According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the New York Knicks are interested in Houston Rockets, and former Boston Celtics, head coach Ime Udoka to fill their current opening, as they just fired Tom Thibodeau. Obviously, Udoka is not available on the open market right now, but the Knicks are interested nonetheless.
“Two head coaches who are not currently available but said to interest the Knicks, according to league sources, are Dallas' Jason Kidd and Houston's Ime Udoka,” Stein wrote. Following his departure from Boston, Udoka joined the Rockets organization, and he’s done a solid job there since. Still, that doesn’t mean New York should want to bring him on board.
They should learn from the Celtics.
What should Knicks learn from Celtics?
Udoka had to leave Boston for a reason. Obviously, he seems to have bounced back just fine in Houston, but that history alone should act as a warning sign.
He had an inappropriate relationship with someone within the Celtics organization, and it was bad enough that the team wanted him out the door. That’s not great.
Plus, with everything Udoka has proven to be as a coach, from Boston to Houston, he may not be the best fit for what the Knicks are looking for.
Why is Ime Udoka wrong for Knicks?
After the Knicks fired Thibodeau, Shams Charania of ESPN revealed a few characteristics they plan to look for in their next head coach:
“I’m not sure yet which direction they go but you think about for Tom Thibodeau the issues that they probably had with him, you think about what Mikal Bridges said early in the year, and I think a comment like that rings true,” Charania said on The Pat McAfee Show. “A guy that might trust his bench more. A guy that might be a little bit more lenient based on his principles and what he wants to enact.”
Historically, Udoka has not been the type of guy to lean on his bench and trust young players. He’s been forced to a bit in Houston, but when he was with the Celtics, even Payton Pritchard was shoved to the back of the rotation at first.
As far as working well with the front office, Udoka’s hard-nosed style (and history with the Celtics organization) doesn’t seem to fit that description very well.
Based on everything the Knicks are looking for in a coach, combined with the Celtics’ ugly history with Udoka, hiring him has the potential to be a massive mistake for New York.
