The Houston Rockets have had a much better start to the 2023-24 season than expected, racing out to an 8-6 record after their blowout 105-86 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. Unsurprisingly, Jalen Green has played a big role in their hot start, and he's already winning over his new head coach Ime Udoka, who had a rave review after their big win over the Nuggets.

Green paced the Rockets offense in this win (25 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 10-18 FGM), but that wasn't what Udoka was impressed with in this game. Udoka noted that Green was flying around making big plays on defense all night long, and after the game, he shouted out the third-year guard for increasing his effort on that side of the floor.

Ime Udoka seeing growth from Jalen Green on defense

Rockets star Jalen Green is looking to stay hot after his 34-point outburst

Green has never really been viewed as a defensive-stopper of any sort during his time in the NBA, but for a defense-first coach like Udoka, that was never going to fly. Green was blowing up the Nuggets offense all night long on Friday, racking up three steals and several more deflections that he was unlucky to not make steals. Following up on his initial comments, Udoka noted that Green has already made some massive improvements on both sides of the ball through just 14 games of action.

Via ClutchFans:

“Ime Udoka on Jalen Green: ‘He's been better. He's been improved. He's understanding better how defenses are guarding him. … For the most part, much better than earlier in the season.'”

Green has endured his fair share of struggles since breaking into the league, but with the Rockets on the rise, he needed to improve his play in order for Houston to reach their full potential. To this point, it looks like that's precisely what he's doing, and if he keeps on making strides on both offense and defense, the Rockets could be a dark horse team out of the Western Conference this year.