The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Ime Udoka Discussing Off Season & Where The Team Is At Going Into Fall Camp

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Head Coach Ime Udoka Discussing Off Season & Where The Team Is At Going Into Fall Camp

Matt Ross with you here at Toyota Center for Rockets Media Day 2025. We are joined now by the head coach of your Houston Rockets. He may have took with us. I would say how's your summer? It was great for the most part, right? A little R&R and then Fred and all that. But that thing's been pretty good, right? Yeah, overall, a good summer in a lot of ways.

I've seen a lot of growth from our guys. And obviously, I'll be on the big stage and some additions. And so overall happy. Yeah, the injury obviously puts a little bit of sour taste in your mouth going into camp, but we have enough on our roster. We'll figure out how to get it done, and we have the versatility to do it. We'll get to that in a second. I do want to ask you about the trip to Turkey.

He played in the Euro League championships, right, is what they call it? What is that competition like? And what have you seen, forgetting about that tournament, but just what have you seen from Albi's offseason that has you so bullish on him for again this year? A tremendous amount of work he put in behind the scenes, and obviously that showed on the big stage, continued growth, and his trajectory continues to go up from when I've gotten here.

He's growing in every area. Obviously, made it to all-star game, helped us achieve what we did last year and had great carryover into the summer into his work ethic and wanted to be better and a great Eurobasket tournament. So I want that all to kind of culminate into a great season here and him continue to grow

and do what he's done the last few years, and I think he's on the right path for that. Is he physically much different or kind of the same body right now? I think his conditioning was a lot better. You know, playing kind of year-round and what he did and what he had to do and shoulder the load and carry a lot of the load for that team. He had to be in tremendous shape and the physicality they play with over there.

Like I said, all that should carry over well until the season, but it looked like no fatigue. He had a lot on his shoulders and obviously delivered at high level. How collaborative is that? How much is that you talking to him and tell him things you want to see from him or him doing things on his own? A little bit of both. Obviously, you know, after the season, you talk about areas of growth

and going into your workouts in the summer and then the staff that was over there with them for a month plus. They're working on specific things. And then the national team uses them a certain way as well. And so there are some similarities in the things they've done that we've done with him. And so, you know, it's not familiar for him to do. But you see things on both sides. Things he worked on obviously carried over with his national team.

And some things they do you can implement here as well. And so bottom line is he's a young guy that's growing at a rapid pace. And he was rewarded with the All-Star appearance last year. And we wanted him to take another step this year. Yeah, is there like constant contact or you try to be more hands off? How do you approach that? Yeah, it's both. Like I said, the staff is there with them.

You know, a majority of the summer, I went over for four or five days and just kind of, you know, checked them out and spent time with them. But you see the growth. You see the improvement. And, you know, at the point when he's playing with this national team, you just let him do what he does and you don't want to bother him. And then after the tournament's over, you know, we reached out and caught up and talked about how well he's looked and how well he's played and the achievements he's accomplished.

And so it's a little bit of both. You give him their time away. They hear your voice all year. But at the same time, you're encouraging them and checking in and giving them kudos for the accolades. When fans would call me, they'd say, Matt, what do you want to see this year? And I think one of the things you wanted to see is the growth of Reed Shepard in terms of more ball handling more time on the floor. and now the pressure is even on him more. And I don't think you're saying now with Fred gone, it's yours.

But collectively, you've been asked multiple times about exactly how that role is going to be filled. And I think you used by committee, is that an appropriate term? Oh, that's a way. I mean, we have a lot of guys that can, you know, have grown and can handle and do a lot of things to initiate offense. And that's the benefit of our depth and versatility in our team is that you don't have to rely on one guy. Fred should have to load a lot, you know, the first year, especially with the young guys. and we want to keep our turnovers down and get us into specific things.

But I think in year three, four, for some of these guys, they've all taken steps in that area. And Reed, going into a second year, the confidence that he's shown in the offseason so far, will carry over well into the game. The physicality of the game, I think he's improved his body

and his understanding of what it takes from the physical aspect to be successful. And so he's worked on all those things, and this really showed up well so far. And so the opportunity is going to be there regardless. With Fred out, obviously we'll be expedited a little bit, but you've got to,

man, you got him, you got Katie, you got Alpi, you got different ways we can do it, and I think we'll figure out how to get it done. Does something go away from a men's game when he's got the ball in his hand? If, let's say you said you're our starting point guard and you're going to play 25, 28 minutes in that spot, is there things about his game he loses because he's handling such other ball responsibilities? No, I think what he does, he does naturally. He gets a rebound, he pushes it.

He's a one-man fast break. That's not going to change. You just have to have a different mindset at times about awareness of who's on the court and who you want to get the ball to in different spots. And so that part, it's been in Fred's hands a lot. But he has to take that step anyway. He's played a lot of point guard in his career. And so just thinking differently at times about attacking versus getting guys involved.

You mentioned the turnovers. And with Amin Thompson, what is it like for you to try to have him be himself to try to make plays? But also, you don't want to limit him in what he can do with his creativeness, but you also do want them to take care of the ball. Yeah, I mean, that's an area of growth for all our young guys and young guys across the board in the league for the most part. And so, you know, getting shots and not turn the ball over is obviously has been an Achilles heel before we got here,

but we've really improved in that area, and that's helped us record-wise for sure. And so Fred being one of the best assist-turn-over ratio guys in the league has definitely helped us, but these guys will have the opportunity to have taken the next step now. And so, like I said, you don't want to take away from some of the natural things he does, but he has to have the understanding. of getting guys involved, get us into certain sets, game, time, score, situations,

and some of the things he hasn't had to experience so far. We'll let you go on this. I always love the behind-the-scenes stuff with Katie. Were you in the room when you got the phone call? So the deal was consummated? Were you maybe on a beach? Were you at home? Take us through that and how intimately involved you were in those conversations.

Because, look, part of it is making the trade work, but also part of it is Katie, coming here, you're going to be this missing piece of our puzzle. Yeah, we were all together when we found out it was. was most likely done. It was a long process, a lot of conversations behind the scenes. But, you know, you're excited to have a guy. You miss the guys that are gone and, you know, what they meant to the program or what they've done in those years.

And so it's a little bittersweet as far as that, but you understand what you're adding as far as a unique talent. And some of the areas we struggled in as far as closing and consistent scoring, he addresses those. And so a guy worked with a ton over the past few years, you know, in Brooklyn and Team USA, and then obviously played and coached against him a ton as well. And so understanding what he does on the court, some of the things he does in the sleep will obviously benefit us.

But, yeah, it was ups and downs and sometimes it looked good. Sometimes it didn't and eventually got done. But a big part is that he wanted to be here and that's what made it work. Is he going to play a pickupball with you or no? No, he owns a team. A pickleball team? Oh, wow. Wait a bit, right?

The little things you learned. Oh, yes. Okay, you tell them to hire you, put you on the team? We actually started back in Brooklyn, back in those COVID. days when you couldn't go out. So that's where he kind of got the itch. And so I was playing with Steve Nash and the whole coach and staff. Thanks for coming by. We appreciate it. Thank you guys. All right. We see.

I made a doke head coach of your Houston Rockets with us here on the show 1136. We'll take a short time out more to come here from TOTA center.