The best coach of the best team that everyone is ignoring.
The Houston Rockets are officially the number two seed in the Western Conference. Since that is where they have resided most of the season, perhaps it can be lost on us just how impressive that accomplishment is. If you will indulge me though, allow me to take you back to the Houston Rockets two seasons ago BIU. (Before Ime Udoka)
The year was 2023. The Rockets win total would end up slightly above the team’s average age at 22. The team’s veteran leader that season was Eric Gordon. A good player, but someone who had zero interest in being the type of vocal veteran leader that the young Rockets needed at the time. As you’ll recall, Jabari Smith Jr. and Jalen Green got into an altercation on the bench during a home game against the Utah Jazz that they happened to be winning at the time. As it looked as if it was nearing the two coming to blows, you could see Eric Gordon several seats down the bench with no intention of being involved in the altercation, much less the huddle. The thought bubble above his head likely envisioning where he would be eating after the game… or where he’d be playing after the trade deadline.
The team was a mess. Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr.’s frustrations not only coming from losing, but neither of them had lived up to the lofty expectations placed on them as top three draft picks, and on top of all that, they understood leadership from the top was lacking. When even the young players on your team understood that they need more discipline and structure, Rafael Stone and Tilman Fertitta had little choice but to make a change. Enters Ime Udoka.
The controversy surrounding Ime Udoka in Boston had hardly cooled off. He spent an entire season suspended from coaching in the NBA over a matter that had nothing to do with the game and very little to do with Udoka’s ability to coach and be a leader of men. Any concern over that was squelched immediately when Udoka took accountability for the situation in Boston and stated that same level of accountability is what he will demand from his players. Instantaneously, the aura around the team had shifted. With all due respect to Udoka’s predecessor, it was clear there was an alpha in the room.
We all understand how the addition of the vets Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jeff Green changed the culture of the team seemingly overnight. They were Udoka’s kind of guys. Tough, disciplined, and willing to lead not just by example but also vocally. There was a 19-game improvement from the previous season, going from the worst defense in the league to a top 10 defense most of the season… we all know the story. But, for the Houston Rockets to make the leap we all knew they could take in the 2024-2025 campaign, Ime Udoka was going to have to get the best out of his young core. The Rockets had gone as far as they could playing on the backs of their veteran role players. The young future stars needed to step up, and boy, have they.
The Rockets have already won 11 more games than last season with four games remaining. Not since the Phoenix Suns from 2019-2020 season through 2021-2022 season has a team had back-to-back double-digit win total increases. Before that, it was the Boston Celtics in 1969-70 and 1972-73 seasons. The Rockets turnaround has been rare and remarkable. As many things that have had to happen to make the turnaround possible, it starts with head coach Ime Udoka.
In the season prior to Udoka arriving, the Rockets were 29th in the league in defensive efficiency. In his first season, they finished the year seventh. This season, they are the number two defense in all of the NBA with a 109.9 DRTG. They have accomplished this because their two young stars, who were at one time defensive liabilities early on in their careers, have become excellent defensive players. Jalen Green has a DRTG of 112.3, which puts him near the top 25 in the league. Alperen Sengun has the second best DRTG in the league currently (107.4) behind only his teammate, Amen Thompson (107.3).
The team’s offense has begun to improve as the season has gone on as well, currently 11th in the league in offensive efficiency. This is a statistic that the Rockets also dwelled at the bottom of the league in prior to Ime Udoka’s arrival in Houston. He has transformed the culture of this team and turned them from laughing stock of the league to legitimate contenders in less than two seasons.
The biggest argument for Ime Udoka being coach of the year is that with just one All-Star reserve player on the roster, the Houston Rockets are the second seed in a Western Conference that features the Denver Nuggets, two years removed from winning a title and boasting a three-time MVP having his greatest season to date, the Golden State Warriors, who are one of the hottest teams in the NBA since adding Jimmy Butler to go with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, and the Los Angeles Lakers who were gifted Luka Doncic to pair with arguably the greatest player of all-time.
Not to mention the Los Angeles Clippers with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, the Minnesota Timberwolves with Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and Julius Randle. All the great teams in the West, so tightly bunched and jostling for position — and the Houston Rockets, a proud franchise that saw some of its darkest days just two short years ago, have separated themselves from the pack and clinched the second best record in the West and the fourth best record in the entire league, after not making the play-in last season, and even with injuries to key players throughout the year. Ime Udoka has done as good a job as anyone in the league if not better than most of them. He is, in my humble yet admittedly biased opinion, the obvious choice for NBA Coach of the Year honors. We shall see what the people who have a vote have to say.