Before Ime Udoka became a head coach in the NBA, he was an assistant coach. One of his stops as an assistant was during the 2019-2020 season with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was there for one season but was able to work with Sixers rising star Joel Embiid. Now as the head coach of the Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka has been able to coach another rising star at the center position in Alperen Sengun. As Sengun continues his development, Udoka has been able to impart some of the same advice he gave Embiid as per ClutchPoints own Sam DiGiovanni.
“With Alperen [Sengun], I’m imparting some of the same wisdom as some of the things I talked to Joel [Embiid] about, which is professionalism, the approach, and when you’ve had that losing early on, breaking these bad habits.”
— Ime Udoka 🗣️
(via @BySamDiGiovanni) pic.twitter.com/p0dRkqQOAD
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 15, 2024
“It's rare in today's day and age with actual low post threats and scorers, I think they're two of the best in the game right now, both at very different stages of their career,” Udoka said. “With Alperen I'm imparting some of the same wisdom as some of the same things I talked to Joel about which is professionalism, the approach, when you've had that losing early on, breaking these bad habits, that's something I'm constantly on him about.”
Alperen Sengun has taken another leap this season as the Rockets have been one of the most improved teams from last season with Ime Udoka at the helm. He's having an All-Star caliber season to the tune of 21.7 points per game, 8.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals with splits of 54.1 percent shooting from the field, 27.5 percent shooting from the three point line and 72.5 percent shooting from the free throw line.
The Rockets are currently 19-19 and in tenth place in the Western Conference standings. Last season they won a grand total of 22 games.
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