Coach Udoka gives an update on Alperen Sengun, Whitmore, VanVleet and Eason

Coach Udoka gives an update on Alperen Sengun, Whitmore, VanVleet and Eason

I’ll ask it you getting Alie back tonight yes he’s good to go good um what about your other guys do they have a chance for Wednesday which ones well I guess I don’t know which order to go Cam and T cam yes possibly um anle still swollen but targeting uh Wednesday Fred

Most likely not um and then who else did you said t t no probably not as well did T suffer any sort of a set back no he just had some lingering Pain still when the ramp up happened so not a setback per se but um the amount of pain he’s

Still under when we ramped up the five on five sessions it’s still there still feeling it a little bit so uh decided to reevaluate after Allstar break coach how what are some of the issues that jayen Bron presents on the defensive def yeah I mean he’s taken big steps over last

Years he’s U become one of the best point guards scoring point guards in the league and he’s very crafty high IQ um mentally tough has the edge to him so all the things you look for and and a leader on your team he brings that to

The table and with other guys out he’s even more aggressive and so expect his best um a lot of teams are going after him so he’s seen pretty much all the coverages this year at times and uh just kind of played through that so well deserving of all the acces right

Now can you talk a little bit about what you’ve been missing with Fred being out of line of course he’s not one of the more flash year players in the league but can you just talk about what he brings outside of just box score that

You know a lot of people may just pay attention to I didn’t hear who you said uh Fred Van oh yes of course same some of the same things I mentioned about Brunson uh leadership is is a key with our young guys I think um he’s everything and more we thought he would

Be as far as that um but just makes the right play over and over and that consistency has big for us so fix the spots when to score get others involved I think um others are realizing how eedy they have it at times with him being out

On the court and not being there now so um yeah he’s he’s he’s been the leader for us this year um one of our most important pieces obviously at the point guard spot but um he’s even had a chance to grow and and um grow into a role of a

More dominant Handler and some of the shareed duties that he had in Toronto he’s getting a lot more looks and touches here and so it’s been very key for us and then he sets the tone with on the defensive side so he has that same Edge and toughness and professionalism

And everything we’re looking for for better guys Germaine Samuels Jr obviously hasn’t got much playing time here but he is going to be part of the NBA activities this weekend talk about his role as a player so far this season yeah he’s been good he’s been you know

Really dominant in in real grand um first Style guy that you know obviously we had him summer league in training camp and uh guy who checks a lot of boxes and uh kind of play anywhere from that three to five position Dirty Work guy guy you don’t need to call a lot of

Plays for but uh seem to get always done and so guys like him are valuable um in a pinch if we needed to we feel comfortable putting them in so um the stats the numbers and things he’s done in real grand obviously stood out and well deserving on this trip to

Indianapolis as well so we monitor all of our guys that are playing there few ways and when we send guys down um but he’s been a consistent kind of a constant weather cam is there man whoever it may be he’s been very consistent as far as what he’s doing so

Um guy we’re happy with his growth same as uh I would say Nate G Nathan when they play as well we won’t get a chance to chat with you at least here at home after tonight before the All-Star break so as we get closer to that uh that

Weekend how would you kind of evaluate where this team is at right now um growth wise and also too just competing right now for a potential playing spot you know as we get later down down to the yeah the biggest thing with us has been consistency across the board I

Think the world record’s not been where we wanted to be but um you know we wanted to set a somewhat of a standard of competitiv and for those things and I think we hit those pretty early on um have some games we let get away no doubt

And I think our record could be different as far as that but um you know young guys have taken some steps um at times up and down you know consistency is the biggest thing like I mentioned and um whether it’s Jaylen javar Ali and then the other guys who’ve kind of been

In and out with injuries the other three um just want to see continued progress and so um you know you look at the last 30 or so games coming out Allstar break is another barometer and a chance to really grow I think we got off to really

Good Start um had some plateaued a little bit there and had some slipage at times with the lack of practice or injuries and guys in and out but um you want to continue to see them grow and progress on the right way toward the end of the season I know Jeff sets an

Example on the court what kind of example does he set off the court as far as how to take care of his body nutrition working out and just kind of the intangibles yeah I would say Jeff and arton really Dylan at Fred are all

In the same bucket as far as that Jeff a little older so um you know it’s more valuable to the diet that take the day-to-day profession everything he does and so you know he’s flying around at 37 obviously that’s rare for a guy at his

Age but he hasn’t really lost a ton of his athleticism or step as far as that but yeah that’s what we brought them here for is to not only be vocal and Leadership leadership on the court it’s a day-to-day professionalism how they go around their routine um take care of

Themselves and all the wisdom that they they can impart on our young guys so um I think all three of that Dyan is diligent with his body day to day guys in here and Fred has his whole team that he works with you know diet rehab

Recovery and all those things so I think all those three guys U have set a great example for guys this year coach uh at the trade leading up to the trade de I know that you all got a lot of calls to uh you know look to see if some of your

Younger players were available to be traded how important was it to make sure that you kept that young coord that young group together yeah it was I mean it’s it’s such a short You Know sample size of 50 games you look at but um you know we don’t just look at this year

With myself coming on on board I think you look at the totality of two and three years with those guys and you know kind of what they’ve gone through up and down and the progress they’ve made this year and so I didn’t just look at the 50

Games that we have them and try to make a rash decision we have a young core of really six talented players six first round picks over the last three years that we want to see who they are with the full year under my belt and then um

As far as those guys I think everybody’s going to check in when you have this amount of young talent and they know we’re trying to win and we’re in that you know that development win winning stage at the same time and so people checked in um we knew they would they

Talented young guys and we have some duplicated positions there but um yeah we want to see how they how they Faire after a whole year under the Bel and so I think uh guys have taken steps here and there um some had their progress halted with the injuries and those

Things but um we like what we’re seeing from everybody and want to see what we are going forward as a whole unit does it also send a message does it also send a message to your young core that who is still learning the business side of the

NBA yeah and like I said we’re not making quick decisions uh we want to look we’re looking at the longterm more so than anything and so um we have that many young talented players U you know you want to see what they become and not

Not rush to judgment on things and so I always talk about the habits that they’ve built for good or bad over the last few years and we want to break some of those and so it’s not going to happen overnight then half a season and so we’re still working on that with guys

And the consistency like I said across the board is the most important thing about consistency and you talked about that a lot this season what do you do what what kinds of steps can be taken to make Improvement in that area because that’s seems to be one of the key things

In the growth process yeah I think the experience is one of the biggest pieces as far as that getting on the court and with guys getting in and out dealing missing time and um I’m in now getting getting a b bigger chance with the thread out I think experience is the

Biggest thing as far as that but you have to show progress and show some carryover from game to game and not make the same stakes and so for our guys you know it’s a bunch of one-on-one sessions obviously the film sessions with the team but they need to get up to speed

That where some of our veterans are and so it’s a lot more individual work with those guys and so you want to see everybody learns that they’re on speed and learns a little bit differently but you want to see who catches on and can move on to the next play next game next

Quarter whatever it may be and not make the same mistakes and so that’s the thing we said you know from day one is that youth is not an excuse with our guys and they got to be able to have carry over from game to game and when

You’re 50 games in you want to see real Improvement in the last 30 or so games know you say you didn’t obviously want to make a rash decision um but also know you’re a competitor too is that an easy thing to do as far as just like all

Right cool like know just keeping that patience or or how would you kind of say yeah I mean you do have to be patient with it and understand where we’re at and understand what has happened before and and so um yeah for me it’s it’s you understand uh we’re in that balance like

I said of of developing our young guys but also trying to be competitive I think that’s one of the biggest Parts is showing them what winning basketball is and also not handing anything out so I think you’ve seen that across the board guys that play well are going to play

And uh you know that’s the biggest teacher for a lot of these guys that that one-onone experience and so um yeah I can talk about you know we’d like to be better record wise and some of the things in games that we let slip away but understanding the patient side of it

As well we’re a very young team you know we have some veterans out there that are kind of leading the way but these guys got to take growth and I’ve said it from day one that the biggest step is going to come you know from inous without

Young guys growing up um I think guys have taken the right step this year so far

Coach Udoka gives an update on Alperen Sengun, Whitmore, VanVleet and Eason #nba #rockets #alperensengun