Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets are preparing for the 2025-26 regular season. Houston has high expectations heading into the new campaign. The Rockets will play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday to begin the season. Competitive teams such as OKC will surely take notice of Udoka's latest comments — as the head coach is clearly not lacking confidence in his squad.
According to reporter Lachard Binkley, Udoka was asked to share his thoughts on teams attempting to copy Houston's double big lineup. The Rockets head coach has noticed other teams implementing the approach, but said opponents cannot completely copy Houston's strategy.
“There are more double lineups than you think in the league,” Udoka told reporters. “Everybody talks about stretch fours, stretch fives. But we didn't have a problem doing that because of some of the lineups… Copy cat league honestly. Some will see something that works and they… employ the same thing. We prep for that, knowing how effective it was for us.
“Everybody is trying to be like us… They can't really do it like us. Take a little pride I guess.”
That's a confident statement from a head coach that is about to play the defending champions to begin the regular season. One has to imagine that talented teams will have even extra motivation before playing Udoka and the Rockets.
Udoka likely isn't worried, though. He's ready for the challenge. Houston has added more talent this offseason — including Kevin Durant — as the team looks to win sooner rather than later.
