The Celtics made an excellent choice when they hired Ime Udoka as their head coach last summer. Luckily for them, other NBA teams failed to see Udoka's full potential.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, Udoka talked about the disappointment he felt when other NBA teams passed over him for head coaching opportunities during his 11 years as an assistant.
"The one thing I would say is the disappointment of coming in second a few years really hurt," he said. "But if you told me I'd have to wait for Boston and get [bypassed] by some of the ones that I got beat out on, it's a no-brainer for me. I'm happy to be in Boston."
The Celtics are happy to have Udoka, too. He led them through an incredible second-half turnaround and is finally getting Boston's young core to play to its full potential. The clubs that hired someone else must be feeling pretty foolish.
Udoka wasn't afraid to name them.
"You really want me to tell you? Detroit, Indiana, Cleveland," Udoka said. "I can go down the list. That was tough because I believe I was ready. But I couldn't be more proud to be a part of an organization that's pushing for winning and championships. You can be in a lot of different situations. There are only 30 teams and I get that, but to not be in a rebuild and being in an expectation pressure-filled situation, I wouldn't trade that in any day."
The Pistons hired Dwayne Casey in 2018, and he's been there ever since. But the Pacers and Cavaliers have hired multiple coaches in recent years. Indiana hired Nate Bjorkgren in 2020 before firing him in 2021 and hiring Rick Carlisle. Cleveland brought aboard John Beilein in 2019, but he didn't last a full season after his relationship with the players soured. J.B. Bickerstaff was promoted to head coach in Beilein's absence.
When the Celtics hired Udoka, there were few questions about his qualifications. He coached under Gregg Popovich for seven years before joining Brett Brown and the Sixers in 2019 and Steve Nash's Nets in 2020.
Thankfully, it looks like Udoka took more from Popovich than Nash.
Playing for 13 clubs in various leagues over 13 professional seasons gave Udoka a lot of first-hand insight into how different coaches run their teams.
His way of running the Celtics got them to the NBA Finals. Well done.
