60% of his bunnies. He needs to act faster. I also agree with Ime about the effort level. Durant CLEARLY doesn't have it. And while I give him SOME grace because he's a shooting legend, a Longhorn, and thirty effin seven, I am sick and tired of him having the ball on an island at the top of the key and turning it over when an obvious double team is coming and he thinks his lanky ass can just toss it through 2 other giants without jumping.
https://www.nba.com/news/trending-topics-top-6-in-west-stretch-run-2025-26 Who will be the top six teams in the Western Conference and why? Latest standings Playoff Picture SoFi Play-In Tournament coverage Steve Aschburner Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Denver Nuggets Houston Rockets Los Angeles Lakers Minnesota Timberwolves The two-team tier at the top of this conference is likely to neither flip nor face an outside challenge over what’s left of the schedule. And woe to whichever foes climb out of the SoFi Play-In Tournament bracket to face the Thunder or the Spurs. My next four were clumped within a game or less of each other entering Friday and are essentially are interchangeable. I’m going with the Nuggets’ experience and three-time Kia MVP Nikola Jokić to snag third, while the Timberwolves’ erratic performances keep them in sixth. Brian Martin Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Denver Nuggets Houston Rockets Los Angeles Lakers Minnesota Timberwolves After the Thunder and Spurs, sorting out the rest of the top six is difficult, with the Rockets, Lakers, Nuggets and Timberwolves separated by just one game or less entering Friday. I give the edge for the No. 3 seed to Denver, which already owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Houston, Minnesota and Phoenix. The Nuggets can clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Lakers with a win Saturday. Los Angeles and Minnesota face the most pressure from the Suns, who hold tiebreakers over both. Shaun Powell Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Houston Rockets Minnesota Timberwolves Denver Nuggets Los Angeles Lakers This is clearly the best six in the West. Perhaps the Clippers would’ve cracked the code had they kept James Harden and Ivica Zubac, two of their three best players. The same might be true for the Warriors if not for injuries to Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler. The Suns are a nice story, but they’re also overachievers. John Schuhmann Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Houston Rockets Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves Los Angeles Lakers With the Suns missing Dillon Brooks and having a road-heavy remaining schedule, there shouldn’t be much drama in regard to which six teams don’t have to fight through the Play-In. The Spurs have the head-to-head tie-breaker and an easier remaining schedule than the Thunder, so the champs haven’t sewn up the top seed just yet. The Rockets have the easiest and most home-heavy remaining schedule (as well as the best point differential) of the teams in the 3-6 tier, so they should be the favorite to finish third. The Lakers will be under the spotlight in the next several days, hosting the Nuggets on Saturday and then starting a six-game trip with two games in Houston.
LOL, if Mazulla was here coaching this version of the Houston Rockets you'd be calling for him to be fired too. Mazulla has the benefit of a better GM in Brad Stevens that knows how to construct a roster.
