Ime Udoka admits the Rockets need to play like ‘junk’ in order to win

This week the Houston head coach was asked to describe the identity of his team, on hopefully share his thoughts on what has been his strategy or gaming plan throughout this start of the 2024-25 NBA season. However, instead Ime Udoka gave his famously blunt responses and sometimes speak volumes. 

With no intention to sugarcoat it, the tactician said that his team sometimes have to play like junk in order to win. “I’d say we’re a deep, athletic, physical team. That’s what we’re trying to build. Been good on the defensive end, defensive-minded, like to junk it up, be aggressive on that end,” he said.

As his team was about to face Oklahoma City this weekend to the NBA Cup’s semifinal, he assured that the Rocket still have a lot to learn if they want to earn trophies. “Offensively, we’re a work in progress,” Udoka confessed.

Defensive minded, like to junk it up, be aggressive on that end… Unselfish and balanced on offense."

Coach Ime Udoka shares his thoughts on the identity of his Rockets team as they gear up for the #EmiratesNBACup semifinals!#EmiratesNBACup
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— OutOfSightSports🚀™️ (@OOSSports) December 13, 2024

The squad’s starting point guard then shared his views and echoed his coach’s analysis. “It takes a lot of energy and focus, especially for a young group,” Fred VanVleet shared. “So I know any time we’re locked in on defense usually bodes well for us, and then it becomes a possession game toward the end of the game. You want to close it out.”

Despite Houston’s clear need to improve their commitment to defense, the veteran guard knows that they are also lacking firepower on the other side of the floor. “Most of the time we’re not scoring, either,” Fred added with a smile.

The Rockets’ style of play has been characterized by a very physical, defensive-minded strategy. This was not only evident during their last-second 91-90 win against the Warriors this weekend, or even their last 111-96 loss to the Thunder, where they lacked offensive power.

“We started off a little off rhythm, out of rhythm, a couple turnovers. They did, too. It was kind of ugly to start,” VanVleet recalled. “But we just never found the rhythm and never found a flow. If you’re not going to make shots against a team like that, it just gradually gets tougher to score. That lack of scoring puts pressure on your defense, and it just kind of compounds things.”

The Rockets are the only club within the current top-five teams in the league standings to have an offense outside the top 10

Despite their impressive start to the campaign, the Texan club isn’t ranking inside the top-10 best offences in the NBA, as they are the only ones inside the standings’ top-five to be in this position. After they lost to Oklahoma City this weekend, their offensive rating fell to 18th.

Another example that speaks volumes is how Jalen Green, the club’s leading scorer, is only ranking 40th among all player with averages of 19 points per match. Also, only two players from the squad are shooting over 32% from beyond the arc.

Houston currently have the second-worst field-goal percentage, the third-worst three-point percentage and the fifth-worst free-throw percentage in the NBA.“What I will say publicly is we have to figure it out. We have to be better offensively,” VanVleet said about his team’s process so far.

He then added: “Other than that, I’m not really going to talk about what we want to do here. Coach can probably give you a better answer than that. It’s my job as a point guard to figure out how to get this team to perform better.”