The Houston Rockets began revamping their franchise minutes after concluding the 2022-23 campaign. A 22-60 record led management to depart from Stephen Silas as coach on April 9. In July, they made several roster changes, headlined by trading K.J. Martin to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Moving into phase II of their rebuilding project was the Rockets' motive behind the off-season changes. They hired Ime Udoka to take the reins as the franchise's 16th coach and signed free agents Dillon Brooks, Jock Landale and Fred VanVleet to improve their subpar roster.
The 2023-24 season will be the Rockets' first attempt to make the playoffs since 2020. Winning will be a priority for Udoka during his first year at the helm in Houston, but the growth and development of the Rockets' young corps will remain an essential task.
"Our young guys know that the biggest steps have to come from them," Udoka told ESPN during Monday's Summer League championship game. "We are not trying to have veterans come in and bail us out. It's about the growth of our young guys who have struggled over the last few years. We are looking forward to it."
Udoka believes several of his young players have had individual success over the past two seasons. But to get his young corps to a winning mentality, Udoka feels it's up to him and his coaching staff to change bad habits.
He revealed that helping Jalen Green become an all-around player has become one of his early tasks as coach of the Rockets. Udoka believes Green is a "natural scorer," but improving his playmaking and defense could lead to the third-year prospect helping the Rockets add more victories to the win column.
Udoka is thrilled to be taking the helm of the Rockets' young corps. He understands there will be growing pains. However, Udoka does not want to use their inexperience as an excuse for their inevitable struggles.
His belief is the same policy that helped the Boston Celtics go from a young and exciting team to two wins away from an NBA championship in 2022.
"Not making the right defensive assignment, taking bad shots, all of that has to be addressed and improved," Udoka said on April 26. "That's my job to teach them and expedite the process.[I know I have to have patience] just like in Boston, I had to change some habits there as well, but it is no different than anywhere else."
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