Former Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has a heavy hand in the direction of the Houston Rockets and he’s interested in adding two of his players in Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon, according to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer.

Brogdon didn’t actually get the chance to play for Udoka in Boston due to him being fired just before the start of training camp, but Udoka was a variable in Brogdon’s decision to join Boston in the first place when he was working on a trade from Indiana.

Williams, however, developed a strong connection with Udoka on a Celtics team that landed in the NBA Finals in 2022. Udoka was able to pull a new level of production out of Williams, as he had a career year that season, averaging 10.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists , and 2.2 blocks per game.

Rob started the season for Portland. He played in six total games with only taking one day off this season. Williams then suffered a season-ending injury in a November game against the Memphis Grizzlies that he saw 11-minutes on the court for. He’s expected to be available for the 2024-25 season.

The Rockets are currently under .500 more than halfway through the season. We’ve seen Udoka pull off an in-season turnaround once before but his current team is much younger than the Boston team he went all the way with.

Brogdon has drawn interest from a few teams, including the Lakers and Knicks, as Portland is looking for a first round pick in return, according to Fischer’s sources.

Although Udoka wasn’t in Boston when Brogdon was there, most of his current coaching staff was in the year that Brogdon was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

The addition of two veteran players would be great for Houston, both this season and the next.

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