Ime Udoka: “We’re trying to build this foundation to get our IQ up and don’t want to get too complicated offensively, at times. I think you’ll see some improvement.”
Before the NBA’s 2024 All-Star break, the Houston Rockets ranked No. 23 among 30 teams in offensive rating, No. 17 in pace and No. 15 in 3-point attempts per game. After the break, that changed to No. 15 on offense, No. 7 in pace, and No. 2 in 3-point volume.
With a first-year head coach in Ime Udoka and a relatively young roster with several developing prospects, the Rockets (41-41) were careful not to try installing too much too soon.
But as the year progressed, Houston installed more layers to its offense, and Udoka said at the team’s recent end-of-season press conference that he anticipates that continuing into 2024-25.
Among Udoka’s comments:
We had success with pace, 3-point shots … and some different guys being offensive rebounders. We emphasized that after the All-Star break. We wanted to lay the foundation (first). It’s a balance when you want to go from 29th in turnovers (last season) to top five, or wherever we ended (tied for No. 6).
Even with Alperen (Sengun) out there, we increased (pace) after the All-Star break, so it wasn’t only because he was out. We’ll do some of those things better. I kept it pretty vanilla as far as ATOs (after-timeout plays) and draw-ups.
We’re trying to build this foundation to get our IQ up and don’t want to get too complicated offensively, at times. I think you’ll see some improvement.
Full video of Udoka’s press conference is available below. With Udoka leading the charge, the Rockets plan to work collaboratively this offseason and well in advance of 2024-25 training camp. That could enable the addition of more layers to the playbook next season.
76ers guard Tyrese Maxey beat out Rockets center Alperen Sengun and Bulls guard Coby White in voting for the NBA’s 2023-24 Most Improved Player award.
Alperen Sengun was one of three finalists for the NBA’s 2023-24 Most Improved Player award, joining Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey and Chicago Bulls guard Coby White.
But as announced Tuesday, the third-year Houston Rockets center was not the award’s winner. That honor went to Maxey, whose Sixers (47-35) are participating in the 2024 playoffs.
Sengun’s season ended prematurely on March 10, when he suffered a severe ankle sprain. Between his ensuing 18-game absence and Houston (41-41) missing postseason play in the Western Conference, that made it tough for Sengun to earn an outright win — particularly versus Maxey, whose team had a higher profile.
Nonetheless, it was still an outstanding season for the 21-year-old Turkish big man, who remains one of the organizational focal points for the Rockets as they move forward. On a per-game average basis, Sengun led Houston in scoring (21.1 points) and rebounds (9.3) while shooting 53.7%, a team-high among rotation players.
Sengun will again slide in as Houston’s starting center when 2024-25 training camps open in late September or early October.
[lawrence-related id=123461,123326,122839]
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey is the recipient of the George Mikan Trophy as the 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Improved Player. pic.twitter.com/3tvyCiPHma
Houston owns Golden State’s 2024 second-round pick, and it will likely end up second among a three-team tiebreaker also involving the Heat and Kings.
The Rockets are very likely to own the No. 44 pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft, which was determined by a series of random-draw tiebreakers conducted Monday by the league office.
The Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings finished with matching 46-36 records this season. In the first round, these teams will be in the No. 13 through No. 15 slots in the order. In the second round, they were tied at No. 43 through No. 45.
Because Miami advanced to the playoffs and the other two did not, the Heat were placed last in the first-round order. Then, the Kings won their tiebreaker draw versus the Warriors, putting Sacramento in the No. 13 odds slot and Golden State at No. 14.
The Warriors have an extremely small possibility (3.4%) of winning one of the top-four lottery picks and potentially finishing ahead of Sacramento, but that is a highly unlikely scenario.
Barring other changes, the order will be flipped in the second round. That would keep the Warriors in the middle, and Houston owns that pick as part of the Clint Capela-Robert Covington trade involving the Hawks, Minnesota and Denver in February 2020. Atlanta had acquired that pick in a separate deal with the Warriors.
Houston will also have at least one first-round draft pick (via Brooklyn) and has a small chance of retaining its own, as well. However, the specifics of those picks will not be determined until after the May 12 draft lottery, which will sort out those initial 14 slots.
The first round of the 2024 NBA draft will take place on June 26, while the second will be held on the ensuing day, June 27. Both rounds typically feature 30 selections, with one originally allotted (prior to any trades) to each of the league’s 30 franchises.
However, the 2024 second round features only 28 selections, since Phoenix and Philadelphia each lost their pick due to league sanctions. Both were penalized for premature free agency discussions.
Alperen Sengun’s breakout 2023-24 season with the Rockets led to a spike in NBA interest from Turkey, according to the league’s data.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Monday that its 2023-24 regular season delivered record-breaking engagement in Europe and the Middle East across the NBA App, NBA League Pass, and the league’s 18 localized social media accounts in the region.
As it pertains to the Rockets, the NBA included some interesting data:
Driven by Alperen Sengun’s breakout season for the Houston Rockets, Turkey ranks third among followers of @NBA on X [formerly Twitter], behind only the United States and the Philippines. NBA League Pass subscriptions in Turkey increased by 41% year-over-year.
Just 21 years old, Sengun led an improved Houston team in scoring (21.1 points) and rebounds (9.3) during the 2023-24 season, all while shooting a team-high 53.7% among rotation players.
The success of the Turkish big man, who drew All-Star consideration in January, played a key role in Houston registering a league-leading improvement of 19 wins (22-60 to 41-41) relative to the prior season. He’s a finalist for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award and is eligible for a contract extension this offseason.
“It’s not just five months of being away from things we established this year,” Ime Udoka says of Houston’s offseason priorities.
The 2023-24 NBA season is over for the young and improving Houston Rockets (41-41), but that doesn’t mean their work is on pause until 2024-25 training camp starts in late September or early October.
In comments from last week’s end-of-year press conference, head coach Ime Udoka made it clear that offseason work is a vital part of the path forward. And he’ll have an active role in leading that.
Among Udoka’s comments:
Seems like a good number [of players] will be here [in Houston].
It’s a big emphasis for me and my staff to go see our guys. Get your time off, and be right back at it [to find] how we can improve. Do film sessions.
It’s not just five months of being away from things we established this year. It’s important to get your hands on your guys throughout the offseason and build that reputation and relationship with those guys… to get out and see them. We might be out in Turkey at some point [to visit Alperen Sengun], and everywhere else in between. I’ll catch guys all over.
Complete video of Udoka’s remarks can be viewed below.
“He knows all the MMA stuff, and he can get you in a chokehold real quick,” one current NBA player says of Steven Adams. “He’ll be nice with it, but he’ll choke you out.”
Though he’s officially been with the Houston Rockets since early February, veteran center Steven Adams won’t suit up for the team until this fall. He missed the entire 2023-24 NBA season after undergoing surgery for a lingering knee injury last October.
But when the 30-year-old does return, he’ll bring quite a reputation with him. In The Athletic’s latest anonymous player poll, Adams finished second (16.8%) in the league on the question of “Which NBA player would you least like to fight?,” trailing only Indiana’s James Johnson (53.6%). In all, 125 current players answered the question.
“He knows all the MMA [mixed martial arts] stuff, and he can get you in a chokehold real quick,” one Adams voter said, as relayed by Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “He’ll be nice with it, but he’ll choke you out and be like, ‘It’s okay, buddy.’”
Veteran center Boban Marjanovic, who played the last two seasons in Houston, also received a few votes (2.4%) on the same question.
The complete poll can be read here. As for Adams and the Rockets, he’s currently slated to be the backup center to Alperen Sengun — and a defensive complement — for the 2024-25 season.
[lawrence-related id=123362,120959]
The annual (anonymous) NBA player poll is here, at @TheAthletic
A whopping 142 players took part – nearly a third of the league 😳
Their true thoughts on MVP, GOAT, best defender, most overrated/underrated, coaches, referees, even the Commissioner. And much more.…
Houston’s Alperen Sengun, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, and Chicago’s Coby White are the NBA’s Most Improved Player finalists this season.
Despite his 2023-24 season ending early due to a March 10 ankle injury, third-year center Alperen Sengun showed enough during the preceding 63 games with the Houston Rockets to be one of three finalists for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
On a per-game average basis, the 21-year-old Turkish big man led the Rockets in scoring (21.1 points) and rebounds (9.3) while shooting 53.7%, a team-high among rotation players.
That was enough for Sengun to earn All-Star consideration earlier this year, and it makes him a finalists for one of the league’s prestigious annual awards. Other finalists are Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey and Chicago Bulls guard Coby White.
The NBA’s latest criteria calls for players to participate in at least 65 games to be eligible for its awards. However, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton recently noted a potential exception to that rule:
Sengun will only be eligible if an independent doctor rules he will be unable to play through May 31 due to the injury that ended his regular season two games shy of the 65-game minimum.
It appears that was the case. The winners of the awards will be announced at a later date during the league’s 2024 playoffs.
With Chicago and Atlanta eliminated, Houston is now locked into the No. 12 odds slot (for the May 12 draft lottery) with its own 2024 first-round pick.
With the Eastern Conference play-in tournament for the playoffs now complete, the Houston Rockets have clarity on the odds figures for their own first-round pick entering the May 12 draft lottery.
That lottery, which sorts through the selections of the league’s 14 non-playoff teams through weighted odds, determines the first four picks of the 2024 NBA draft. Beyond that, it’s all sorted by record.
Even though Atlanta (36-46) and Chicago (39-43) had worse records than Houston (41-41), they would have fallen behind the Rockets in the draft order, should either have advanced to the playoffs. (Playoff teams are sorted from No. 15 to No. 30 in the overall order.)
However, because both the Hawks and Bulls were eliminated in the East play-in tournament, Houston ultimately sticks with the No. 12 odds slot that it had following the 2023-24 regular season.
Houston’s 2024 first-round pick will head to Oklahoma City (owing to the 2019 Chris Paul-Russell Westbrook trade) unless it is among those top-four lottery selections. In that scenario, the Rockets would convey a second-round pick to the Thunder, instead.
Based on that No. 12 odds slot, here’s a look at the possibilities:
No. 1: 1.5%
No. 2: 1.7%
No. 3: 1.9%
No. 4: 2.1%
No. 12 or lower (pick goes to OKC): 92.9%
In short, Houston has only a 7.1% chance of keeping its pick.
One silver lining for the Rockets is that they do own Brooklyn’s 2024 first-round pick (from the 2021 James Harden trade), and that pick has no protections and will convey, no matter what.
Moreover, with Brooklyn owning the No. 9 odds slot, that pick is highly likely to be ahead of the Houston pick in the order. The only way the Rockets could be ahead of the Nets in the order would be if Houston defies the odds to win one of the four lottery picks — and in that scenario, they would own both selections.
[lawrence-related id=123281,123028,120963]
OFFICIAL: The Houston #Rockets will be in the 12-spot entering the NBA Draft Lottery next month.
“He was a guy I probably pushed harder than most… to improve all around,” Ime Udoka says of his first season with Jalen Green in Houston.
The 2023-24 NBA season was a mixed bag for Jalen Green, who went through substantial ups and downs during his third season with the Houston Rockets. But Green finished with a flourish and nearly earned March Player of the Month honors, and those performances played a key role in Houston’s outstanding 13-2 month — which helped the Rockets (41-41) finish at .500 for the year as a whole.
After going 22-60 last season, Green and the Rockets had the biggest single-year wins increase of any NBA team this season, and it’s the second-largest annual increase in franchise history.
Ideally, of course, Green’s strong play in March would have come earlier. “Do it earlier, and we’re playing right now,” head coach Ime Udoka said with a smile at Tuesday’s season-ending press conference. Udoka was referring to a potential berth in the ongoing 2024 NBA playoffs, which Houston could have had with a few more wins.
Udoka then continued his comments:
Everybody learns and adapts to things on their own speed. He was a guy I probably pushed harder than most to improve all around and not just be labeled on one side of the court, or as a scorer only. Some things he’s done his whole life were being challenged.
For him, this is who you are. Although you had ups and downs, I loved the resiliency. He played [all] 82 games. Played through injury, fatigue, frustration. Never complained, never wavered from the work he put in, and was rewarded with that towards the end of the season.
It takes time for everyone. You see the talent and potential. To see him fight through that and achieve that late in the season, we were all very proud of him.
Complete video of Udoka’s press conference can be viewed below.
Green finished as Houston’s second-leading scorer this season, averaging 19.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He started all 82 games and showed progress defensively, as well.
“Fundamentally, great players can play with great players, and they’re not positionally similar,” Rockets GM Rafael Stone says of Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun.
With some exceptions, the peaks of third-year center Alperen Sengun and guard Jalen Green — both drafted in the NBA’s 2021 first round — generally came at different times for the Houston Rockets.
Sengun flourished over the first few months of the 2023-24 season, even making an All-Star push at midseason. Then, with Sengun sidelined by an ankle injury for the final month-plus of the season, Green nearly earned March Player of the Month honors.
There were occasional games of overlap where both were in peak form at the same time, and it’s worth noting that Green had already shown several games of improved play prior to Sengun’s March 10 injury. Yet, for the season as a whole, it’s a fair observation to say that both prospects were rarely at their best, simultaneously.
So, as Houston turns its focus to 2024-25, is that a concern as the Rockets (41-41) try to go from a .500 season to a winning team that earns a spot in the 2025 Western Conference postseason?
General manager Rafael Stone and head coach Ime Udoka are aware of the concern, but it doesn’t sound like they’re particularly alarmed or troubled. At Tuesday’s end-of-season media availability session with Houston reporters, here’s how Stone responded to a question of whether Sengun and Green are a good complement to each other:
One’s a guard, one’s a center. One of the guys I’ve worked with a long time has a saying that “Someone has gotta score.” The more shots you get, the more you’ll score. In that sense, Jalen benefitted from getting additional shots.
He started playing really good basketball prior to Alperen’s injury. His scoring tailed off a little bit at the end, but he really played some really good games at the end of the season where he didn’t score particularly well.
It’s about putting yourself in position for success. He made some big steps midseason that set him up that way. Fundamentally, great players can play with great players, and they’re not positionally similar.
The challenge that exist for us is not Jalen and Alperen. It’s Jalen, Alperen, Amen [Thompson], Tari [Eason], Jabari [Smith Jr.], Fred [VanVleet], Dillon [Brooks], and Cam [Whitmore]. We’re a team. Ime has to find a way to mesh everyone, but a lot of that is on them and the choices they make.
Every team, every year faces that challenge. Every year someone comes back and added to their game… and [the question is] how do you incorporate that. Or, they want to do more, and how do you incorporate that?
That’s the challenge in front of us. It’s a great one to have these talented young guys who are getting better and having more potential, but we’re cognizant it is a challenge.
Udoka then added his own perspective regarding Sengun and Green, who finished as Houston’s top-two scorers in average points per game during the 2023-24 season. Among his comments:
Jalen had more opportunity with Alperen out. They have contrasting styles. Early on, we leaned on Fred to get us into sets, initiate everything and get our turnovers down. Alpi being one of the top low post scorers, Jalen wasn’t gonna have the same opportunity as in the past.
Sometimes it comes down to making shots. With the ball in his hands, he goes on a hot streak. He was playing well before Alperen went down.
We’re looking forward to that combo meshing next year with more experience and understanding what we’re looking for from both of them.
It’s funny, they said the same thing about [Jayson] Tatum and [Jaylen] Brown. “Can they mesh together?” A lot of times, it’s the guys that every team would want. Everyone would want Jalen and Alpi on their team. I think it’s a no brainer that it can work, and we’ll see it going forward.
Udoka, of course, coached Tatum and Brown with the 2021-22 Boston Celtics, who advanced to the 2022 NBA Finals.
Complete video of Tuesday’s press conference is available below.
