Ime Udoka: Rockets Will "Make Some Real Noise"

Let's finish with the Houston Rockets, and I love, this is more like, I love Eme Udoka because most teams that you talk to on media day will not like talk about expectations.

Like I was watching Bobby Webster's press conference in Toronto and people were asking him about like, do you think it's a championship team?

And he's like, I'm not playing the expectations game.

Ime Udoka, uh, Operates a little bit differently.

Ime Udoka says that he wants this team in Houston to make some real noise this season.

The Rockets, of course, have Fred VanVleet back.

You've got Reed Shepherd having himself looked like a good offseason.

Um, what do you think is the ceiling for the Houston Rockets?

Do you think this Rockets team with the changes they made the offseason, how healthy they get going into this season, is this a team that can compete for a championship?

I like the fact that they added little pieces that can that can provide fight when when things are dwindling.

So, Marcus Smart, even though he has his moments, he does have toughness, championship toughness, and he plays with a a certain energy that's going to get you over top, in my personal opinion.

You know what I mean?

Not.

With, with the talent he does have, anytime you're playing with KD or anything like that, I feel as though you, you need other guys to kind of do the dirty work.

And I feel like when they lost Dylan Brooks, that was like a piece that could have got them over the top in a sense of playoffs or made certain games more serious.

I feel like with the top teams, it's not in regards to talent, but they lose in regards to hurt.

You know what I mean?

Or when you start seeing certain parts in the season, even last year, we're like, oh, we, we foresaw this coming.

Probably like a month before it ever happened.

I'm getting eliminated by a.

A lower Lakers team, you know, so I think with Ime Idoka, he's probably just like, man, the healthier, the merrier, but like let me get some dogs so I can have depth and keep rotating in and out so we don't go through, shout out Tarry Eason.

We don't go through two months of his headache of trying to make a shot or when it came down to it, they were excited about Dorian Feeney Smith and shout out to Jashaun Tate, but those on championship teams are your 14th and 15th guy, not your come save me guy prior.

To the playoffs starting.

So, I feel as though when it comes down to depth, he's probably just like, man, give me some killers, bro.

Give me some fighters because that's his background, that's how he coaches, and it's like we're not going anywhere deep or any type of run we have any quit in us.

So I'm , I'm glad they're going to ask.

I like Bodan Bogdanovich.

I think if he ever gets healthy, he's a baller as well.

You've seen what he, what he's done on the world stage.

I actually like this team because they added ballers and people that can make up just in case.

The top gets shaky Or get disinterested or whatever else occurs, you know what I mean?

Yeah, to me they absolutely can compete for a championship.

Like, think about what you need to get through the Western Conference.

You need big bodies to deal with Victor Webuyama.

You've got Chingoon and you've got Steven Adams.

You need defensive-minded wings.

To deal with Oklahoma City.

You get Ahman Thompson, you've got Tyree Eason, you've got Jabari Smith, you've got Jashaun Tate, you've got Marcus Smart.

You've got those.

What I think the Rockets' success is gonna come down to, it's a couple of things.

One, is Fred Van Vleet the same player or better than he was before the injury.

They missed Fred Van Vleet last year, man.

They missed him a lot more than I thought they were gonna miss him because I thought that Ahman Thompson would be perfectly adequate as a playmaker.

And look, he was fine.

He just doesn't have the requisite experience to slow the game down and to understand what to do in big moments.

Fred Van Vleet's won a championship.

Fred VanVleet has made some huge shots for a championship team.

Um, getting him back and bumping everybody down a role, that's gonna be big.

Is Fred VanVleet the same guy he was before the injury and can he be that same playmaker, efficient shooter?

And he was an efficient shooter the year before the injury, but can he be an efficient shooter with this team this year?

Can Reed Shepherd take a jump?

Like Reed Shepherd got that, you know, got the mustache going.

He's a little bit more bulked up.

He's bumped into a sixth-man role.

All these Instagram videos of the offseason looks like he's made some steps.

Like, can he emerge as one of the better 6th men in the NBA?

Can he become the Super shooter that he was believed to be coming into the draft.

Like, does the pressure coming off him as a starter make him a better player?

And the last thing I would say is Steven Adams gotta stay healthy.

Stephen Adams has been chronically injured with like these season-ending injuries during his career.

He's had some bad injuries in, in recent years.

They need Stephen Adams, not to play next to Shengu necessarily, though Eme Udoka seems to love that lineup.

I don't think it's great, um.

You need him though when it comes down to playing Wembayama, to matching up with Isaiah Hardenstein, to playing against Nikole Jokic.

It can't just be Shengoon and Jabari Smith in that front court.

You need the big live body of Stephen Adams.

You need his strength.

You also need his screen setting.

One of the best screensetters in the NBA.

He's like an oak tree for Kevin Durant to run around.

I, I'm, look, I think Durant's still gonna be Durant.

I think he's got years left on that odometer.

He's still gonna be an elite offensive player.

They've got all the pieces.

There are just a couple of variables that need to break right for them to be a championship team.

Yeah, I, I think I wanted to ask you a question about the Van Fleet situation along with uh, uh, what's my man's name, Reed Shepherd.

When you're talking about Van Fleet and you're like, can he come back at the same level, I, I think one thing I'm excited about him coming back is his leadership.

Last year I felt like Iman Thompson would have been able to adapt more and playmaker role if there was more vocal leaders around.

I think there was a couple of vets around and a lot of young guys still trying to find their footing underneath.

them.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

So I feel like a lot was kind of got loose, especially when you're trying to keep control of a locker room or even just you remember about the tweets and all that nonsense.

I'm kind of going further, like you said, prior to the past couple of years, I've always been a Fred Van Fleet like fan, but I think the teams are going to, are good when he's Maybe the 4th option or somebody that can shock you so you can be efficient.

I don't know if Fred VanVleet is a championship guard, and that's a point guard.

And, but he does have a situation where I think if Ime Udoka comes out .

Reed Shepherd could be 1/6 man or vice versa, but they can kind of share the, the starting role, lead guard role, 6th-man role, depending on how the game is going to go.

I feel as though, I love Fred Van Fleet.

I love what he stands for.

I just never thought he was a, a, a 1st 1st guard.

I think that championship run always was unbelievable.

I thought how he shot , how his toughness, even at Wichita State and everything else, but when it comes to the best position in the league, You gotta make sure that that gun is, is elite as opposed to you just shooting like.

He, he, he, he, he shoots like a Hall of Famer.

He's kind of like the modern day Mike Bibby, if you think about it.

Like when you sit there, he gets a lot of reps up and it's like, is it going to come back to championship level or not because there's, it's almost like quarterbacks.

There's game managers and game changers.

And in that position.

Whoever your identity is going to show which place you're going to go in this league and how your team is going to go.

Am I wrong for saying that?

No, no, I mean, I, I think though if you look at the hierarchy of the Rockets, like Durant's 1, Shengoon's 2, or you can flip him, whatever you wanna do, um, I do think they need Thompson to continue to make offensive strides.

He's arguably the best wing defender in the NBA.

If it's not him, it's his brother, um.

But I do think they need him to make more offensive strides, be able to knock down a corner 3 with more consistency.

Um, so if, if Van Vleet is your 4th option at best , it might even be 5th sometimes with Jabari Smith on the floor.

Uh, if he's your 4th or 5th option and you just need him to play decent defense and make open shots, I think he can still do that.

I, I think the, the gravity that Durant and Shengoon.

They are going to pull in like the, the defenders that they're gonna pull in.

Van Vleet's gonna get a lot of open looks, man.

Like I think he was sub 40% from, from the field during this last season, last full season, um, but I think, but he's gonna get more open looks with Durant.

Like he didn't play with Durant.

Yeah, I'm just wondering if he's going to accept that, uh, that role, like in a sense of just being like the fifth option.

I think Van Fleet, like you said, the gravity, he come, he, he, he's a tough guy.

He's a, he's an alpha in the locker room.

Like, do you know what I mean?

And then he also came from the Kyle Lowry school of like Even if it ain't for me, I'm gonna be involved.

Like, like we're about to have Kyle Lowry Day for absolutely no reason.

Like, like, do you understand, like, do you understand what I'm saying?

Like, come on now, Kyle Lowry, greatest raptor of all time.

Yeah, I love that.

I, I felt like, like there's there's a couple of things I wish I would have done, like.

Left the country to play a different sport because apparently it's like not play a different sport, play basketball elsewhere because apparently it's like I, I see guys overseas who'll be like, this is the best, who is it?

The one dude, Kyle Hines.

This is the best big man ever.

It's like, bro, Kyle is a bum.

Like, like what are y'all doing?

Like what are y'all doing?

Like, y'all let a 6-5 big man dominate you?

Like, do you know what I mean?

So I'm not, I'm not knocking it.

I just wanna make sure Van Fleet is, I, I didn't watch him shoot.

People have a lot of games.

Like, do you understand what I'm saying?

And coming into this West, I just wanna make sure he's, that that clip is loaded, especially coming off that, that last year.

And when it comes down to the development part, like you said.

Alan Thompson is in order for them to be good, he's gonna have to be on the court as much as possible.

Even when you come down to it, even with Smart, Smart's gonna have to be on the court eventually as well when it comes down to it, and you're gonna have to get people ready to be like, hey, these spots just because defensively need so much, we just need floor spacers.

So, if it, if it sits there and it's like, yo, we need our best.

5 and we're going up against OKC.

Not saying Fred VanVleet isn't one of them, but when it comes down to the size.

The NBA now, when you get on that court, everybody's huge.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

You're playing Spurs now.

Dylan Harper's 6'5, Stefan Castle's an Olympic athlete.

Like, I think there's going to be moments where just the intangibles are going to have to outweigh.

Everything else.

Yeah, uh, I , I think at this stage of Fred's career.

He he's gonna embrace.

Whatever role they've got for him.

Like, as long as it gets him on the floor and he's playing, and if he can just be the organizer out there offensively, he shot, what was it, 37.8% last year.

That was the lowest since his rookie season, the lowest in any full season.

That's got to come up.

Like he's never been.

It's crazy.

He's never been a high percentage shooter in any way.

Like he's, his career high is like 42.6%. So Chris, so, so, so this is what I'm saying, like coming from a dude who got killed for analytics, I remember I used to be shooting and being like, there's two people, him and Moudier.

I say, bro, do you know how good you gotta be to shoot 20 shots in an NBA game?

I was like, I I I was like sitting there, I'm like this is coming from somebody that like got kicked out of that role and I was like, hey, you'll kill us.

Like , like when I watch him hoop, I'm not mad.

I'm like, do you know how good you have to be?

To shoot the shots he shoots.

Like, like the awareness is just gone.

It's like, like, yeah, you wouldn't have shot 37% if you shot shots you were supposed to shoot.

Like this man his best year of shooting was 42%.

***, I would have killed myself doing that.

Like that's, that's all I'm saying.

I think sometimes.

We had reputation and Fred Van Fleet is a dog.

Even Rod Baker, a dog.

The Wichita State boys, where they come from, his identity, yeah, yeah , his identity, everything, dog.

I'm not trying to, but when we're talking about championship, hey bro, we can't have Napoleonic tendencies making up for shooting percentages.

Like that's all I'm saying.

Like you didn't realize how bad of a shooter he was up till you looked .

It was like, yeah, I knew last year, I knew last year was rough.

I didn't know that his career best was 42.7%. I didn't realize it because he does, he does, I mean, at least in that championship year, he made some good shots, and I've seen him make, I've seen him make some big shots, which is what this team needs.

Like, look, there's, again, to, to kind of put a bow on it, like I do think they're a championship level team.

But I think more things have to break right for them to be a championship level team than Oklahoma City, than San Antonio, than all those other teams.

So 1000 and, and, and a break, last thing I said in a break, right.

Whether you think so or not, if you're trying to win, Marcus Smart is gonna be on that floor.

So somebody's sitting down.

So that's all I'm saying of being like, hey, Fred, like we need your championship experience.

We need you to show up as Mr.

90%, but when we sit there, we're, it's an orange race and it's not our advantage.

We have to go against it.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, shit, Fred versus Fox.

You know Eme loves Marcus Smart.

You know he's won with Marcus Smart before.