bigskyconf said:
Come on Oregonian, is it that hard to mention that he played at PSU?
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Ime Udoka
- Thread starter forestgreen
- Start date
Come on Oregonian, is it that hard to mention that he played at PSU?
bigskyconf
Active member
Udoka up for the Cavs head coaching job.
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2019/05/former-blazer-ime-udoka-would-be-an-outstanding-hire-for-the-cleveland-cavaliers.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2019/05/former-blazer-ime-udoka-would-be-an-outstanding-hire-for-the-cleveland-cavaliers.html
bigskyconf
Active member
martymoose said:
They did mention him as a "former Portland State star" this time.
bigskyconf
Active member
Udoka moving on to be lead assistant to Brett Brown at the Sixers, replacing Monty Williams.
From Jeff McDonald, mySanAntonio.com
https://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-assistant-Ime-Udoka-headed-to-Philadelphia-13954093.php
From Jeff McDonald, mySanAntonio.com
https://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-assistant-Ime-Udoka-headed-to-Philadelphia-13954093.php
bigskyconf
Active member
If the Bulls make a coaching change, Ime Udoka is "front-runner:.
From Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2020/6/5/21282078/new-look-bulls-front-office-playing-long-game-on-coaching-change
From Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2020/6/5/21282078/new-look-bulls-front-office-playing-long-game-on-coaching-change
bigskyconf
Active member
Udoka to interview for the Knicks head coaching job, per Shams Charania of the Athletic (link through Blazers Edge)...
https://www.blazersedge.com/2020/6/17/21294892/former-blazers-forward-ime-udoka-interview-knicks-head-coach
https://www.blazersedge.com/2020/6/17/21294892/former-blazers-forward-ime-udoka-interview-knicks-head-coach
bigskyconf
Active member
Rumor gaining ground (as I thought) of the Blazers being interested in Udoka. Nothing official yet, however.
bigskyconf said:
Would love to see that happen!
bigskyconf
Active member
bigskyconf said:
Kerry Eggers on Rip City Drive yesterday mentioned that he would like to see the Blazers consider Udoka. Eggers thinks Udoka is better qualified than Chauncey Billups.
https://twitter.com/kerryeggers/status/1403036262328541185
bigskyconf
Active member
Pounder said:
You're just beginning to wonder that now? I've been wondering the same thing for the last six years trying to figure out what Olshey is doing.
Pounder said:
Totally agree.
I really don't want to see a D’Antoni or Van Gundy come in and run an offense that puts Lillard's name in serious MVP talk, while we probably go into the post season at a 6 or 7 spot and get bounced.
Perhaps I'm jaded by a lifetime of early playoff exits, but give me a feel good story of a local guy getting his first head coaching gig or the first head coaching position for a female in the NBA and it makes this team much more compelling to watch.
bigskyconf
Active member
Rumors coming from Boston indicate that Udoka is the early front-runner for the Celtics job.
https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/ime-udoka-celtics-coaching-favorite/
https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/ime-udoka-celtics-coaching-favorite/
Congratulations Ime!!!!
Udoka separated himself quickly in Brad Stevens' search process, including significant support from Celtics players who were impressed with Udoka after working under him with Team USA in the World's.
Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn
The Boston Celtics are finalizing an agreement to hire Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka as the franchise's new coach, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn
Udoka separated himself quickly in Brad Stevens' search process, including significant support from Celtics players who were impressed with Udoka after working under him with Team USA in the World's.
Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn
The Boston Celtics are finalizing an agreement to hire Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka as the franchise's new coach, sources tell ESPN.
https://twitter.com/wojespn
A done deal:
Former Blazer, Portland State alum Ime Udoka officially named HC of Celtics
https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/trail-blazers/former-blazer-portland-state-alum-ime-udoka-officially-named-hc-celtics
The Boston Celtics officially named Ime Udoka as their 18th head coach in league history Monday.
It's been a long journey for the Portland native. Before he was on the radar of any NBA team, Udoka was developing his skills as a standout at Jefferson High School. After his time there ended, he committed to San Francisco for college, the same school former Celtic Bill Russell attended, before coming home and transferring to Portland State.
Portland State Men’s Basketball
@psuviksMBB
It’s official!
Congrats to the Portland native and former Portland State Viking Ime Udoka! @celtics got a great one!
After his time with the Vikings, Udoka would go on to a 12-year career, which included stops in the NBA, abroad, and with the hometown Blazers.
Playing for the hometown team gave Udoka the opportunity to become a starter for the first time in his career, appearing and starting in a career-high 75 games and averaging career-highs in points (8.4) and minutes (28.6).
When it comes to coaching, he spent nine seasons as an assistant with time spent mostly with the Spurs, and a season each with the Sixers and most recently the Nets.
He’s as qualified as any possible candidate and at his introductory press conference was optimistic about what he’s bringing to the team, especially since he’ll be a leading team with two young All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
"They're going to allow me to coach them, push them," said Udoka. "They know I'm going to be on their ass, and that's what they like about me, they've asked me about that. They want to be pushed, they want to be directed toward winning, and you expect that from your stars.
"The bottom line is they want to win and help us get [championship] No. 18. That part was attractive. Obviously you see the physical talent. Now this is a chance to see them grow and become better leaders, more vocal, and continue to push them to be great."
Udoka being their 18th head coach as the team pursues banner 18 could be the omen Celtics fans need to keep their hope alive.
He already has experience coaching the team’s duo and Marcus Smart in 2019 on Team USA’s World Cup team. Although the team didn’t win gold, it presented an opportunity to create a relationship that proved to be beneficial for both sides years later.
“To separate yourself amongst all of them is difficult, but Ime did that,” said Brad Stevens. “I go back to that he has a great basketball acumen, a great understanding, but that's to me something a lot of people have.
"It's his authenticity, his ability to be tough and yet very warm, and it's his experience. Not only the experience of playing but being eight through 15 on the roster a lot, and then being in San Antonio all those years, and then the last two years seeing totally different things up close in Philly and Brooklyn is a great thing. We could go on and on with the adjectives, but that really stood out as separating him throughout this process."
As a guy who’s had to work harder to get what he wanted as an undrafted player after being with the Vikings, he comes off as being the guy who could connect with the team. Whether it’s with the role players because that’s who he was a pro, or if it's with the stars as he’s spent an abundance of time around All-Stars as a player and coach.
Udoka earned one of the highest-profile jobs this offseason and many eyes will be on him to help the Celtics bounce back. The team was riddled with injuries and health and safety protocol measures which led them to the No. 7 seed and lose to the Nets in five games.
His presence and a hope for health bring optimism to a franchise that's made the Eastern Conference Finals three of the last five seasons.
Former Blazer, Portland State alum Ime Udoka officially named HC of Celtics
https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/trail-blazers/former-blazer-portland-state-alum-ime-udoka-officially-named-hc-celtics
The Boston Celtics officially named Ime Udoka as their 18th head coach in league history Monday.
It's been a long journey for the Portland native. Before he was on the radar of any NBA team, Udoka was developing his skills as a standout at Jefferson High School. After his time there ended, he committed to San Francisco for college, the same school former Celtic Bill Russell attended, before coming home and transferring to Portland State.
Portland State Men’s Basketball
@psuviksMBB
It’s official!
Congrats to the Portland native and former Portland State Viking Ime Udoka! @celtics got a great one!After his time with the Vikings, Udoka would go on to a 12-year career, which included stops in the NBA, abroad, and with the hometown Blazers.
Playing for the hometown team gave Udoka the opportunity to become a starter for the first time in his career, appearing and starting in a career-high 75 games and averaging career-highs in points (8.4) and minutes (28.6).
When it comes to coaching, he spent nine seasons as an assistant with time spent mostly with the Spurs, and a season each with the Sixers and most recently the Nets.
He’s as qualified as any possible candidate and at his introductory press conference was optimistic about what he’s bringing to the team, especially since he’ll be a leading team with two young All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
"They're going to allow me to coach them, push them," said Udoka. "They know I'm going to be on their ass, and that's what they like about me, they've asked me about that. They want to be pushed, they want to be directed toward winning, and you expect that from your stars.
"The bottom line is they want to win and help us get [championship] No. 18. That part was attractive. Obviously you see the physical talent. Now this is a chance to see them grow and become better leaders, more vocal, and continue to push them to be great."
Udoka being their 18th head coach as the team pursues banner 18 could be the omen Celtics fans need to keep their hope alive.
He already has experience coaching the team’s duo and Marcus Smart in 2019 on Team USA’s World Cup team. Although the team didn’t win gold, it presented an opportunity to create a relationship that proved to be beneficial for both sides years later.
“To separate yourself amongst all of them is difficult, but Ime did that,” said Brad Stevens. “I go back to that he has a great basketball acumen, a great understanding, but that's to me something a lot of people have.
"It's his authenticity, his ability to be tough and yet very warm, and it's his experience. Not only the experience of playing but being eight through 15 on the roster a lot, and then being in San Antonio all those years, and then the last two years seeing totally different things up close in Philly and Brooklyn is a great thing. We could go on and on with the adjectives, but that really stood out as separating him throughout this process."
As a guy who’s had to work harder to get what he wanted as an undrafted player after being with the Vikings, he comes off as being the guy who could connect with the team. Whether it’s with the role players because that’s who he was a pro, or if it's with the stars as he’s spent an abundance of time around All-Stars as a player and coach.
Udoka earned one of the highest-profile jobs this offseason and many eyes will be on him to help the Celtics bounce back. The team was riddled with injuries and health and safety protocol measures which led them to the No. 7 seed and lose to the Nets in five games.
His presence and a hope for health bring optimism to a franchise that's made the Eastern Conference Finals three of the last five seasons.
bigskyconf
Active member
Not much here that we don't know already, but a great read from Martenzie Johnson of The Undefeated.
https://theundefeated.com/features/new-celtics-head-coach-ime-udoka-path-from-nigeria-to-boston/
https://theundefeated.com/features/new-celtics-head-coach-ime-udoka-path-from-nigeria-to-boston/
How a Fringe NBA Player Blazed a Trail to Coach the Boston Celtics
Ime Udoka beat long odds and made an NBA team after getting a last-minute invitation to training camp. It was a month that would change his life.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ime-udoka-boston-celtics-coach-nba-playoffs-11651639543?st=mjtivobpqaq62k4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were in elementary school when Ime Udoka took his first steps down the blind path that would ultimately lead him to the Boston Celtics. He was not yet a coach. He could barely call himself an NBA player.
It had been six years since Udoka left college when the Portland Trail Blazers offered him a last-minute invitation to training camp in 2006. They were desperate. Portland’s first candidate for the last spot on the team had failed his physical days before the season and sent them scrambling for players who could fill out their roster. When he reported to the Blazers on a non-guaranteed contract, the only person who expected Udoka to make the team was Udoka.
He didn’t just make the team. He was in the starting lineup on opening night and remained there for the rest of the season.
“That’s unheard of,” says his former teammate Fred Jones.
It would not be the last time anyone heard from Udoka. That month changed the course of his life, altered the trajectory of his playing career and planted the seeds of his coaching future. A guy who was unloading boxes at FedEx to give himself a shot at the NBA has become one of this season’s key figures from the sidelines.
The Celtics have been the league’s best team since December, and it would no longer surprise the NBA if they win a championship in Udoka’s first season as coach. As it happens, four of the last seven titles have been won by coaches in their first year, when their voices resonate the loudest. It’s the sign of a good coach in this player-driven league when a team reflects his personality without being consumed by it. With their vicious defense, steely confidence and quiet determination, the Celtics are very much Udoka’s team.
The fastest way to coach in the NBA is to play in the NBA, but many of the league’s most successful coaches were role players who compensated for what they lacked in pure talent with intelligence and empathy. Udoka made the Blazers because he made others better. That’s been his job ever since. He probably wouldn’t be in Boston today if not for the break he got in Portland.
“I always felt I was on the cusp of making it,” Udoka said. “But finding the right opportunity, I understand that, for sure. I’ve seen as a player and coach what it does for people.”
Udoka, 44, dreamed of playing in the NBA as a child in Portland and traveled around the world to get back there. He started at a junior college, transferred to Portland State and routinely joined pickup games at the nearby Blazers’ practice facility. But at the moment the NBA became a possibility, he tore his ACL in his breakout senior year. Then he did it again and needed another surgery. He still wasn’t deterred. Udoka took a night job at FedEx and kept training.
He would find work in almost every obscure American basketball league before he made it to the NBA. He played for the Fargo-Moorhead Beez in the International Basketball Association, the Adirondack Wildcats in the United States Basketball League and the Charleston Lowgators in the D-League several times.
The Los Angeles Lakers gave the future coach of the Celtics one of his earliest breaks. Udoka went to their training camp in 2003 and realized there was a market for a specific kind of player: anyone willing to guard Kobe Bryant in practice. “All the guys he had there were basically scared of him,” Udoka said.
He didn’t make the team, but their battles made an impression. He was watching Bryant’s first game against a rookie named LeBron James later that season when opportunity flashed before his eyes. Bryant injured his shoulder, and Udoka’s phone rang. The Lakers were signing him to a 10-day contract. He took a red-eye connection to make his NBA debut. “No sleep, just straight adrenaline,” he said. “I posted up Earl Boykins for my first bucket.” (Udoka was 6-foot-5. Boykins was 5-foot-5.)
But when Bryant decided he was no longer injured, Udoka’s cup of coffee in the NBA became an espresso. He was sent down to the minors and didn’t know when he would be back.
Two years later, after stints in Spain, France and the sovereign nation of the New York Knicks, Udoka accepted a training-camp invitation from the Golden State Warriors. Two hours later, the Blazers called.
His friend Aaron Miles had failed his physical with a sprained ankle, and the Blazers needed players on the eve of camp. They looked to the fringes of basketball and found Udoka. He made the short drive to the only NBA facility where he’d played since college with people he’d known since high school.
“I felt like I belonged,” he said.
But the possibility of turning a non-guaranteed camp deal into a full-time roster spot was remote to everyone but Udoka.
“Those are long odds,” said Indiana Pacers president Kevin Pritchard, a Blazers assistant general manager then. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
Jarrett Jack didn’t know who Udoka was, but it wasn’t long before Portland’s starting point guard was choosing him for their summer pickup games. The next thing he knew, he saw Udoka at training camp. “I thought he was just another body,” he said. “I wasn’t familiar with guys who weren’t on the team actually making the team. I didn’t even know that was a real possibility.” But he knew he wanted him to stick around. Jack publicly threatened to picket the arena if Udoka didn’t make the final cut.
Blazers coach Nate McMillan quickly came to the same conclusion about Udoka. Before their second game of the preseason, he told him that he was playing that night.
Udoka never made it to the arena.
He got a call from his mother when he was in the car. “I saw the ambulances rushing past us and I knew it was bad,” Udoka says. He walked into the house and found his father on the floor. He could have been anywhere, but he was in Portland.
Vitalis Udoka died that night. Ime Udoka went to practice the next morning and played a preseason game the following day. He processed his grief through basketball. “Those quiet moments alone in the hotel at night when you’re not on the court and not around the family—those are the breakdown moments,” he said.
The Blazers had to make a decision about Udoka two weeks after his father’s death. He made it easy for them. In his first preseason game, he scored 16 points. In their next preseason game, he started. “I never didn’t start again that year,” he said.
They made it official on the day of the funeral: Udoka was on the team. It would have been difficult for the Blazers to waive the NBA’s unlikeliest starter.
“There was no backup plan, as crazy as it sounds,” Udoka says. “That’s the one thing I knew in life—the only thing I ever knew. I was always going to be in the NBA.”
Udoka has been in the NBA almost every year since. He made a name for himself as a versatile wing defender who hit 40% of his threes, the type of player who would be earning $15 million today. The Blazers let him walk, but his performance that season put him on the radar of the San Antonio Spurs, where he played for three years and returned as a coach under Gregg Popovich. His teammates say he was already an expert in connecting with everyone in a locker room long before it became his job.
He spent seven years apprenticing with the winningest NBA coach in history, and when Brad Stevens stepped down as coach of the Celtics, he moved to the front office and hired Udoka to replace him.
But he’s never far away from a reminder of Portland. If he forgets, he can simply look behind the bench. There he would find the player whose failed physical opened a spot on the Blazers.
Udoka is finally working alongside Aaron Miles this season: He hired him as a Celtics assistant.
Ime Udoka beat long odds and made an NBA team after getting a last-minute invitation to training camp. It was a month that would change his life.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ime-udoka-boston-celtics-coach-nba-playoffs-11651639543?st=mjtivobpqaq62k4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were in elementary school when Ime Udoka took his first steps down the blind path that would ultimately lead him to the Boston Celtics. He was not yet a coach. He could barely call himself an NBA player.
It had been six years since Udoka left college when the Portland Trail Blazers offered him a last-minute invitation to training camp in 2006. They were desperate. Portland’s first candidate for the last spot on the team had failed his physical days before the season and sent them scrambling for players who could fill out their roster. When he reported to the Blazers on a non-guaranteed contract, the only person who expected Udoka to make the team was Udoka.
He didn’t just make the team. He was in the starting lineup on opening night and remained there for the rest of the season.
“That’s unheard of,” says his former teammate Fred Jones.
It would not be the last time anyone heard from Udoka. That month changed the course of his life, altered the trajectory of his playing career and planted the seeds of his coaching future. A guy who was unloading boxes at FedEx to give himself a shot at the NBA has become one of this season’s key figures from the sidelines.
The Celtics have been the league’s best team since December, and it would no longer surprise the NBA if they win a championship in Udoka’s first season as coach. As it happens, four of the last seven titles have been won by coaches in their first year, when their voices resonate the loudest. It’s the sign of a good coach in this player-driven league when a team reflects his personality without being consumed by it. With their vicious defense, steely confidence and quiet determination, the Celtics are very much Udoka’s team.
The fastest way to coach in the NBA is to play in the NBA, but many of the league’s most successful coaches were role players who compensated for what they lacked in pure talent with intelligence and empathy. Udoka made the Blazers because he made others better. That’s been his job ever since. He probably wouldn’t be in Boston today if not for the break he got in Portland.
“I always felt I was on the cusp of making it,” Udoka said. “But finding the right opportunity, I understand that, for sure. I’ve seen as a player and coach what it does for people.”
Udoka, 44, dreamed of playing in the NBA as a child in Portland and traveled around the world to get back there. He started at a junior college, transferred to Portland State and routinely joined pickup games at the nearby Blazers’ practice facility. But at the moment the NBA became a possibility, he tore his ACL in his breakout senior year. Then he did it again and needed another surgery. He still wasn’t deterred. Udoka took a night job at FedEx and kept training.
He would find work in almost every obscure American basketball league before he made it to the NBA. He played for the Fargo-Moorhead Beez in the International Basketball Association, the Adirondack Wildcats in the United States Basketball League and the Charleston Lowgators in the D-League several times.
The Los Angeles Lakers gave the future coach of the Celtics one of his earliest breaks. Udoka went to their training camp in 2003 and realized there was a market for a specific kind of player: anyone willing to guard Kobe Bryant in practice. “All the guys he had there were basically scared of him,” Udoka said.
He didn’t make the team, but their battles made an impression. He was watching Bryant’s first game against a rookie named LeBron James later that season when opportunity flashed before his eyes. Bryant injured his shoulder, and Udoka’s phone rang. The Lakers were signing him to a 10-day contract. He took a red-eye connection to make his NBA debut. “No sleep, just straight adrenaline,” he said. “I posted up Earl Boykins for my first bucket.” (Udoka was 6-foot-5. Boykins was 5-foot-5.)
But when Bryant decided he was no longer injured, Udoka’s cup of coffee in the NBA became an espresso. He was sent down to the minors and didn’t know when he would be back.
Two years later, after stints in Spain, France and the sovereign nation of the New York Knicks, Udoka accepted a training-camp invitation from the Golden State Warriors. Two hours later, the Blazers called.
His friend Aaron Miles had failed his physical with a sprained ankle, and the Blazers needed players on the eve of camp. They looked to the fringes of basketball and found Udoka. He made the short drive to the only NBA facility where he’d played since college with people he’d known since high school.
“I felt like I belonged,” he said.
But the possibility of turning a non-guaranteed camp deal into a full-time roster spot was remote to everyone but Udoka.
“Those are long odds,” said Indiana Pacers president Kevin Pritchard, a Blazers assistant general manager then. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
Jarrett Jack didn’t know who Udoka was, but it wasn’t long before Portland’s starting point guard was choosing him for their summer pickup games. The next thing he knew, he saw Udoka at training camp. “I thought he was just another body,” he said. “I wasn’t familiar with guys who weren’t on the team actually making the team. I didn’t even know that was a real possibility.” But he knew he wanted him to stick around. Jack publicly threatened to picket the arena if Udoka didn’t make the final cut.
Blazers coach Nate McMillan quickly came to the same conclusion about Udoka. Before their second game of the preseason, he told him that he was playing that night.
Udoka never made it to the arena.
He got a call from his mother when he was in the car. “I saw the ambulances rushing past us and I knew it was bad,” Udoka says. He walked into the house and found his father on the floor. He could have been anywhere, but he was in Portland.
Vitalis Udoka died that night. Ime Udoka went to practice the next morning and played a preseason game the following day. He processed his grief through basketball. “Those quiet moments alone in the hotel at night when you’re not on the court and not around the family—those are the breakdown moments,” he said.
The Blazers had to make a decision about Udoka two weeks after his father’s death. He made it easy for them. In his first preseason game, he scored 16 points. In their next preseason game, he started. “I never didn’t start again that year,” he said.
They made it official on the day of the funeral: Udoka was on the team. It would have been difficult for the Blazers to waive the NBA’s unlikeliest starter.
“There was no backup plan, as crazy as it sounds,” Udoka says. “That’s the one thing I knew in life—the only thing I ever knew. I was always going to be in the NBA.”
Udoka has been in the NBA almost every year since. He made a name for himself as a versatile wing defender who hit 40% of his threes, the type of player who would be earning $15 million today. The Blazers let him walk, but his performance that season put him on the radar of the San Antonio Spurs, where he played for three years and returned as a coach under Gregg Popovich. His teammates say he was already an expert in connecting with everyone in a locker room long before it became his job.
He spent seven years apprenticing with the winningest NBA coach in history, and when Brad Stevens stepped down as coach of the Celtics, he moved to the front office and hired Udoka to replace him.
But he’s never far away from a reminder of Portland. If he forgets, he can simply look behind the bench. There he would find the player whose failed physical opened a spot on the Blazers.
Udoka is finally working alongside Aaron Miles this season: He hired him as a Celtics assistant.
An N.B.A. Coach’s Journey from FedEx to the Top Job
Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka struggled to catch on in the N.B.A. as a player. But once he did, he leveraged his experience to become a leader on the sideline.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/sports/basketball/boston-celtics-ime-udoka.html
Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka struggled to catch on in the N.B.A. as a player. But once he did, he leveraged his experience to become a leader on the sideline.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/sports/basketball/boston-celtics-ime-udoka.html
https://twitter.com/psuviksMBB/status/1526301446366298113
How Ime Udoka’s Brutal Honesty Turned the Celtics Into Contenders
Boston’s first-year head coach made it a mission to turn lottery picks into accountable grinders. After plenty of pushback and a downright disastrous start, his young stars eventually bought in. Now the results speak for themselves.
https://www.theringer.com/2022/6/1/23149486/ime-udoka-boston-celtics-nba-finals
Boston’s first-year head coach made it a mission to turn lottery picks into accountable grinders. After plenty of pushback and a downright disastrous start, his young stars eventually bought in. Now the results speak for themselves.
https://www.theringer.com/2022/6/1/23149486/ime-udoka-boston-celtics-nba-finals
