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

I love Sengun, but he isn’t a center. What we do moving forward will be very interesting. The perfect fit is obviously a true center that can shoot to put next to Sengun, but those aren’t exactly easy to to get.

I’d rather move away from Green and keep Sengun, but he just can’t be our 5 moving forward.

 

Wayyy too dramatic in here. Some of you boys have been waiting for Alperen to struggle a little bit. I'll throw the crow in the air fryer so we have some food ready for you dorks.

 

I don't believe Sengun's defense is the issue at all. Moreso, if you're starting Sengun and building around him and FVV, your SG/SF/PF have to be able to make 3's and play defense. Of course I know you can't just build around one not-yet-allstar but if that's what you're doing, do it right. Even with all these struggles and missing Tari one of our best defenders (as well as FVV and Brooks for stretches), we are a top 8 defense. As long as you can be a top 10 defense, there's 0 reason to make a change there. That's a championship calibre defense. It's important to recognize if being a top 1 defense is YOUR goal or a championship goal.

The humongous issue with this team is offense. Sengun is the only thriving piece in the offense. FVV, Brooks and Jabari had to cut down their shot attempts to maintain their good 3PT% - but those shots have to go somewhere. Jalen Green tries harder under Udoka and follows instructions more often, but he is shooting worse and we're told it's because of winning basketball? 24th in offense is winning basketball? This is what it looks like? We're used to being an elite offensive team before this rebuild, don't BS a Rockets fan about offense. This offense can only work for elite iso players with excellent shooters around them - guess what all offenses work if you have those players lol.

We are horrible in FG%. We have one of the lowest assist % and asst/to ratio in the NBA. We are horrible within 10 feet of the basket even though our best and most efficient scorer is doing well there (i.e. all the wing players are struggling there). We are bad at 3pters. We are 4th worst at cutting to the basket and 5th worst at converting on them. Udoka has designed a team for shooters without having the shooters and he's not willing to budge. Opponents are giving us what Udoka wants, and we are stuck wondering why a bad 3pt shooter can't make 3pters more often. We are mediocre at mid range and take an average number of shots there (we should be taking the least attempts in the NBA here). Sengun's assists have fallen off a cliff even though no one is shooting worse than they were at the start of the season. This is a disaster of an offense. We are the #8 defense and the #24 offense but the fans - mimicking Ime - are still whining about defense. Obviously fix the thing where we're #24 before you panic about being a top 8 defense. All of basketball (rebounding, steals, assists, intangibles, everything) fits into offense and defense, this is the whole formula.

Our two new rookies are doing well so I'm not sure why the core 6 young players have not helped us take a step forward at all this season, there's 0 offensive development from them. Sengun is Sengun, the only thing Udoka did is give him more shots and signed a good PG for everyone. We're a post up and PnR team in 2024.

On the plus side, our transition game and pace has improved dramatically in recent weeks. Guess who's leading the charge? The 4 most athletic guys on the roster: Amen, Cam, Jalen and pre-injury Tari are our best transition players. It's almost as though the transition game suits athletic players; who would've thought? Sengun's efficiency is elite there (though on small volume) so the idea that Sengun can't play fast is out the window. The only people who are not good at transition are FVV (who is slow, not his fault, is who he is), Brooks (who is atrocious in transition) and obviously Udoka. Thunder, Pacers and Wolves showing us what we should be doing offensively - running hard, putting a tight leash on mid range, taking a lot of corner 3's, keeping the paint open for the 3 guys we have who are desperate to attack the basket with force (Amen/Cam/Jalen).

Frankly coming out of this season with a #24 offense and a #8 defense is not the worst outcome in the world, it's still a massive step forward. We were the #27 offense and the #29 defense last season. Takes years to improve that much defensively. However, I didn't think that if Jalen Green didn't show up there would be nothing and no one on this roster who can make a difference. I still don't see the roster that way. I hope Udoka learns something from this season or we can get a transcendent playmaker who can teach him how to run an offense.

 

I'm praying for Amen to develop rhythmic, step-into and step-back, higher-release threes this summer. He should study Jason Kidd's before and after videos, and learn to use those athletic legs of his to get some lift on that three ball. If he could trust his own catch-and-shoot 3 on kickouts, defenses wouldn't be able to pack in off of him, our spacing will be beautiful, and we'd all be very, very happy.

 

Nice post!!

I've said it on other threads.... IF, IF, IF we could just be an average OFFENSE then we would be in the top 10 in the league!! Ime has to be more accountable for the offense being completely stagnant at times!! Yes, ALL the players have have faults/strengths, the same way every TEAM has faults/strengths and the gorilla in the room is the OFFENSE!!

Ime said it himself, "We are not a good shooting team". YET, just about every press conference he spends the majority of time talking about the defensive breakdowns during the game! How about manning up and saying our offense completely bogged down and that's something I NEED TO FIX!! I'm starting to get on the @Verbal Christ bandwagon with Udoka's offense OR LACK THEREOF!!!

I'm not good with X's and O's but I know when the O's are AWOL!!!


Go Rockets!!!
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He is also probably not quick enough to guard the 4.

He has a learning curve on D for sure. He is going to need to learn to use his size against 4's without fouling.

Rookie Alpi said he needed to get faster. He still does Imo .

Also Ime doesnt play our BEST defender which is Tate, granted he does get in foul trouble quite a bit. Any news on Tate and why hes out of the rotation. I get wanting to test Amen and Cam , but why not test Tate vs holliday at pg or green. JT used to be great in transition and manning the 4 defensively. Jeff G looks like ass one game and then pretty good the next. Give the old man some more rest ! hahaha

 

Sengun isn't the problem. People like Jalen Green not making wide open threes when Sengun kicks it out once he gets doubled (or tripled) is the problem. And the fact that our shooting guard cannot guard at all.

 

I am not really sure OKC can get any FAs to come down. So they have to either trade or build through the draft.

 

That is simply a r****ded statement. Everyone outside of Ray Charles can see that Sengun is a foul machine, especially when he plays over 30 minutes. That is why he gets so many fouls late in games.

Now, you can say that is he is tired, but then that begs the question: Why is he tired? Is his conditioning bad or is it simply that he cannot play more than 32 minutes a game on a consistent basis and be at his peak. Hopefully this is something that gets better over time, but right now that is where he is.

All of you SOFs need to stop with the JG4 talking points. I don't think anyone on here is defending him at this point. It doesn't make Sengun look any better by pointing out JG4's flaws. They are not even related. Also, a lot of our players missed open shots (as usual) yesterday. Heck, Thompson can't shoot to save his life, Brooks is proving to be a waste more and more everyday, and the others like Holiday are just streaky. Jabari is the one that needs to become more assertive and aggressive on the offensive end. He disappears too much in games. Heck two games ago he had 5 friggin shots in 30 minutes. Unacceptable.

Finally, we need an offensive assistance coach on this team. This is clearly not Ime's strong suit and he is therefore not taking it seriously enough. That is why dudes are always out of position.

 

Go Rockets!!!
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The real meaning being we don't have good shooters, YET.

 

Thank you, finally some common sense.

 

I'm not supporting building a team around FVV and Sengun (that's a treadmill team imo, Sengun has higher potential than that), but yes obviously if that's all you're doing you don't need anything from your SG but to be a pure shooter on offense and stay out of the paint.

 

Gosh that would be amazing but I would settle for him just being able to make no-arc 3pters at 34% on 2 attempts next season. IMO that's plenty for defenses to have to respect his drive and I think would thrust him into stardom immediately. The kid is explosive, quick and fearless in a way we rarely see.

I think Amen and Ausar will be doing absolutely nothing but working on that 3pt shot this summer. What I like about them is they're not combative about it being a problem they have to fix. They have that hard working basketball nerd mentality. I'm certain he'll eventually have a good 3pt shot.

 

Of course they are related.

Jalen rarely makes a decent entry pass.

And when Sengun gets doubled (or tripled) and Jalen is WIDE OPEN (no defender within 6 feet of him and the ball), he clanks the shot most of the time.



He has attempted 128 WIDE OPEN threes. Only made 34 of them. Almost 100 wide open threes missed.

You have a guy like that on the other team, as an opponent, you rather double and triple Sengun and let Green take the WIDE OPEN shot.

And when Green does not guard, then Sengun has to guard two guys. All I see is Green losing his man and half-heartedly trailing him, while two guys are rolling towards Sengun and the basket. I see that ALL THE TIME.

 

These past few weeks have been devastating for all of us in the UOF (Udoka only fan) community.

 

I remain an Ime fan.

I have a weird feeling that Stone is "forcing" him to keep starting Jalen. It's painful to watch.

It also seems to me that there has been a conscious decision to de-emphasize "Senhub" and try to feature Jalen, it started at about the same time Sengun's production started to decline - when Jalen defiantly gave an interview and said "he was going to play the way he wants" or whatever the exact wording was.

Sengun only shooting 5 times in a game is a complete joke, and I doubt that that was voluntary.

 

Im watching our young team jump out to a 16 point lead last night against a legitimate contender with the backups and Udoka disregards those impacts later in the game when the momentum had shifted and never tried that lineup again. Wild. Not even the first time. His PT allotment is basically throwing darts.

 

The new NBA in the playoffs is about matchups and not having guys that will be hunted.

There are already spacing issues on the floor - but there 5’s out there that can still spread the floor .

Sengun isn’t the problem, he is the Rockets best player. Still, I think he is better suited to defend the 4 spot. They are asking him to play out of position now because they didn’t get Lopez like they expected.

On this issue of Rockets “problems”, Sengun is just about last. He isn’t going anywhere and he has shown he will keep improving.