Ime Udoka wasted no time setting the tone for the new era of the Celtics.
Udoka took on his first NBA head coaching job when he replaced Brad Stevens, who’d held the role for eight seasons. According to The Athletic’s Jason Quick, Udoka’s first meeting as Celtics head coach put emphasis on two topics: punctuality and accountability.
To drive home his point on the latter, Udoka showed a compilation video of postfight interviews from Adrien Broner, who dubbed himself “The Can Man.” The welterweight boxer used the moniker to stress that anyone can catch a beating in the ring.
Udoka applied the same logic to calling out his players.
“And Ime says to them: ‘I just want to let you all know: I am the Can Man,'” Celtics assistant coach Aaron Miles told Quick. “He said, ‘Any and all y’all Can — and will — get it.'”
Udoka added: “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. 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 (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown), because they have more required of them.”
The first-year head coach backed up his claims right away, as he didn’t hesitate to publicly criticize his players when he saw fit. Udoka caught some criticism for this approach but he couldn’t care less, as Celtics players apparently have responded very well to it.
It took some time, but Udoka molded Boston into a tough basketball team that employs a collaborative effort on both ends of the floor. After looking like a run-of-the-mill group in the early goings of the season, the Celtics now look like a legitimate Finals contender.
