How Head Coach Ime Udoka can Unlock the Rockets' Offense

Ime Udoka needs Reed Sheppard to unlock Houston's scoring.

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

The 2025-26 Houston Rockets have been a top five team in the Western Conference essentially all season. Currently they rank fourth in the Western Conference, with a 34-20 record.

Although the Rockets have had bumps along the way, they find themselves at the same clip as they were one season ago, at the same juncture.

Through 54 games in the 2024-25 season, the Rockets had also won 34 games.

Offensively, the Rockets have been relatively good, by the numbers, at least. Houston owns the league's seventh-best offense, by the numbers and also ranks seventh in 3-point shooting percentage, although their volume is much further down, at 29th.

Even with those numbers, Houston could be better on that end.

And their offensive metrics are boosted by their dominance on the offensive glass, which was mainly a thing from earlier in the season. Especially when the team had Steven Adams, who hasn't played in over a month and is out for the season.

Reed Sheppard Holds Key to Unlocking Houston's Offense

Rockets guard Reed Sheppard has the ability to take Houston's offense to new heights.

The challenge has been his lapses on the other end of the floor. He's certainly had defensive gaffes. Even to the point that he's started getting hunted defensively. 

But his offensive talent and skillset, more importantly, is needed on this team. He's shooting 38.4% from long-range on a healthy 6.2 attempts per game. And that's with him having cooled off, throughout the season. 

At least compared to where he was at the start of the season, as he was shooting 47.5% from deep in the month of November.

This month, he's shooting 34.8% from long-range. But he's always a threat to get hot on any given night. And he's an underrated playmaker, and is especially scary when coming off screens. We've seen him freeze defenses and kick it out to open shooters time and time again.

The Rockets haven't had a guard capable of table-setting and/or playmaking all season, and Fred VanVleet's return is far from guaranteed.

The Rockets also didn't add any floor generals at the trade deadline, despite registering interest in several names that were actually moved.

Reed Sheppard is the only guard on the roster that can unlock the Rockets' offense, whether by playmaking or long-range shooting.

He can't do that if he's not on the floor. Udoka will be tasked with not just putting on the floor, but maximizing him when he does so.