Ime Udoka Broke Down the Rockets' Struggles At Point Guard This Past Season

The Houston Rockets must get better and find a strong solution for the point guard situation in order to be true contenders next season. It's expected to improve tremendously with the return of veteran Fred VanVleet to the starting lineup.

The absence of VanVleet for the entire last season hurt the Rockets offense and their chance to play at their full scoring potential. The Rockets didn't really look outside the team for the new answer at the all-important position and there were both positives and negatives to that.

Amen Thompson was given the starting point guard duties at the beginning of the season, and a lot of growth was made. However, this was not his best or natural role on the team, and it showed. It's clear he took steps forward, but the feel of a floor general was just not truly there.

Second-year guard Reed Sheppard started to handle more point guard as the season went on, and it was clear that he was the better fit at the role compared to Thompson. The passes and natural timing of the position was improved with Sheppard at the helm, and the Rockets offense was smoother as well.

Both players had their struggles, and the Rockets were the ones that paid the price in the first round series loss to the Lakers. Coach Ime Udoka explained his thoughts on Sheppard and Thompson handling point guard duties in his last press conference of the season, and how those issues were completely expected.

The Rockets still chose to go forward with this path knowing the future benefits of both Sheppard and Thompson being able to handle it in a back-up role.

Udoka's Young Point Guards

Nov 26, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka talks with Houston Rockets guard Reed Sheppard (15) during a game against the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

"That's not their natural position that they've played. Amen has had the ball in his hands a ton. Reed has played more off ball coming off the bench at Kentucky. With Dillingham, he didn't even play the point," Udoka said. "We looked at it coming into the draft, he had 16 pick and rolls as a freshman at Kentucky, so he's more off ball, movement...even going back to high school it was a motion offense where he didn't just dominate the ball."

This wasn't an area of their game with much experience under their belt. While Sheppard was not the primary point guard at Kentucky with Rob Dillingham handling it during his one year with Big Blue, there is a case to be made that Sheppard played a lot more of the position than Udoka is saying.

Sam Vecenie, senior writer at The Athletic pointed out that Synergy had recorded Sheppard for 201 PnRs, including the passes he made out of them. That's a huge difference in number compared to what Udoka said. If the discrepancy is true, Sheppard has a lot more point guard experience than Udoka is giving him credit for.

Sheppard more likely split those duties with Dillingham, which explained the better passes and cleaner offense for the Rockets when he was on the floor in 2025-26.

"And so their growth, we knew they were going to take some lumps with it, some ups and downs. They both progressed and showed potential at times, making the right play, whether it was to score, make the pass, pocket pass, skip pass, those things," Udoka said.

Sheppard averaged 3.4 assists and 1.5 turnovers this past season while Thompson was at 5.3 assists and 2.4 turnovers. Sheppard also averaged 4.5 assists per game at Kentucky and led UK in assists in 18 games. He also had 26 games with three or more assists.

Add us as a preferred source on Google