Were the Houston Rockets the great disappointment of the 2025-26 season? That would be an overstatement. Although Ime Udoka himself would rather sweep the serious injuries that sidelined Fred VanVleet and Staven Adams under the rug, the reality is that missing two essential pieces weighed heavily.
The context matters, and with the Texas team it was structural. Throughout the campaign, the focus was on their lack of a point guard to run the offense in key moments—the clutch was a nightmare—and they also lost interior potential when rebounding is their strongest weapon. The coach knows this, so he isn’t overly harsh with his players.
“I don’t think anyone met expectations last year. The expectations were to take meaningful steps forward, and in the three years I’ve been here—and now entering the fourth—we stalled a bit at a certain point last season. It was a decent regular season given the circumstances, but it could have been much better,” he said at the team’s media day.
Starting from that need to be better, something that should come almost naturally for the Rockets as they bring back the two players already mentioned and also have youngsters like Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason continuing to grow, Udoka pushes his men to become the team that surprises starting this October this year.
“We’re not here just to reach the first round. We want to make a real impact, and I believe everyone has that hunger to achieve it,” he asserts.
