The 2023-24 season for the Houston Rockets was surprising, frustrating and, ultimately, a season of progress. With a new coach and new additions to the line up, some bumps in the road were to be expected, but to finish the year at .500, a 19-game improvement, coming off three of the worst years in franchise history was worth celebrating.

Now that the Rockets will have to watch the postseason like the other teams that didn't make the NBA postseason, it's a good time to look back and give some grades to this young, talented team.

Part 1: The Starters
Part 2: The Rookies
Part 3: The Bench Rotation

It's one thing to be a new coach. It's a whole other to be a new coach in only his second year running the show and expected to mold a bunch of young players into a winning team after three of the worst seasons in franchise history. In some ways, Ime Udoka may have been the best man for the job.

Accountability and toughness became paramount.

Everyone understood the type of coach Udoka was coming in. The soft-spoken but hard nosed former player had a reputation for both being loved by his players and for challenging them, often directly, to be accountable for their work and show toughness on and off the floor. It was no different with the Rockets. Anyone could and was benched and we mean anyone. If someone wasn't playing well, they sat. Period.

As the season wore on, however, that happened less and less. Players came to understand what Udoka wanted and the bought in. By the final third of the year, it was clear the coach had left his mark on the team both because of the improved record and for the way the team carried itself on and off the floor.

Making Alperen Sengun the focal point was critical.

Few could have predicted that the Rockets undersized, old-school-styled center would become the focus of the team's offense, but Udoka recognized early on not only Sengun's talents as a scorer and passer, but the ability to move pieces around him to put them in the best position possible. Sengun managed an All-Star caliber year and the offense flowed through him.

It wasn't Udoka's fault he has a team lacking quality shooting. This was a bad shooting team. But, they got plenty of open looks and that's mainly because of how they put together their sets on the floor.

His flexibility was surprising.

Most coaches who have tough approach like Udoka are not one's to play rookies, yet Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore got plenty of chances and exploited them. Additionally, Udoka allowed them, and every other player on the team, to learn and grow at their own pace. He remained demanding and expected greatness, but he didn't simply write off players if they struggled. It showed a deft touch to go along with his otherwise intense approach.

Turning around Jalen Green was impressive.

A lot of the credit should go to Green himself and Green's coach would agree, but there was a point in the middle of the season where the former second overall pick looked utterly lost on the floor. He wasn't playing critical minutes. He was missing so many shots and forcing plays in the most awkward ways. But, Udoka kept at him, guiding him on what he wanted and what that meant to Green's career.

By the second half of the season, a new Jalen Green emerged. He began making the right decisions, he rebounded more than ever before, increased his assist total while scoring at will, and became a lock down one-on-one defender. Essentially, he learned that when his shot wasn't falling, he could still impact the game and when he did, it would benefit not just the team, but his own game. It wasn't exactly a reclamation project, but during the season it certainly felt like it.