Rockets coach Ime Udoka doesn’t mince words when describing the state of his team as the All-Star break and the all-important second half of the season approaches.
“I’d say inconsistent,” Udoka said to the Defender when asked about the play of his team so far this season. “You want to be better, but the growth and the leap we took earlier in the year was impressive. But we kind of plateaued and have been up and down since.”
The question is can the Rockets get up enough to make a playoff push in the second half of the season? And if so, how?
After existing as a bottom-feeder, NBA Draft Lottery-bound team the last few seasons, the Rockets as an organization made the concerted decision this season to accelerate the rebuilding process and become a playoff-contending team in Udoka’s first season at the helm.
Veterans Fred VanVleet, Jeff Green and Dillon Brooks were brought in to infuse some maturity into a young, talented core that includes Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith, Jr. and Tari Eason.
The results so far are the Rockets are far more talented and capable of making a playoff push. They are winning some impressive games, but they are also still allowing too many games to slip away down the stretch.
The reality is they aren’t quite there yet.
“I want to get back to what we were doing so well at the start of the year,” said Udoka, who got the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his one and only season in Boston. “I think that defensively we have been No.2 to 5 most of the year and we are eighth right now so we have to get back to that first and foremost.
“I think we are figuring out who we are offensively, as well. Guys are kind of filling into their roles there and other guys are growing. So if we can catch up offensively to where we were defensively, then I think we have a chance going down the stretch.”
As the Feb. 16 All-Star Weekend moves closer, the Rockets sit just outside of the Top 10 in the Western Conference, which means if the playoffs started now, they wouldn’t make the play-in round of the postseason.
But with plenty of season remaining and teams just ahead of them like the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, the Rockets have time to make up ground and earn a playoff spot.
“Just consistency,” AT&T Sportsnet analyst and former Rockets great Calvin Murphy said when asked what it takes for the team to break into the Top 10. “They’ve lost a lot of games they had control of because of being a new team and trying to still feel their way as a unit. But after the All-Star Break, I expect to see that issue resolved. They are definitely a contender for the playoffs without a doubt.”
To make that leap, the Rockets may have to do some dramatic shifting in makeup prior to the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline. In the days leading up to the trade deadline, there have been rumors that young stars like Green and Eason could be moved as the team seems committed to making a playoff push and that could mean being in the market for another big-name player.
The Rockets unsuccessfully tried to make a trade for Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges, offering the Nets a good amount of the first-round draft picks they acquired from them in the James Harden trade a few seasons ago. There is also speculation the Rockets could be in the market for Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray or Chicago’s Zach LaVine ahead of the trade deadline.
Udoka, who admitted the team needs some backcourt 3-point shooting and more versatility in the front court, believes the Rockets can make a run with the collection of players already on the roster. The team did kind of address its front-court weakness during last week’s trade for veteran center Steven Adams, but he hasn’t played all season for Memphis and the anticipation is he won’t be available until next season.
“We mainly want to rely on what we have and get healthy first and see what this whole group looks like,” Udoka said. “We’ve had that for maybe 10 games with Tari, Dillon, Jabari, and everybody healthy at the same time. And now, with the improvement of the young guys, we’ve got real depth. Guys will be fighting for minutes and opportunities.
“So, we’ll see what we have going forward, when healthy. If we roll with that, so be it. I think we’ve got a good team that can do a lot of good things moving forward.”
