The Celtics pick Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka as their new head coach
Boston, Massachusetts - The Boston Celtics have found their coaching replacement for Brad Stevens.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Boston is finalizing a deal to make Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka the next head coach of the Celtics. Udoka will be the 18th head coach in the organization's history.
Udoka isn't a household name as this will be his first head coaching job, but has a strong background in coaching, which helped him vault to the top of the list in Boston's search. The 43-year-old Udoka is part of the Gregg Popovich coaching tree as Udoka spent seven years as a San Antonio Spurs assistant. The last two seasons, Udoka had coaching stops with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets.
Wojnarowksi reports that Udoka had significant backing from Celtics players that helped separate him from other possible candidates. Udoka seemed to have made quite the impression on Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum when the trio played for Udoka on Team USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
To go along with his coaching experience, Udoka played seven years in the NBA. Udoka, who suited up overseas and in the D-League as well, bounced around the league, playing for five franchises.
His best season in the NBA came during the 2006-07 campaign with the Portland Trail Blazers when he averaged a career-high 8.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
Summer of changes for the Celtics
This is already the third major development in the offseason for the Celtics. After Danny Ainge retired as president of basketball operations earlier this month and Stevens left the bench to fill that role, the Celtics traded away Kemba Walker and the number 16 overall pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford and Moses Brown last Friday.
Stevens said Monday he wouldn't get into specifics about the coaching search, and added that he won't interfere with how the new coach wants to run the team on the court.
"The one thing I should be good at is supporting the head coach and not being involved," Stevens said. "My door's open, but I do not want to be anything but supportive."
And Stevens has a plan already in place for how he can accomplish that right away with Udoka.
"I've told everybody that I've talked to in a weird way, in kind of a messed up way, I'm looking forward to the first time we lose and I can walk in there, put my arm around him and say, 'I've lost a ton here. Let's go get a coffee. Let's go grab a beer. It's ok. It's part of a long journey,'" Stevens said.
"I think I'm looking forward to that, just being a support."
Cover photo: imago / GEPA pictures