Rumors

Michael Scotto: The Denver Nuggets have added Mike Moser as an assistant coach, sources told @hoopshype . Moser moves to the front of the bench after being an assistant coach on the Rockets for Ime Udoka since 2023. Moser worked with Udoka on the Celtics too. He also worked for the Mavs.

x.com

What did you take away from your time with Ime Udoka and his emphasis on defense in Houston? Cam Whitmore: I mean you said it yourself on the defensive end. You can’t get on the floor without defense. When I first arrived in the NBA I really didn’t focus on that side of the floor but as time went on defense could make a big impact and you don’t even have to score the ball. You can rebound and hustle back on defense and get deflections you know? Just the little stuff that helps the team win.

ScoopB.com

Kyrie Irving: "But when that happened and we got Ben, a lot more pressure started to come in on our franchise. Because now—not only do we have this going on, but also we have a situation that Ben is dealing with, where everybody is micro—trying to micromanage this spun narrative. Like, ‘He doing this. He’s doing that.’ So, it—it wasn’t a fair trade at the—at the outset, right? It was not at all. I didn’t feel like that was a fair trade. But at the same time, when it happened, he went to our division. He went to Philly. Like, he went to Philly. So not only did we lose Ime Udoka and then we lost one of our assistant GMs, but we lost James to Philly. So we’re in the same division with our—with our brothers, you know, and they know everything that we got going on. So when you spend a season or two with somebody, you gonna know their habits. You’re gonna know their strengths and weaknesses. You know that.”

YouTube

Kyrie Irving: Ime Udoka literally went to the Boston Celtics after coaching with us in Brooklyn. That was crazy, bro. You know, that was crazy. We had Ime Udoka literally go to Boston the next year. Like you had coaches leaving other teams. And it wasn't anybody's fault. It's just opportunity. But we're in the same Division. Can you imagine going against the coach that literally saw all of our strengths and weaknesses and now we're playing against them? You know what I'm saying? So Boston was ready for us. Ime had them ready. He had the Celtics ready, dog. When we played them in the 2022 playoffs, sh*t got wild. Sh*t got wild, y'all. For sure sh*t got wild. So, we had a lot going on.

YouTube

“I think we’ve got a great team, and I think we can do something special,” said Finney-Smith, who is widely known around the NBA for his combination of versatile defense and reliable 3-point shooting (41.1% last season). “I already know who they are. They play hard. Coach Ime (Udoka) is one of the toughest coaches in the league. I’ve never seen him smile much when you’re playing against him. The first time I’ve ever seen him smile was when we had dinner, like two weeks ago. I like that, because I’m a competitor.”

Rockets Wire

“I thought about it and the only reason why I was upset about it was because I loved playing with Fred, playing with Ime,” Brooks said. “We grew something there and Ime and the coaching staff was family oriented and it was like a brotherhood. That was the only reason why I thought it was a little bit sad.”

Houston Chronicle

Adam Wexler: Official: #Rockets announced the 7-team trade to acquire Kevin Durant & Clint Capela w/ Atlanta, Brooklyn, Golden State, the LA Lakers, Minnesota & Phoenix. Details below plus comments from GM Rafael Stone & HC Ime Udoka on Durant & outgoing Jalen Green & Dillon Brooks.

Twitter

"What was that shift like though, man, from getting coached? Was it that Ime Udoka? That's how you pronounce it? Yeah. How—what was that shift like?" Jabari Smith: "Anybody who knows Ime knows that he’s got some missing screws. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know how to put this, but he’s gonna coach you hard. You know what I’m saying? As you see, like, he’s made the team play hard. Like, everybody knows we’re gonna play hard, and that’s just who he is. And he’s good to talk to—just a players’ coach, honestly. You can talk to him. Obviously, somebody who played in the league, he can relate to his players. So I mean, he helped me a lot. He obviously helped the team, helped the organization a lot. So I mean, things are looking up, man."

YouTube

Michael Scotto: The Houston Rockets declined the $4.9 million team option on guard Aaron Holiday, sources told @hoopshype. Holiday is expected to return to the Rockets on a 1-year deal. Holiday, a favorite of coach Ime Udoka, averaged 5.5 points, including 39.8%, from 3-point range, this season.

Twitter

Shams Charnaia: Over the last 13 days, the Rockets have reached deals to acquire Kevin Durant, extend Steven Adams and coach Ime Udoka, and bring back their free agents Fred VanVleet, Tate, Holiday and Green.

x.com

Initially, Rafael Stone and the Rockets organization made public and private commitments to their developing young core. They emphasized that trading away these promising players for a superstar was not part of their strategy. However, circumstances shifted in recent weeks, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "I believe he wanted to have his young team grow, but something happened the last few weeks," said Brian Windhorst. "Ime Udoka, who had him in his Brooklyn—Royal Ivey is on his staff—he was his teammate at Texas. He wanted him. He went to ownership and front office and said 'Can we can get Kevin Durant? Get him.'"

RealGM

Two factors proved decisive in the Rockets' change of direction. First was Udoka's strong advocacy for the move. Second was the surprisingly reasonable asking price. "Another thing was they also couldn't say no to the price. The price was just so low they just couldn't say no. It's meant to say look what they still have on their roster. So they now have optionality. They can say 'let's keep letting Amen Thompson develop. Let's keep letting Jabari Smith. By the way, they love Tari Eason there. He can be the guy that replaces Dillon Brooks as that key defender.

RealGM

The possibility of Phoenix expanding the Durant trade remains since the deal can’t become official until July 6th, HoopsHype has learned. Durant reunites with Rockets coach Ime Udoka, whom he spent time with on the Brooklyn Nets. Udoka was the head coach of the Boston Celtics and was in favor of the organization trying to acquire Durant when the organization dangled a package centered around Jaylen Brown, league sources told HoopsHype. Now, while finalizing his contract extension with the Rockets, Udoka encouraged Houston to trade for Durant, sources said. This time, Udoka got his man.

HoopsHype

While a long shot to join New York, Kidd — who is under contract for two more years and the Mavericks, per league sources, have shown no interest to this point in allowing their coach to leave — still hasn’t agreed to an extension like other currently-employed head coaches who the Knicks showed interest in during the first stage of their search. New York reached out to Houston to speak with Ime Udoka and to Chicago to speak with Billy Donovan. Udoka agreed to an extension with the Rockets last week, league sources told The Athletic. And according to multiple reports, the Bulls and Billy Donovan are in the process of working on a contract extension.

New York Times