Rockets' Ime Udoka Ranks as League's Fourth-Best Coach

Houston Rockets Media Day on Monday gave fans their first official opportunity to hear from all of Houston's offseason acquisitions, of which there were many. Clint Capela, Kevin Durant, Josh Okogie, Dorian Finney-Smith -- to name a few.

Each of them gave the same answer when asked how they settled on the Rockets as their next home: Rockets coach Ime Udoka. Durant added that Udoka knows how to utilize him best and understands his skillsets. Finney-Smith noted Udoka's transparency and straightforward communication, Capela pinpointed Udoka's ability to push players through the dog days and grind of a long NBA season, and Okogie noted Udoka's ability to get his players to scrap and claw and make life difficult overall for opponents.

Although Udoka led the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals in just his first season as head coach, his coaching ability has especially been on display since joining the Rockets. Houston was a 22-win team prior to Udoka's arrival and went 41-41 in his first season -- a 19-win leap.

The Rockets were even better in year two, going 52-30, leaping to the second seed in the Western Conference. All of this in spite of Houston having a fairly average offensive attack.

Because their defense has been ferocious.

Fadeaway World put together a ranking of the league's best coaches and the Houston Rockets coach ranked fourth, behind just Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat, Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers, and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors.

All NBA champions.

Two of which are multi-time champions, in the case of Kerr and Spoelstra. The reasoning is below:

No matter if he can be rough around the edges with his playing style, Ime Udoka has transformed the Rockets from a rebuilding project into a team with legitimate championship expectations. His demanding style and defensive principles brought instant accountability to a young roster, and his ability to accelerate development has been impressive. 

With Houston now loaded with both veterans (headlined by Kevin Durant) and promising young talent, Udoka’s leadership will be tested at the next level: competing for playoff success. In a vacuum, Udoka has the players to be a top-four seed all year, and we think he will achieve that. 

Although this seems like a high ranking, it's fair, based on where Houston was before Udoka and where they currently sit, as legitimate contenders in the bloodbath that is the Western Conference. Oh, and Udoka's aforementioned offensive limitations will be much better this season, as a result of Kevin Durant, who is one of the league's greatest offensive players of all time.