HOUSTON -- Ime Udoka admitted at Houston Rockets media day Tuesday that "I don't think anybody met our expectations" in Kevin Durant 's first season with the club, which culminated in a second-consecutive 52-win campaign that included a first-round postseason exit for the second-straight year.
Season-ending injuries to veterans Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams played a role. But with both healthy and back in the fold, along with growth from younger players such as Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason, and as well as added depth, Udoka believes it's time for Houston to reach the next level.
"Expectations were to take some big steps last year, and I feel in the three years I've been here now going into the fourth year, we somewhat plateaued at a point last year," Udoka said. "Decent regular season due to the circumstances, but it could have been a lot better.
"We're not here to just make the first round. We want to make some real noise, and I think everybody's hungry for that."
VanVleet suffered a season-ending torn right ACL last September just before the start of training camp during a workout in the Bahamas that left the Rockets scrambling for ball handling throughout the season. In adopting a by-committee approach to facilitating offense with Thompson, Durant, Alperen Sengun and Reed Sheppard handling the bulk of ball-handling duties, the Rockets finished the 2025-26 season ranked 24th in turnovers (14.4).
An NBA champion and one-time All-Star, VanVleet watched helplessly from the bench as Houston allowed an average of 18.8 points off turnovers per game.
"Our group learned a lot last year and those experiences are always valuable moving forward even if in the moment they sucked, which I think we can all agree there were a lot of low points," VanVleet said. "I just think [now] everybody can slide back into their natural positions and I think we can do a better job of putting each other in positions to be successful.
"This team was constructed to have me and Steven on the floor, not on the bench and not in street clothes. So, there's a lot of areas where things will just naturally slide back into the way that they're supposed to be in the way this team was designed."
VanVleet, 32, hasn't played in an NBA game since May of 2005, but he's been cleared to participate in five-on-five work on the court and has played in scrimmages "over the last couple of the weeks," he said. Udoka is unsure how the team will manage VanVleet's workload to start training camp but anticipates the Rockets holding the veteran out of back-to-backs throughout the early portion of the season.
"I've been progressing nicely," said VanVleet, wearing the Houston Rockets classic red and yellow ketchup and mustard uniform. "These things don't always go how you want them to go, how you plan them to go. But to be where I am right now with the season about 30 days out, the opener, I feel really good. It's going to be a process. So, I'm sure what you guys see [early] won't be the finished product.
"Considering 12 months ago I wasn't able to walk at this point in the year, I'd say I'm doing pretty good right now."
Adams, who ranks 35th all-time in offensive rebounds (2,910), underwent season-ending surgery on his left ankle in January, after playing in just 32 games. With Adams patrolling the paint, the Rockets have led the league in offensive rebounding in each of the last two seasons.
"We're not here to just make the first round. We want to make some real noise, and I think everybody's hungry for that." Ime Udoka
Still, the veteran's injury took a toll on Houston's frontcourt depth, which was already strained because of the extra responsibilities Sengun took on as an offensive facilitator.
"It's good just to be back out there on the court," Adams said. "It's been a while. Pretty confident in [the] position [I'm in] right now but still got to take the time with it because it's one thing getting back from injury but then getting to an NBA level to an impact, it's a different task. There are different phases to it. So, still got to take each phase very seriously and make sure we don't miss anything."
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone admitted he was "definitely more excited" at Tuesday's media day "than I was going into last season" in the wake of VanVleet's knee injury. Despite the club's struggles to fill the void left by the veteran point guard, Stone saw the development of Thompson, Sheppard, Tari Eason, Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. as the "silver lining" of an otherwise disappointing 2025-26 campaign.
"Being thrust in those positions is going to end up being really good for their careers," Stone said. "Just watching them now, they're so much more confident than they were this time last year."
Stone and Udoka looked similarly self-assured Tuesday on the fourth floor of the Hilton Americas-Houston after an offseason in which the Rockets bolstered depth with veteran additions such as former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic to go with the healthy returns of VanVleet and Adams and the development of so many young, ascending players.
Former MVP and two-time champion Durant also appears to have found a comfort zone going into his second season with the Rockets, and 20th in the NBA. The 16-time All-Star finished last season at age 37 ranked No. 3 in the NBA in minutes per game (36.4).
Which is why Udoka and Stone both mentioned wanting to reduce the veteran's workload.
"Why?" Durant asked.
"I'm better on the court. The team is better when I'm on the court. If we handle business in the first three quarters or earlier, then maybe," he added. "But just for the sake of [limiting] my minutes because I'm older or played a lot of minutes ... that's what I'm supposed to be training for, to play 48 minutes a night. I get the concern.
"But if the game needs me out there, I want to be out there."