I'm saying that Stone deserves majority of the blame for the disappointing season since he constructed the roster. You can get 50+ wins from a team with a coach that can get the team to play competent basketball, but when they get to the playoffs it's a different story because they essentially run out of talent. The Lakers with Lebron James, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart, Ayton and Hachimura were more talented than the 'young core' drafted by Stone. I bring up the 50+ regular season wins to refute the notion that Udoka is a bad coach because more than likely they don't achieve that if he was a bad coach. I'm not saying Udoka is the best coach ever. I'm saying he's good enough and the blame should mostly go to the players and ultimately to Stone for drafting them, and also for failing to flesh out the roster to mitigate their flaws. Remember, in one game, Bronny James outscored our entire bench. As for the Knicks, KAT made the case to Brown to run the offense through him which has unlocked the best version of the Knicks. And if Mike Brown is such a great coach, why was he fired from the Kings? I'm not saying he's a bad coach. I think he's good. But the Kings made a rash decision to fire Brown and they look stupid for it now. Firing Udoka would be making the same dumb decision. Changing the coach and keeping everything else the same solves nothing.
Its def a mix but when you are talking about margins and player improvement I think coach has the biggest impact. Sure the GM drafts the player but these players are far from a finished product, look at Stephon Castle teams shied away from him cuz he couldnt shoot. Now 4 yrs later he is shooting 40% in the playoffs. OTH look at our players these guys all shoot worse than they did prior to the NBA. Jalen Green 38% in GLeague, 36% in the NBA. Tari Eason 36% in college, 34% in the NBA. Jabari 41% in college, 36% in the NBA. Reed 55% in college, 39% in the NBA. You can argue and say Stone just drafted role players, but how come these young guys all didnt improve when OKC has guys like Ajay Mitchell tearing up the league? I think our dev team just sucks balls, starting with Ben Sullivan mr full of BS himself. Just look at how DFS forgot how to shoot, he prob worked with BS and ruined his shot.
You got it backwards. Because Stone constructed the roster he deserves credit for the 50 win seasons. He was the one who brought FVV, Dillon Brooks and Adams last year and he was the one who added KD this year. A good roster can get you 50 wins but in the playoffs thats when coaches are needed because teams go on a best of 7 and can really focus on Xs and Os. Rockets were good enough to win 52 games but suddenly cant score more than 86 a game that shows Udoka got out coached cuz JJ identified the team weakness and Udoka had no counter. What does "the team ran out of talent" even mean? Is talent something that disippates during the season? lol Last year before the playoffs started people were saying Rockets were the favorites and this year people were saying Lakers were such underdogs Lebron should be the goat if they win vs the Rockets. That tells you Rockets HAD MORE TALENT. However when playoffs started Udoka got outcoached to the ground by both Kerr and JJ and thats why they lost. Bronny James outscoring the Rox entire bench is due to the failure of Udoka to build good offensive schemes and also teach these players the fundamentals of basketball. Bronny scored 3 pts in college, he wasnt even good enough to be considered a draftable player. Its the coaching and development he experienced that made him good enough to do that. OTH the lack of player devt and is clearly seen on our team, Bronny improved so much yet all our guys have flatlined. Udoka would be a good coach for a veteran team who doesnt need coaching and just needs someone to provide vibes. On this young team.he is a horrible fit since he and his team cant develop their skills. If only one player has flatlined, you can blame stone for drafting wrong but how come the entire team cant shoot wide open 3s? Thats clearly on Udoka already he is developing these players wrong. In fact wasnt he the one who destroyed Alpi's confidence in shooting 3s? Alpi was shooting 33% before this and never made a single 3 after this. Castle also shot 33% for the season but now he is shooting 40% in the playoffs. Maybe because instead of humiliating him and stopping him from shooting 3s the Spurs coaches worked him on improving his shot mechanics instead.
Jalen was a 5th year player Reed was a 2nd year player. Also Udoka sucks at player devt if Reed went to the Spurs he would have a glow up like Stephon Castle. Castle was 28% shooter in college last year he shot 31% now this year he shot at 33% in regular season and 40% in playoffs. Thats steady improvement from skills not really talent clearly Castle couldnt shoot at the start. if Udoka was better at player dev maybe Jalen would do more than play defense. He sucks at offense no wonder he cant teach guys how to score.
Run out of talent means they are less talented than the opposing team. The Rockets WITH KD were picked as the favorites but he only played one game. Despite that we still could've won if Jabari Smith had not turned over the ball at the end of game 3. We could've been up 3-2 and won the series if it wasn't for that single mistake. And regarding Ime 'destroying Alpi's confidence' shooting from 3...when Udoka replaced Silas, Sengun said he liked being coached hard. That's the type of coaching everyone wanted after Silas who was perceived to be passive. Ime was right to curse out Sengun for deviating from the game plan and taking a selfish shot he's bad at.
This has the be the reason.. besides the fact that the org hasn't been playing the long game. They're all over the place. As soon as Tilly became owner he traded Paul for Westbrook. That failed so they decide to rebuild. They expedite the rebuilding process then traded for KD as soon they had talent valued high enough to nab a star. Then they do nothing when FVV goes down. I can see if FVV got injured mid season, but it was before the season started. I can understand placing your son in charge, I can't lie and say I wouldn't do the same. And I do believe Stone is the perfect fit for Tillman as a new owner. He negotiates fair deals that benefit the organization long term. But (Rockets) don't try to convince me that you're playing to win a championship just so you can charge more and take my hard earned money. Actions speak louder than words.
Terrible coach or Terrible fans like you. Didn't you say Dillon Brooks would be the worst signing ever? Now it's Udoka. See being wrong is nothing new to you
Ah yes, clearly I'm the reason Ime Udoka knows nothing about how to run a coherent offense. I'm the reason Ime Udoka does literally nothing well as a head coach. I'm sure that all makes sense to you somehow. 65 IQ head coaches have 65 IQ fans apparently.
This is the genius Rockets fans keep clamoring about: In fact, according to the numbers, the Cavs should be winning the series, Atkinson said. "I think analytically, I think we've won the -- I said three out of three [games in the series], we're two out of three in the expected wins," Atkinson told reporters Sunday. "I don't know if you guys follow that -- the expected score. We've won two out of three." This shows me he’s not a winner. Why even mention this. Man up and take accountability that your team just got their asses handed to them. No one cares about any analytics discussion at this moment
It was a really stupid comment, but I'd still take him over Ime, who has had his share of stupid comments and never takes accountability either.
Using the word “we” is taking accountability. We as a team lost. And why do you value Atkinson more? He underachieved after putting the Nets in the playoffs. Then he underachieved here his first year. Had an up and down season until Harden came and now on the verge of being swept. Also what do you think he would do differently in terms of offense if he were the Rockets head coach? Would he use Sengun as an offensive hub? How would he play two non shooters in the starting lineup?
Atkinson is an offensive genius compared to Udoka. Even if we assume they are equal in quality in the NBA offense > defense. He also had several guys who cant shoot, Jarett Allen and Isaac Okoro couldnt shoot and Cavs won 64 games last year and had one of the better offenses. You act like 2 guys who cant shoot somehow excuses putrid offense when lots of teams have 2 starters who cant shoot like the Cavs. Pistons? Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson cant shoot and they were the first seed. The team underperformed this year due to Ty Jerome leaving and Lonzo Ball being a bust. As we have seen with the Rockets with Adams losing your 6th guy tanks the team performance. Also them underperforming is winning the same amount as Rockets so Atkinson at his worst is equal to Udoka at his best. While Cavs criticism of Atkinson is very similar (holds timeouts till end of game, makes dumb responses to questions, just a spectator, gets outcoached in the playoffs), Atkinson is still preferred to Udoka because like I said offense beats defense and his team actually develops their players offensively. Ty Jerome, Max Strus, Caris Levert and Tyson are all unknown guys who all had great years under Atkinson. OTH, which player has developed under Udoka? Sure they all play better defense, but offensive skills or the bag of all players have not really progressed.
Last year Rockets were the favorites vs an old GSW squad esp after Butler got injured. We lost that series due to Udoka getting outcoached. Nobody would say old ass GSW was more talented than Rockets, in fact they got destroyed in the next round. It was all good coaching from Kerr and horrible coaching by Udoka. This year even if KD didnt play most still had Rockets as the favorite before they started playin. Just look at the betting odds that tells you which team was more talented. Instead Rockets failed to score past 86 pts which is just due to coaching, lack of prep and no mitigating counters. You are right Jabari messed up, but he is only 22 right? He is still a novice esp in playoffs so isnt it Udoka's job to guide him so he doesnt make those mistakes? If playoffs are a test then the players are students and Udoka is the teacher to help them pass right? If they all fail then its clearly the teacher's fault for teaching wrong and not the entire class being dumb. Sengun taking a 3 is a bad shot? He was wide open so with that logic when will his shot ever improve if he cant even take wide open shots? You are blaming the players for being limited but also say they trying to expand their game are also bad shots? Again thats just bad coaching. Did Spurs say Castle taking open 3s is a bad shot? I am sure they also coach Spurs players hard but they dont stop player development and call it a bad shot. 28% from Castle his first year Udoka would forbid him from 3s ever. You keep saying you arent an Udoka fanboy but clearly everything Udoka says is right and its the fault of everyone else.
Its insane isn't? They pivot to a 7th seed warriors team having more talent and now 42 year old lebron and scrubs lmao Rockets fans are some of the most delusional in the NBA
A lot of posters here are extremely biased and just wanna scapegoat Stone for everything. Butler didnt even play more than 1 game but they are more talented lmao anything to protect Udoka from criticism.
