He made a great point but I think we are going to be past the whole 'Ime can fix everything through training camp and film study*, It is probably the best he could do. I admit.
I didn't expect losing like this against the Magic. But I did expect growing pains. And I did expect a lot of growing pains. The Celtics under Udoka were really bad in the first two months as well. And we are not only adapting to a new offensive and defensive scheme, our roster also changed quite a bit - and we had developed a lot of bad habits in the last couple of years. To me the players looked confused on the court. Messed up on defensive rotations, not knowing where to be and where their teammate is on offense. They looked like they were constantly thinking - always a step late. There is a lot of tape out there now, that they can work through - the question is, how they will react now. How do they react to being called out and being held accountable - how fast can they learn how to play Udokas systems? Overall, this game was a big disappointment - but not a surprise and not a sign of how this team will play after the All-Star break.
Here's a wacky idea -that I'm sure has not been previously broached: the Celtics under Udoka are not a good parallel to the rockets given that he inherited a team of multiple all stars/all NBA players in their prime with an established record of success and a fair amount of roster continuity stretching back years. Maybe that is a big part of the "Udoka System" ?
Another wacky idea is maybe we suck because a number of our key players suck, and our team is poorly built on top of that. Pops is the GOAT coach and his team sucked last year, unlikely because he forgot how to coach. I feel confident Jeenathen Williams would have outplayed Jalen tonight if given his minutes. Confident.
In school, I was always good in math. I skipped 8th grade math altogether. It had always come easy to me until 11th grade when I took Trigonometry. The teacher was a rookie, strait out of college. I struggled. The top students that usually made an A, were making a C. I got a private tutor and finally started understanding it, but was too far behind to catchup that year. The next year, I retook Trig under a different teacher. Made strait A's. Our guys are behind and trying to catch up. Give it time.
they still look like kids. i can see where wanting brook lopez was coming from. they getting outmuscled with frontcourt of sengun and bari
Any warm bodied human can coach guys like Tatum & Brown and look competent. "Give it to Jayson clap clap" ... "Give it to Jaylen clap clap" ... "D up".. boom Eastern Conference Finals.
Lol. https://www.nba.com/playoffs/2021/east-first-round-2 Those Celtics were "so scary" that they eliminated and embarrassed in the first round. Guess clap clap doesn't work for everyone. But narrative's are always more fun than facts. This will be a fun year. Ime haters lying in wait lol.
Boston didnt make the ECF last year or Finals before that? You want to bring up the bubble season! Cool Cool. Year before the bubble? ECF. Year before that with rookie Tatum and 2nd year Brown? ECSF. Hopefully Jabari turns into Jayson and Jalen turns into Jaylen! UFOs?? (Udoka Fans Only )
No, it just means that people vastly overestimate the impact of coaching in the NBA both positively and negatively, IMO.
It has been one of their go to resorts when things fall apart. Basically if your GM and your owner is rotten, the best players that fall to you can become half-rotten Coaches cannot suit up and play. I was screaming at soccer legends who became coaches and coached incompetent teams to just suit up and play.
Talent trumps everything - but I believe culture and accountability in an organization matters but will freely admit it is hard to quantify. Anyone that believed that the Rockets could overpay for a few vets, roll in Udoka and now instantly be respectable were fools. This type of thing takes time, especially when your team lacks a franchise player and you have essentially let your young players do anything. Even the Celtics, with stars were only .500% the first half season he was there. Udoka brings structure and accountability - but even he is sometimes hard to take serious when he was sleeping with his bosses wife and sexually harassing other women in the organization. Thibs as a coach preaches and requires structure and accountability and sometimes it has worked for his teams and sometimes his players have told him to **** off.
I think there's SOME impact - like clearly the relationship between McHale and Harden was toxic, and then the Rockets chose correctly that they could get a better result by resetting it - and Harden unleashed the one of the greatest 3 year stretches in history by performing roughly 10% or so better (also, moving on from Dwight to a rim runner rather than a traditional C was a huge unexpectedly important development). I don't know how much that reflects "coaching" by D'Antoni, but clearly the coaching change was a net positive - much like I expect the Rockets current coachign change to be a net positive as well, it's just that it's starting from such a low place, it's going to be hard to even notice it this year.
That was a substantial proportion of this board (look at teh win projection thread) and a not small proportion of the NBA commentariat (and TF with the Phase 2 nonsense)
The difference I see it .....MDA was really helping a team advance in the Playoffs. Udoka has to semi babysit kids and build up their confidence before he can really move to coaching and really strategize..... I do not see a real jump unless Jalen and Jabari are at least regular NBA type of players and not some prospects inbetween. Now all you worry is ...... Do they play hard every Quarter, every game? That is not a question you should be asking dealing with professionals!
