HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Ime Udoka didn’t take the Rockets head coach job because the team was in process of building a new practice facility, but it certainly made the job more appealing.
“Not saying this won me over, obviously,” Udoka said. “It was an added benefit.
“Anytime you have a new facility, everybody's trying to one up the next team, so last few years I’ve been to some places, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Boston that had newer facilities and you can see the upgrades every year and everybody’s trying to steal little ideas and upgrade and improve and people talk about it, and it’s a huge advantage.”
As the 14-month construction process hit the halfway point, the Rockets gave reporters a tour of their new $70 million practice facility on Tuesday. The 75,000 square foot Houston Rockets Memorial Hermann Training Facility will open this summer.
“We’re truly excited about this,” Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said. “From the beginning, we've always said we want to give our players and coaches the best opportunity to win.”
The Rockets will move their basketball operations headquarters to the facility when construction is complete, giving them three times more space than they currently have at Toyota Center, and it will no longer be spread along multiple floors.
“It's going to be brand new, state of the art,” Fertitta said.
Player amenities will include a locker room that will be double the size of the Rockets Toyota Center locker room, a lounge area, and dining space. The strength and conditioning space will be four times larger than what the team currently has and will feature an outdoor training area with a conditioning ramp and stairs.
Players will also have access to a “cutting-edge” training area with treatment, exam, and recovery rooms that will also have hydrotherapy place that will include a hot tub, cold tub, and jet pool.
“Our players will be excited about it,” Fertitta said. “This is a great recruiting tool for free agents. To have a facility like that, a lot of teams go out there and they put them on pieces of land that are not close to where everybody lives, because it's the best thing to do economically. To have this right here in the middle of town, with only probably 10 minutes away from everybody means a lot.”
Below are artist renderings of what the facility will look like upon completion, courtesy of the Rockets.
