It was the first day of the Ime Udoka era, and the Celtics new head coach wanted to set the tone.
So he introduced the "Can Man."
The Athletic's Jason Quick recently profiled Udoka and his contributions to the Celtics' incredible turnaround. The Celtics overcame a dismal start and ran through the Eastern Conference once the calendar flipped to 2022, securing the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
The seeds were planted during that Day One film session, even though it took a few months to see results.
Udoka says he covered two big themes in his first address to the team: punctuality and accountability. To highlight his second point, Udoka played a series of post-fight interviews featuring Adrien Broner, a professional boxer known for his braggadocio and bombast. Broner called himself the "Can Man."
"Listen, man, they call me 'The Problem' but you can call me the 'Can Man,"' Broner said on the video. "Because anybody can get it: AfriCANs. AmeriCANs. DominiCANs. MexiCANs. Anybody CAN get it."
Udoka followed with some similar words of his own.
"Ime says to them: 'I just want to let you all know: I am the Can Man,"' recalled Celtics assistant coach Aaron Miles. ""He said, 'Any and all y'all Can — and will — get it."'
Udoka was trying to create an environment of equal responsibility, where no player is above criticism. The policy was especially geared towards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both of whom made All-Star teams and signed nine-figure deals, but failed to win at a high level.
"The point I wanted to get across was I am not one of those coaches who won't say anything to the superstars, but will get on the young guys and role players," Udoka said. "That's how you lose credibility. We've all been there, where coaches have done that and the whole team is looking at the coach like, 'OK, but the main guy is doing it and you aren't saying anything?' So my approach is equal opportunity as far as holding them accountable, if not more for Jayson and Jaylen, because they have more required of them."
Despite Udoka's strong words, the Celtics stumbled to start the season, with their nadir coming after a disastrous 1-4 West Coast road trip in early December. That's when Udoka held his well-documented fiery film session, in which he showed 75 different clips from their putrid swing, and laid into every player — including Tatum and Brown.
Udoka's two assistants and longtime friends from Northeast Portland, Damon Stoudamire and Aaron Miles, urged Udoka for months to be more assertive. "This ain't you," Miles said he told Udoka. "All this soft-talking stuff … patience … da-di-da-di-duh. Man, you need to get on their helmet."
That's exactly what happened. Though the Celtics took a few weeks to right themselves, they finally started playing winning basketball.
They showed they CAN do it, after all.
"He definitely set a tone … that's Ime to a T," said Payton Pritchard. "That's what we needed."
