The Houston Rockets surely would have been better during Ime Udoka's first season as the team's head coach in 2023-24 if James Harden was on the roster.

Yet the head coach also knew Houston wasn't ready to immediately compete for a championship and told Harden as much when the future Hall of Famer was deciding where to sign during the offseason after the 2022-23 campaign.

"My main thing for us was, 'What fits best with our young guys to continue to grow?'" Udoka said, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. "But also, out of respect for James, (I told him), 'You're at the stage where you want to win, and we're not there yet.' And it wasn't just James. I had five, six veteran guys who went to championship-level teams who wanted to come (that summer), and I said the same thing to all of them.

"They all went to other places, but they had Golden State, Milwaukee, Phoenix and all these teams (wanting them) to come. But I told them, 'We're not there. Go try to win a championship.' And so, it's just about fit and where we're at. … Our (young) guys needed the reps."

Amick noted Harden and Udoka's vision for the Rockets "just wasn't the right fit" despite the mutual respect, noting "adding a ball-dominant, all-time great who never has been known for defense wasn't the way to go" with a plan to "build a defensive juggernaut with a balanced offense."

Harden ended up signing with the Los Angeles Clippers and joining Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

That hasn't exactly worked out as planned, as the Clippers lost in the first round of the playoffs last season. What's more, George is now on the Philadelphia 76ers while Leonard is yet to play this season because of injury.

Houston went 41-41 in Udoka's first season and, in something of an ironic twist, seems closer to competing for a championship in his second season than Harden's Clippers. The Rockets are 17-9 and in third place in the Western Conference standings, while Los Angeles is 14-12 and in ninth place.

Young players such as Jalen Green, Alperen Şengün and Jabari Smith Jr. have taken strides, and there is some veteran leadership with Fred VanVleet in the backcourt.

Things likely would have looked much different with Harden dominating the ball and perhaps impacting some of the development of the younger players, and Udoka recognized as much before coaching a single game for the Rockets.