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The Rise of the GM, the Diminishing of the Coach

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by a time to chill, May 22, 2026.

  1. Dobbizzle

    Dobbizzle Member

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    Let's not forget, we thought we'd be fringe contenders. Udoka had us fully hoodwinked after last season, I'm not sure anybody called that FVV and Dillon deserved all that credit. But here we are.
     
  2. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Tonight there is no regret among that Knicks fanbase and a recognition that Tom “grind to dust play harder” Thibodeau was the issue, the roster wasn’t, and that firing him was the right move.

    Kerr to Jackson
    Thibodeau to Brown
    Udoka to Mazzulla
    Casey to Nurse
    Johnson to Carlisle

    Congrats to the Thibodeaus, Udokas, Mosleys, Bickerstaffs who can get you to *clap clap play harder* & “muh 50 regular season wins!” and go home early.
     
  3. Stephen_A

    Stephen_A Member

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    who cares? I don’t write for likes. People like who agrees with them that’s not uncommon. Who likes yours? I don’t get why people like you post videos to prove a point you can’t make yourself. In our discussion you had several inaccuracies and misinformation. And simply calling someone a fanboy just because they don’t agree with you is the dumbest and most childish thing to do. Everyone supports someone. Is everyone a fanboy? That’s reductive and doesn’t contribute to positive discussion. If i am having a discussion with you and simply disagree with you no need to reduce this discussion into name calling and another online argument the way many people on here do
     
    a time to chill likes this.
  4. Stephen_A

    Stephen_A Member

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    Also no. I know you don’t watch how Detroit plays because they do not run their offense through duren the way rockets run through sengun. Duren is not a hub. Do you know what a hub is? Sengun gets the ball in one on one situations and from there has a lot of options to make decisions. Duren plays off of actions created by Cunningham. He isn’t getting the ball in ISO and he isn’t posting up at a high rate. He gets the ball off pick and rolls or when he’s deep in the paint. When he has an opening he drives occasionally. He isn’t a playmaker as well.

    Running an offense through those players matter because they take up the bulk of the touches and time of possession. They are your main scorers and playmakers so the way they play affects how the entire plays and what sets we run. That’s like saying Rui has more effect on how the lakers play than Luka. Ausar isn’t driving 10 times a game like Amen. He isn’t a playmaker. He cherry picks and gets lobs etc. Same with Allen and Okoro. They aren’t the main playmakers and scorers.

    Stop posting things when you don’t know what you’re talking about and have not watched how Detroit plays
     
    #84 Stephen_A, May 26, 2026
    Last edited: May 26, 2026
    a time to chill likes this.
  5. Stephen_A

    Stephen_A Member

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    @Dobbizzle @J.R. @roslolian @LosPollosHermanos

    Asking you all the same question I asked @daywalker02 because I really want to know what your thoughts are

    Insert a “good coach” (pick one) into this current Rockets team. What do you think any “good” coach would do with Sengun utilizing his strengths and skills? How would they use him? What sets would they run with him? What space on the floor would they put him on offense? would what they do be any different from what Udoka has done and why?

    Also what would they do differently with Sengun without Fred?

    Also what would you like this “good coach” to do with Sengun?
     
    #85 Stephen_A, May 26, 2026
    Last edited: May 26, 2026
  6. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    GSW did not have Butler for most of the season. Draymond was not playing defense until they got Butler. GSW was not a normal #7 seed. The playoffs are not the long grind of the regular season.

    I'm not sure what level of coach Udoka is, other than I think he's a good defensive coach and probably not one of the worst coaches in the game. The roster he's had at the Rockets outperformed what I expected his 1st 2 years. This year was a big letdown. I think a lot of Udoka's issue is that the roster just isn't there for the postseason though he's able to make it work mostly for the regular season.

    I think Stone took some chances this past year, and they failed. The thing is, the Rockets weren't going to be strong contenders without some luck. For the most part, trying to win this year will not have lasting long term negative effects. The seasons Amen and Sengun had are both concerning to me. I thought they both had improved a lot as Rockets under Udoka until this past season. Amen improved offensively, but just didn't impact the game as well defensively (mostly, I think he was needed on the court often and had to use up a lot of energy on offense). Sengun looked great for like a month and then was horrible (possibly playing hurt). I'm feeling much more negative towards the Rockets right now than I did a year ago as Sengun and Amen looked like a strong base that just needed one star to push them into contending strongly a year ago.

    Overall, I think Stone has done a great job accumulating assets. His problem has been getting that No. 1 guy, IMO. It is just hard to survive in the playoffs without that No. 1 guy.
     
    dmoneybangbang and Stephen_A like this.
  7. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    I don't know who this coach is ... but whoever it is, he's gotta run a high / low post motion offense to accommodate both Sengun and Amen - some version of the Princeton, sprinkle in a little high pick and roll action to get open shots for KD / Reed / Jabari / ???.

    This stand around and wait for someone else to make a play is ass. ISO KD, ISO Sengun, ISO Amen, ISO Reed. The other 4 dudes standing around. It's ugly and ineffective.

    Less dribbling, more passing.
     
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  8. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    Butler got injured in like the first or 2nd game of the series so they were def the 7th seed or even worse cuz they lost Wiggins for "nothing" since Butler didnt play anymore.
     
  9. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    First of all we are not coaches so why ask us this question? This is like asking me what Gordon Ramsey would do to make a big mac meal win a michelin star award or asking what improvement Einstein would do to his own theory of relativity if he was reborn again in the present time. You are being disingenuous and asking random people to do Udoka's job for him otherwise he is a great coach. I am not even an amateur basketball coach so why would I know what an NBA level coach would do? If I knew what a good NBA coach would do dont you think I would already been an NBA coach? Ever thought of that? You think you got it figured out tagging everyone when you just made a dumb argument.

    What I do know is other teams have had 2 non shooters and still ended up with better offense than the Rockets. I already mentioned the Wolves have 3 non 3 pt shooters Gobert Mcdaniels and Randle as starters still they had a good offense. Pistons had Jalen Duren Ausar Thompson and Tobias Harris. Both these teams dont have a shooter as good as Kevin Durant and have non shooters on their starters somehow they have much better offense than the Rockets. Sure those guys have playmakers but a coach job is to design an offense, we have Amen and Reed who could run an offense if Udoka actually had one besides give the ball to KD/Sengun and ISO. What kind of offense are just isos? Thats not an offense thats just relying on player talent even I can just tell the team to give the ball to KD and stand around. Is that really an NBA offense when even a casual can do it? You dont even need a coach for that tell KD and Sengun at the start of the game to take turns doing ISOs thats our offense every game with no change.

    Other coaches can do it but for the Rockets its an excuse? Lol. I know you and Time to Chill are Udoka shills thats why you think its everyones fault but Udokas and you think nobody can even make a good offense for this team but looking at other teams having 2 non shooters arent an impediment to their offense at all.
     
    #89 roslolian, May 26, 2026
    Last edited: May 26, 2026
  10. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    You are the one who doesnt know ball. Do you know what USAGE RATE is???

    Tell me what usage rate means.

    Sengun has 26% and Duren has 23%.

    Also we are talking about team offense not individual. Why does it matter if Sengun can shoot 3s or not as a playmaker? Your original argument is the Rockets have 2 starters as non shooters is the reason the offense is bad. Whether Sengun is a playmaker or not is irrelevant to that. In fact lots of playmakers have been bad shooters ever heard of Rondo? Jason Kidd? Giannis? Even Cade himself isnt that accurate of a shooter shooting below average at only 34%. Scottie Barnes the Raptors playmaker shoots 0.1% worse than Sengun 30.4% guess what their offense still better than the Rockets.
     
    #90 roslolian, May 26, 2026
    Last edited: May 26, 2026
  11. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    He missed a game and a half in the Rockets series and was an important player in 3 of the games GSW won. Curry was Curry in the game he missed.
     
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  12. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    Dude was playing injured and missed 2 games not 1, he only played 8 mins the 2nd game I dont think that counts.

    Butler was injured and wasnt really that good cuz of his injury thats why they lost 4-1 to Wolves right after.

    Do you think injured Butler is better than Andrew Wiggins? Butler shot only 44% FG, 30% 3 pt and was ineffective on D because his tailbone was whack, he was immobile and dealing with pain.
     
  13. JW86

    JW86 Member

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    Yeah, I remember people feeling Tom did great and the roster was the biggest issue. Glad those people got proven wrong.

    We won't do **** until Udoka leaves and Stone grows a spine and has a basketball guy in there with him. He's not basketball savvy.
     
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  14. Stephen_A

    Stephen_A Member

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    if you aren’t a coach then how do you like so many others on this site able to formulate an opinion and judge so quickly, determining who sucks and who doesn’t? So don’t give me the BS you’re not a coach. No you’re not but you’re obviously opinionated and now I’m simply asking you all to build on this judgement and explain to me how other coaches would be any different since you all claim to know what’s wrong and keep saying that our current coach “sucks”
     
  15. dmoneybangbang

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    I would argue OWNERS still very much set things. If folks think it was Stone who wanted to compete with Wall, Olodipo, and Christian Wood and not Tilman than you are a fool.
     
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  16. StrawberryJamm

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    The shooters and spacing numbers game is well explored and a big talking point for fans.

    but there are other key numbers games that are being severely overlooked with all the eyes on how many shooters you have on the court.

    This Jabari/KD forward line is death. Off the jump The Spurs, Thunder, and Knicks power forwards are faster than 3 of our starters.

    They will inherently have more ball pressure than we have handle, they will have more handle than we have ball pressure. Comfortable team wins.

    We do need the half court shooting but at the same time have to match that level of speed, matchup, and make them more uncomfortable than us or it’s another playoff L.
     
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  17. dmoneybangbang

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    Remember.... we have a young core where every season we are having to decide to give them their rookie extensions so we have to fit veteran players into the cap space with an eye to possibly extending players like Amen and Tari.... and soon Reed.

    KD is a pretty great player and had another awesome season that we converted Green and Brooks contract to.

    If you don't think Luka or Tatum have health issues.... why would you think FVV does? Because it was Stone that give him the contract, right?
     
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  18. dmoneybangbang

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    There were and are many intelligent posters who saw the value in what players like FVV and Brooks brought that were outside of simple box score watching.
     
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  19. Dobbizzle

    Dobbizzle Member

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    True, and I was especially a fan of Dillon. I genuinely gave Udoka WAY too much of their credit though in retrospect, and I'm sure many others feel the same way.
     
  20. dmoneybangbang

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    How so? I think there is a lot of evidence Udoka is mediocre.... but he is the one who kept playing them in big minutes (especially FVV when a lot of GARM was whining about it). A lot of posters didn't realize how important FVV is to a young core still figuring it out.
     
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