Rockets’ Ime Udoka Explains Signing Fred VanVleet Over Pursuing James Harden

The new Rockets coach didn’t sugarcoat the reasoning for signing Fred VanVleet over James Harden.

It’s far from a common occurrence to have a report come out as to why an NBA coach chose to sign one player over another. But a coach speaking publicly about that type of topic is almost unheard of, which is why the recent comments from Rockets coach Ime Udoka on James Harden and free agency were so noteworthy.

Udoka, who’s entering his first season as Houston’s coach, discussed the team’s free-agency pursuit of former Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, and more specifically, why they chose to sign him over pursuing a reunion with James Harden.

One initial reason was that the Rockets viewed VanVleet’s ability to work off the ball as positive and something that made him a “better fit” than Harden, specifically allowing the team’s young core to continue to handle the ball often, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports. Udoka himself mentioned the aspect of VanVleet being a “better fit” while also pushing back on rumors that he didn’t want Harden in Houston.

“Nothing against James,” Udoka told ESPN, “but Fred is just a better fit. I coached James in Brooklyn. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around. The words ‘Ime doesn’t want James’ never came out of my mouth. It was, ‘Let’s look at the best fit.’ If we want Jalen and the young guys to take the next steps, we need them to have the ball. As for me saying I don’t want James, that was never the case. It was about fit.”

James Harden is currently awaiting a potential trade to leave the Philadelphia 76ers after being linked to the Houston Rockets during free agency :: Bob DeChiara/USA Today Sports

The points made by Udoka are fair, but the timing of these comments are also noteworthy. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith discussed the Rockets/Harden situation on First Take Wednesday, dropping a bit of a bombshell report on what led to things not panning out.

“James Harden actually talked—this is what I’m told, I haven’t confirmed it with James Harden, this is what I was told—He actually talked himself out of a max deal because he went in there talking about how he wanted to return to being that scoring champion,” Smith said on First Take. “And Ime Udoka and them were like, ’Nah, we ain’t trying to have that here, we’re building something a little bit different.’ Had he come in there and said the right things, they would have given him a max four-year deal, he talked himself out of his own max deal.”

Obviously, that’s a separate report by Smith, and Udoka may not have been directly addressing what he said, but they certainly line up well.