Woj: Houston hiring Ime Udoka caused angst for Celtics’ players

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-houston-hiring-ime-udoka-040918639.html

Ben DuBose
Tue, May 23, 2023 at 12:09 AM EDT

With the Celtics on the verge of elimination in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals, did the Houston Rockets unknowingly contribute to Boston’s struggles by hiring former head coach Ime Udoka?

According to ESPN’s national NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, that may have been the case. On Monday night, Woj reported on television that Houston’s decision to hire Udoka in late April may have caused additional unrest within Boston’s locker room.

Among his comments:

This locker room never got over Ime Udoka’s dismissal as head coach. These players did not accept the organization’s reasoning for doing it. They thought it was a wild overreaction. There were a lot of the people on the outside thought it was an overreaction. That it was an HR matter.

I think for this team and talking to the management, they never got any more answers than the public was getting on this. This doesn’t mean they haven’t accepted Joe Mazzulla as head coach, but this is a team that really believed in Ime Udoka and had a strong connection with him.

I think there were a couple instances this season where a lot of that angst resurfaced. First, when the Brooklyn Nets nearly hired Udoka as head coach, and then when the Rockets did. Certainly, those were factors.

The complete segment can be viewed below. Wojnarowski also suggested the Celtics possibly made a mistake in not hiring a more experienced assistant coach under Mazzulla, who replaced Udoka.

Game 4 between the Celtics and Heat, in which Miami can sweep their way to the NBA Finals, takes place Tuesday night.

It seems like Ime's bad decision making is the gift that keeps on giving.

Is this what Jaylen is mad about? Or Smart?

John Karalis @John_Karalis
about 2 hours ago
Smart on the Ime report: “No. No. Regardless of if Ime was here or not, we’re the ones out there playing. We gotta go out there and play. ... It’s on us. There's only so much any coach can do for you out there as a player. At some point you gotta look at yourself & figure it out”


Bob


.

I do not believe that Ime getting hired by the Rockets has any impact on the lack of cohesiveness on this team.

Although there may remain a residual affect on the team in the way everything transpired.

The Celtics still managed to have a good year however there were a few bad habits that have carried over from the regular season into the playoffs.

I believe that there’s some truth to this.
Relationships are hard.
The not knowing the full story and he’s my head coach that I’ve grown fond of? Yes, this may have an effect.

Woj: Houston hiring Ime Udoka caused angst for Celtics’ players

When I saw this headline on the post I almost thew-up!   Are you kidding me!  This confirms my feelings on this team for 3 years. Are they kidding me - Angst...Angst!!!!!!!!!!!

And so I am going to root for a team that has angst over the hiring of an ex-coach who was responsible for his own firing and demise in Boston because he thought with the wrong head!

My god!  Angst.............As players how fragile are you as a person, what is your mind set, how mentally tough are you! How are you then going to then deal with going to the NBA finals and your down 2 games to none!  Well we got a chance to see how they would repond by being blown out in game #3 against Miami BEING DOWN 2 GAMES TO NONE!

These little buttercups better learn how to suck it up and GET TOUGH!

ANGST, YA RIGHT!

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GARY WASHBURN - BOSTON GLOBE IS HEARING THE CELTICS MAY NOT OFFER BROWN A SUPERMAX CONTRACT!

GREAT, SHIP THE GUY OUT THIS SUMMER! IT IS TIME TO BREAK THIS TEAM UP AS CONSTITUTED AND START BRINGING FRESH PLAYERS TO CHANGE THE MIX UP.

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I have not commented on the firing of Ime before. Perhaps I have a different perspective having lived now in Berlin for the last 44 years. In Europe it is generally thought that who is sleeping with whom is nobody's business but the sleeper and the sleepee. That is my stance. I think the firing of Ime was idiotic. And for those of you who think he should have been fired because he broke company rules, I have a lovely German saying; "legal, illegal, scheiss egal. Look it up.

I won't be on the game thread not only because of the time difference, but also because I'm not very fond of funerals. And if it doesn't happen tonight - well there's always the next game.

Berlin-T