Aaron Holiday 'Huge' for Houston Rockets, Says Ime Udoka “He’s been huge,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said via Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “When we talked to him in free agency, what we loved about him was he’s always prepared, very professional, another guy that complements the group well, on or off the ball. The shooting ability, obviously, but the defensive tenacity, too. Just a guy that’s been through every situation, start if you need him to, or obviously be a great backup as he is now." https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/aaron-holiday-huge-houston-rockets-says-ime-udoka
Ime Udoka brought in a carefully selected fundamental group of guys who have proven to be invaluable to re establishing a winning culture. Core guys in VanVeleet, Brooks, Jeff Green, and Holiday. And end of bench guys in Samuels, Landale, Bullock, etc are all Ime selected guys. Plus coach Ime approved rookies in Amen and Cam. And holdovers from the previous regime were Sengun, Jalen Green, Smith, Tate, and Eason. I am pleasantly surprised how different the culture is from last year to this year. Green, Smith, Sengun, and Eason can all continue to thrive nd develop properly.
Holiday has been amazing and has adapted to every kind of lineup. I still prefer him as a secondary ball handler, but that's just because we have a top lottery pick needing reps at the position
While true, the guy working the contracts and the trades is the GM and his office, the coach has a considerable amount of input and power requesting what needs to be improved on the team and who should be targeted. It’s a team effort and the owners even have input - and sometimes the determining factor is the owner and the direction he wants the team. Some GM’s have more powers than others, just like coaches! You don’t hire a coach to just not let him pick a group of guys he needs to run his offense and defensive schemes. Perfect example, James Harden in 2023 was gun-ho ready to ink with Houston for a max contract. Udoka didn’t like the fact that Harden chimed in that he was his own system, and Udoka nixed that deal. Infuriating Harden, who had to take his option with the 76’ers. Udoka knows what players his system needs, and if the GM is doing his job, he will bring in resources to accentuate the core of the team.
The GM hires the coach that may or may not have input on players, it's the GM's call no matter how you slice it
I disagree heartily on Holiday. He has been a consistent 3 pt shooter which this team needs, but he is not good at driving, plays hog ball at times, and gets hunted on defense whenever he is in the game. Amen and Cam should take all of Tate’s and Holidays minutes sooner rather than later.
A GM worth his weight will get the guys that the coach tells him he needs (specific player or from a group of players). Obviously the GM and coach have to have a shared vision, if not the GM would not sign off on hiring the coach. I think Stone has done a fabulous job in his capacity. He found a coach that sees his vision and is willing to get the players the coach tells him he needs. Let’s remember that there are core guys and rotational yearly contract style guys. The core guys are generally agreed upon by the GM, owner, coach, etc. The rotational plug guys don’t generally don’t have massive contracts that would hinder a team if they get it wrong, so it’s either the coaches call or the GM’s call. Let’s remember Stone wasn’t making these types of signings for other coaches, because it could be assumed he was going after the players his coach told him they wanted or the characteristics they needed in a player.
Correct. But also keep in mind our core was here before Udoka. So this roster is very much STONE'S baby. Udoka chose Houston primarily due to the players already here, and the cap space Stone created. Udoka is not here without Stone
Yeah you need to get off 2K. Holiday has been phenomenal on defense and teams AVOID whoever he's on. Defensively he's been our best defender outside of Dillon & Tari. Tate is up there too
