Boston Celtics: Ime Udoka’s biggest competition for the NBA Coach of the Year award

Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has burst onto the scene in year one as the league’s hottest coaching asset.

It took no time for Udoka to face the adversity and limelight of serving as head coach in Title Town. Boston started 23-24 and seemed likely to require a second straight NBA Play-in game in as many years to qualify for the postseason.

Now? We may be talking about a Cs squad heading into the postseason as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference if the team continues to amass win streak after win streak.

It’s been an epic improvement for the team overall and an incredible coaching job by the first-year HC.

The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach believes Udoka is an NBA Coach of the Year candidate, and he has three coaches of three teams that have all recently established themselves as postseason contenders within the last two seasons:

"Suns coach Monty Williams should be a lock for one of the three spots. His team is nearly lapping the field and continues to thrive without All-Star point guard Chris Paul. Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, whose rejuvenated 49-23 squad has been one of the NBA’s feel-good stories, should take the second slot. After that, it likely will come down to Udoka and Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff has certainly done more with less, but Cleveland (41-31) is stumbling down the stretch. If the Celtics secure a top-three seed and the Cavaliers end up in the play-in tournament, it would be hard to quibble with Udoka being a finalist."

Can Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka win NBA Coach of the Year?

Should the Cs complete the most improbable midseason rise to the top of the standings the league has seen in some time–which by the way, has in such a large part been possible because of the work done by Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens in his first front office run–Boston would be flipping the script from an early season run of ridiculous trade rumors.

Jaylen Brown was actually named alongside Ben Simmons in swap scenarios, and Stevens’ vision from his initial offseason dealings was called into question…even around these parts.

That said, Monty Williams has the Phoenix Suns so far ahead of the rest of the league that he might be a shoe-in for the NBA COY award.