Why Jalen Rose Believes Ime Udoka Gives Nets ‘Leadership’

On Wednesday, reports suggested the Brooklyn Nets were finalizing an agreement to make Ime Udoka their next head coach, just 24 hours after firing Steve Nash, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Udoka, who just a year ago was debuting as an NBA head coach for the Boston Celtics, was in the midst of serving his one-year suspension after violating team policy through a relationship with a female staffer.

Former NBA player turned analyst Jalen Rose believes the Nets will heavily benefit from this head coaching change, claiming Udoka provides Brooklyn’s squad with “leadership.”

“I believe that they will be able to navigate and I think he will be a person that gets the Nets roster to actually play to its potential, which we have not seen in the last couple of years,” Rose said during ESPN’s “Jalen & Jacoby.” “And let me just say one other word that don’t get said enough. He’s gonna give them a leader. You look down at the box score, I see the 30 points. But you know what I don’t see from KD and Kyrie? Making the people around them better. Ime Udoka’s now gonna also give them strategy and leadership.”

The Nets, under Nash’s coaching tenure, were a complete disappointment.

Built to contend instantly, the Nets have instead discovered new ways to come up short against opponents in the Eastern Conference despite entering every campaign among the league’s favorites to seize an NBA Finals appearance. Whether it’d be the off-court distractions Irving delivers with his never-ending contradictions with the media through his conspiracy theories or simply getting outplayed and swept in the first round, Brooklyn has failed to deliver the results they were assembled to.

The Celtics and Nets will first meet for the first time since the NBA playoffs on Dec. 4 at Barclays Center.