As part of Monday’s media day at Toyota Center, head coach Ime Udoka outlined several priorities for his initial training camp with the Houston Rockets, which begins on Tuesday.
“Internal growth is going to be the biggest step for us,” Udoka said. “The guys that have been here and have gone through the rough times, we need to see growth and improvement from them.
“Guys being held to a different standard, to play a certain way, you’ll see that rapid improvement. When you add certain guys to the roster, things can change quickly. For us, it’s about being ultra competitive, playing a different way and making some noise every night.”
Those comments were echoed by general manager Rafael Stone.
“I do think we’re in a different phase, and the expectations we have for this group are markedly different than the expectations of the past couple of years,” Stone said. “I think we should be more organized and more competitive. All summer, the indications are we will be.”
Here’s a roundup of what we heard from Udoka at Monday’s media day from Toyota Center. Training camp officially begins Tuesday at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.