With the Celtics winning the title, the NBA2023-24 season has officially ended. After that, the teams also started to get busy, the Clippers immediately poached senior basketball consultant Jeff Van Gundy from the Green Army, and the Pistons fired coach Monty Williams, who left with five years left on his contract, which also sparked a heated debate. Including the Lakers and Suns, they have changed their coaches, and the Warriors will also usher in a turbulent offseason. And for the Rockets, who have had a lot of success this season, they also need to make changes in the offseason. Goodbye Rockets, the departure is finalized, and without Udoka's support, you are unpredictable.
Although the general manager of the Rockets, Stone, said in a previous interview that although he did nothing in the offseason, the Rockets will still be more competitive next season, after all, with the continued growth of Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Shin Jing, Whitmore and others, as well as the return of Eason and the recovery of Adams, the Rockets will indeed have an improvement. But this is just Stone's expression of confidence in the Rockets, and he can't do nothing, especially considering that the Rockets still have a good value pick, and the Rockets now have no room for young people to grow, and actively trading reinforcements is the main strategy of the Rockets' management. And the Rockets' players traded chips, and there was no surprise that the core was their main guard Jalen Green.
According to the latest report from NBA reporter Matt Moore, sources have revealed that Jalen Green will be the biggest problem the Rockets will address this offseason. The journalist said that about Green's future, it depends on the attitude of coach Udoka. If Udoka trusts him, then Green will stay, and if Udoka loses patience with Green, then the Rockets will trade Green for an experienced All-Star-caliber player. To put it bluntly, Green's future fate with the Rockets is in the hands of Udoka, and the way Udoka has treated Green this season, as well as a series of statements in his final interview, we can see his disappointment with Green. Coupled with the situation of the Rockets, Green has basically entered the countdown to leave the team.
First, it's no secret that the Rockets tried to package a bunch of first-round picks with Green at the trade deadline in exchange for Nets wing scorer Bridges. Secondly, in addition to Udoka being helpless by Green many times in the first half of the season, and abandoning him in the last quarter, more importantly, in the final stage of the season, after the Rockets experienced big ups and downs, when they lost the hope of competing for the play-offs, the Rockets expressed in the interview that they hoped to end the season with a positive and strong state and be a spoiler in the West. The result? Against the Jazz, Green not only performed poorly, but his attitude caused questions from fans, he gave people the feeling that he didn't wake up, eating, drinking and having fun.
After that game, Udoka publicly bombarded his players, saying that VanVleet was the only one fighting. And during the All-Star Weekend, Udoka also publicly stated that he was considering changing his starting lineup. Considering that the interior combination of Shen Jing and Xiao Jia is unshakable, Dillon is the leader, and the Rockets cannot be extravagant enough to let VanVleet, who has an annual salary of 40 million, play as a substitute, Udoka's implication is that he has lost confidence in Green. Even the media directly asked Green about the topic of possible substitutes, which shows Udoka's distrust of him. It wasn't until near the end of the regular season that Green's attitude issues erupted, and there was a lot of consensus at the time that maybe Green had played his last game in a Rockets jersey.
Unable to be trusted by the coach, to be honest, Green's attitude is more questionable than the problem of ability. Over the years, Rockets fans' expectations of Green have undoubtedly been exaggerated. Because he is the first high-pick rookie after the swing, and he is still the No. 2 position, the Rockets are looking forward to Green being Harden's successor. But it's a pity that with the rookie contract in its final year, Green can't even get an early contract extension right now. Every offseason, Green has been posting his training dynamics, and his figure has been maintained well, with certain traces of training, which makes fans have huge expectations for his growth.
But as it turns out, the disappointment is as great as the expectations are. This offseason, Green still posted his training dynamics, but this time when he posted some explosive dunk dynamics, fans didn't buy it. is already 22 years old, 19-year-old Green can still sell talent, and now he still shows talent, the ball quotient has not improved at all, the problems that occurred in the rookie season still exist, this kind of player, if you want to become a star who can lead the team forward, to be honest, it is very difficult. The Rockets now have enough quality chips, this is the best time for them to improve the team, and Green is in the final year of his rookie contract, and now is the best time to trade, otherwise the Rockets will regret it when he is reduced to a premium contract.