Suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka won’t be returning to the NBA via a hiring by Brooklyn, despite rumors breaking last week from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that said he’d be the likely replacement for recently-fired Nets HC Steve Nash.
Of course, Wojnarowski’s original reporting of Udoka’s suspension caused mass hysteria the night news leaked due to Woj’s cryptic messages about what could have caused the organization to remove him from his post. Now, his news simply grew outdated once the Nets did their due diligence regarding the potential hire that won’t happen now with the naming of Jacque Vaughn as head coach moving forward.
There were several factors as to why Udoka wasn’t hired as revealed by The Athletic’s Charania (subscription required), and the Houdini is here to break each one of them down point by point:
Reason No. 1: Brooklyn’s front office deliberated on its investigation into what happened with Ime Udoka on the Boston Celtics
Things took longer than expected for the Nets in terms of looking into what exactly Ime Udoka did to get himself suspended for an entire season by the Boston Celtics even after he led them to an NBA Finals appearance in his first go-round as head coach.
This sounds like the least believable element by far of any excuse given to why Brooklyn didn’t pull the trigger on the Udoka hiring. Surely someone in the organization would have read the wild updates provided on what may have happened in Boston with Udoka.
An affair with a Danny Ainge hire, another potential affair with a minority owner’s wife, and a pattern of such behavior from Udoka was well-known before the Woj bomb regarding Brooklyn’s intention to hire him.
Reason No. 2: Public outcry
The minute the Ime Udoka news was announced, pundits from all over the place were quick to condemn Brooklyn for what they believed was a reckless hire. Given that the dialogue in the aftermath of his suspension was that he may never coach again in the NBA, it made sense for the outcry to be massive.
The most important voices with an opinion on the matter were female members of the Nets organization. Once they spoke out against Udoka, his chances of remaining the favorite for the job quickly dissipated.
Reason No. 3: Support for Jacque Vaughn
Upon Steve Nash’s firing, the Brooklyn Nets won two of four but was fully supporting interim head coach Jacque Vaughn — who has support from the locker room for taking over during a tough time for the franchise.
Kyrie Irving just got suspended, and it’s thought that if he wasn’t, there’d be different expectations on whether or not Brooklyn can contend. Given the hand dealt to the Nets, Vaughn was seen as the better option right now.