WATCH: Is Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka a legitimate NBA Coach of the Year candidate?

Or do he and his team both need to accomplish more to be in that elite company?

After Ime Udoka’s brilliant second-half performance adjusting against the Brooklyn Nets with surprise blitzing of star forward Kevin Durant in the Boston Celtics’ impressive 126 – 120 win against the Nets at TD Garden Sunday afternoon, rumbles of whether the rookie head coach might legitimately be an NBA 2022 Coach of the Year candidate have begun to percolate up.

Udoka transformed one of the most maddeningly average squads in the league on both ends of the court into the league’s best defense and a top-10 offense, making the Celtics into credible title contenders in the months of January and February after the team’s rough start to close out 2021.

The hosts of the CLNS Media podcast “Celtics Beat” Adam Kaufman was recently joined by the voice of the Boston Celtics Radio Network, Sean Grande, as a guest and the two discussed Udoka’s coaching job and how it ought to be seen by analysts in the race for that particular piece of league hardware.

Check out the clip embedded above to get their takes on just how good the first-time head coach has been since the arrival of the new year.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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