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Ime Udoka was introduced as the new head coach of the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, returning to the NBA after serving a year-long suspension for a reported improper relationship with a woman in the Celtics organization.
He replaces Stephen Silas, who the team parted with after a third-straight agonizingly bad season. And now, Udoka will be charged with turning the young pieces the Rockets accumulated in that time, through the draft and trades, into winners.
Udoka was a rising star in the coaching ranks, taking Boston to the NBA Finals in his first year as coach before the suspension. Though the details of his relations with the woman remain private, the circumstances around his exit from Boston tempers any excitement about his arrival in Houston.
He served his suspension, so returning to work isn’t necessarily an issue. But there are some questions the Rockets organization hopefully answered before moving forward.
Is Udoka remorseful?
The first and maybe most important part of a person redeeming themselves after doing something wrong is understanding that they did something wrong and why. Then, it’s making amends and being committed to not showing a pattern of the same behavior.
So far, Udoka seems to be on the right track, saying Wednesday he stands by his prior apologies for what happened and feels even more remorse now, adding that his part in the matter was “to take accountability and ownership.” He said he took leadership and sensitivity training and also participated in counseling with his son.
He didn’t go into detail about what happened, but he at least seems to understand that his actions had a negative impact on others. It doesn’t guarantee he won’t do whatever it was again, but that acknowledgement is the bare minimum for someone looking to regain public and private trust.
Is Udoka the right culture fit?
The next question is whether Udoka’s recent history makes him a good fit in Houston. There were rumblings about potential culture issues in that locker room even before his hire. Is he the right person to fix that?
Better yet, are the women in the organization comfortable with the hire? Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta seems to think so, saying Rockets president Gretchen Sheirr was supportive — though she certainly cannot speak for everyone.
But that goes from top to bottom. The Rockets are an incredibly young team on the court. The last thing they need is a coach they don’t respect enough to listen to, whether it’s about basketball or life in general. That takes me to the last question.
Will players respond to him?
Udoka coached a young team in Boston to the NBA Finals and those players loved him, so it’s possible he’ll earn the trust of this team too. But the scandal is potentially one more hurdle for him in that process, and take what you want from it, but Kevin Porter Jr. was the only player who showed up for his press conference.
Udoka apparently picked the Rockets out of other options on the table because of their youth, cap flexibility and the team’s potential to grow, but he also acknowledged they’ll take some lumps.
Through the worst times, he’ll need to be able to coach his players hard and have them respond in a positive way. If he can’t do that, this move will probably not have been worth it for the Rockets.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Someone else who missed the entire 2022-23 season was Miles Bridges, the former Charlotte Hornets forward who went without a contract this past season after a June arrest for a domestic violence incident.
Earlier this month, the NBA announced his official punishment as a 30-game suspension to be served at the start of next season. However the league credited him with 20 games served. So, Bridges will only have to miss 10 games next year, which makes absolutely no sense.
During an interview Tuesday with the AP, commissioner Adam Silver tried to clear things up on the matter, but his explanation didn’t really help, my colleague Bryan Kalbrosky wrote:
“It makes no sense why the league would call this a 30-game suspension if Bridges is only missing 10 games. It just feels performative so they can say it was the most significant punishment for a domestic violence case in league history, exceeding the 24-game suspension for Jeffrey Taylor in 2014.
But adding the 20-game credit just softens the actual discipline. Why should he get credit for 20 games served of a suspension from when he wasn’t even on an NBA roster?”
One to Watch
(All odds via BetMGM)
Knicks (+5.5, +190) at Cavaliers (-250), O/U 201.5, 7 PM ET
The Knicks have shocked the NBA world with the way they’ve dominated Cleveland in this series, taking a commanding 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s game. I’m not sure if they’ll close things out in Game 5, but I don’t believe it’s a fluke. They’ll grind out another low-scoring game that falls under this total, just as every other game in the series has.
Shootaround
— J.J. Redick ripped Stephen A. Smith for his take on the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard
— Draymond Green thinks he knows why he wasn’t invited to Harrison Barnes’ wedding
— Shaq hilariously called Charles Barkley a bum while congratulating Devin Booker for making Suns history
— Jamal Murray had the classiest move for head coach Mike Malone after another series win