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As one example, Sengun pointed to an online controversy surrounding a postgame quote from Ime Udoka regarding Sengun’s pick-and-roll defense. “When I first saw that press conference, what Udoka said didn’t hurt or upset me at all,” Sengun said. “Because I’m very close with Ime, I know what he meant in that statement. So it didn’t bother me in the slightest. What he actually meant was that even if I become the best defender in the league five years from now, they’re still going to target me anyway. It’s been that way since he first arrived (in Houston).” “It’s just that because we suffered a tough loss in that game and the postgame atmosphere was tense, they asked him at such a moment, and since he was a bit frustrated, he answered like that. But because I actually know him personally, I never took it that way. Though of course, social media spun it in that direction, unfortunately.”
As a final point on Udoka, Sengun said he embraces the heightened expectations that accompany being one of the team’s best players. His perspective: “I like that,” Sengun said. “I view pressure as the coach expecting a lot from me. He’s told me, ‘I get mad at you, but I get mad because I know what you’re capable of. And because I expect it, I want you to be the very best at it.’ That pushes a person. It makes me better, honestly.”
Shams Charania: The Houston Rockets are hiring Chip Engelland as a new assistant coach on Ime Udoka's staff, sources tell ESPN. Engelland -- well-regarded in player development and shooting speciality -- spent the last four seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder after a 17-year run in San Antonio (2005-2022) where he built a relationship with Udoka.
Shams Charania: Free agent guard Marcus Smart has agreed on a two-year, $13 million deal with the Houston Rockets, plus a player option for the second season, sources tell ESPN. The former Defensive Player of the Year reunites with Ime Udoka for significant opportunity in the Rockets backcourt.
The Houston Rockets have significant interest in free agent guard Marcus Smart and are expected to work out a deal in the three-year, $21 million range that would reunite him with head coach Ime Udoka, sources told Dallas Hoops Journal. Such a deal would fall within the taxpayer mid-level exception threshold.
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The Rockets do, however, loom as a possible free agent destination for another one of Udoka's former players in Boston: Marcus Smart. League sources say that Smart, who is expected to draw interest from Houston and possibly other teams in free agency, is very much giving consideration to declining his $5.4 million player option for next season with the Lakers before Monday's deadline to do so and then proceed to the open market.
Per league sources, Rockets coach and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka was a huge fan of Stephon Castle’s (which Castle said he was well aware of). But with veteran Fred VanVleet manning the point guard position and young Jalen Green at the two-guard spot, Castle and his camp sent the kinds of signals Houston’s way that eventually led to him landing in San Antonio. Just as he’d hoped. “I think being (in San Antonio) was always number one on my list,” said Castle, who won Rookie of the Year in 2025. “Internally, I always felt like I was the best player in that draft. (But) I didn’t know what could happen. My agent always told me, like, anything can happen in a draft. Like, you could not work out for a team, not have talked to a team, and they can still take you. So, I mean, I wasn’t really planning on playing in Houston. I didn’t really know how any of that worked. I was kind of hoping I could slide my way to San Antonio. It kind of worked out for me.”
Marc Stein: "Mike Brown at best was the sixth choice for this job. Remember that the Knicks asked for permission to speak to Jason Kidd, Ime Udoka, Quinn Snyder, Chris Finch, and Billy Donovan. All of those teams said no. Jason Kidd and Billy Donovan both got contract extensions and no longer coach the teams where they were a year ago. It really looked like the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau without a plan to replace the first coach who had taken them to the conference finals this century. For things to turn around to this degree, the teamwork, the way that team has come together, the way Karl-Anthony Towns has embraced a new role, the way Mikal Bridges, who has been so maligned for how many draft picks he cost the Knicks, and the level that he has been playing in these playoffs."
Channing Frye: Ime Udoka is a great coach. Kevin Durant does not fit on this version of the Houston Rockets. Also, Ime is a very intense coach. If you look at what the Rockets were compared to what they are now, you look at what Boston was to what they are now.
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Tim Reynolds: 11 coaches have made the NBA Finals since 2020. 6 are no longer with the teams they took to those Finals. 2024: Jason Kidd, Dallas 2023: Michael Malone, Denver 2022: Ime Udoka, Boston 2021: Monty Williams, Phoenix 2021: Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee 2020: Frank Vogel, Lakers
Michael Scotto: Sources: The Blazers interviewed Rockets assistant Ben Sullivan for their head coaching job. He interviewed for the Suns last summer. He’s been an assistant for Ime Udoka (Rockets/Celtics), Joe Mazzulla and Mike Budenholzer (Bucks/Hawks). He played for the University of Portland.
ClutchFans: Ime Udoka on if the offense will be different next year -- he says he expects to play differently offensively next year just based on the personnel that was missing (Fred, Adams, KD at the end). He says he does not see any changes to the coaching staff.