Ime has got to go!

[pokeKingCurtis]

https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1490496031464718340?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

The Celtics in 2022:

— 1st in net rating
— 1st in defensive rating
— 1st in opponent eFG%
— 13-6 record
— Tatum averaging 26/8/5
— Brown averaging 25/7/4

Had Ime only maximize Jaylen and Jayson I would have been very happy. And so far this year - he has. 4-5 assists a game from your wing is amazing.

The defense is a huge plus too.

[Celtics4ever]

Stats are stats but I never seen a guy hang out more during timeouts with his coaching staff than correcting players.   Is that a Pop thing?   My son had seats two rows back and said he did not see much coaching during the game.  It was mainly players during the timeouts with Marcus being the main talker.

Not saying this bad, but it does seem weird.

[Who]

Stats are stats but I never seen a guy hang out more during timeouts with his coaching staff than correcting players.   Is that a Pop thing?   My son had seats two rows back and said he did not see much coaching during the game.  It was mainly players during the timeouts with Marcus being the main talker.

Not saying this bad, but it does seem weird.

Yeah, it's a Pop thing. He likes to clear out for the way for the first 30secs or so of a timeout. Give the players room to talk to one another while he confers with all his assistant coaches. Then he comes in for the last 30 secs and says whatever he has got to say.

Gives the players room to speak up and be leaders. Not always relying on coaching staff to do so.

[Vermont Green]

There has been improvement.  The passing and more importantly, the movement without the ball, the spacing, the appearance that there is a purpose to the offense, has all improved.  We will see how durable this improvement is as we start to play better teams again.  You have to give some credit for this to the coaching though.

[nickagneta]

Has anyone changed their mind and now thinks "Ime has got to stay!"?

I wanted to replace Udoka very late in the movement, mostly for his poor offensive sets and philosophy. I always thought that once he went away from the "switch everything all the time" defensive game planning to the better "switch everything only against some teams but against others don't switch against certain players" approach, his defense would be great. That has been proven correct.

Regarding Ime's offensive schemes, I have recently seen more of what I wanted:
- more ball movement
- more intelligent passing
- consistency as to who starts the offense
- less iso Jays-centric plays and sets
- faster pace

The offense still needs some work like adding more of the Jays playing off each other, more outlet passing to create more fast break points, more inside out offense utilizing Horford's and Timelord's great passing skills and more intelligent cutting that doesn't do it through the paint when it will obviously not work because you have a big down there already clogging driving lanes up.

But overall, I am going to go back to thinking Ime needs to be given at the very least, one more season, because I've seen growth from him and because I seen the team buying into his defensive schemes with excellent play, not complaining all the time about bad refereeing, looking to increase pace on offense, and better ball movement.

I still think Udoka's coaching staff could use an offensive coordinator's position that makes this team hum, but other than that, Ime has earned the right to stay for a while

[footey]

Stats are stats but I never seen a guy hang out more during timeouts with his coaching staff than correcting players.   Is that a Pop thing?   My son had seats two rows back and said he did not see much coaching during the game.  It was mainly players during the timeouts with Marcus being the main talker.

Not saying this bad, but it does seem weird.

I had same observation from an earlier game I attended (double OT loss in DC), and someone on the board said it was a Pop thing too.

[Celtics4ever]

I did not vote for him to go by means just wondered if others observed that coaching style.  Thanks for clarification

[Big333223]

I can't wrap my mind around people wanting to fire a rookie head coach without giving him a full season to implement his system.

The Celtics are great on defense and playing with more pace on offense. Everyone plays hard. Ime is clearly figuring things out but I'd much rather have someone who is figuring things out than someone who thinks they've already got it all figured out.

[bdm860]

Stats are stats but I never seen a guy hang out more during timeouts with his coaching staff than correcting players.   Is that a Pop thing?   My son had seats two rows back and said he did not see much coaching during the game.  It was mainly players during the timeouts with Marcus being the main talker.

Not saying this bad, but it does seem weird.

Yeah, it's a Pop thing. He likes to clear out for the way for the first 30secs or so of a timeout. Give the players room to talk to one another while he confers with all his assistant coaches. Then he comes in for the last 30 secs and says whatever he has got to say.

Gives the players room to speak up and be leaders. Not always relying on coaching staff to do so.

Whenever I see the cameras in the huddle or the coaches mic'd up, I always kind of wonder what the players are thinking.  It's always generic coach talk:

"We need to play harder guys!"

"Make sure you box out!"

"We're not getting back on defense!"

"Just keep taking good shots, they're going to start falling!"

"Don't settle, keep moving the ball around!"

"We're/They're still in this, don't let up!"


Except for when the coach is drawing up plays, are the players even really listening to any of this?  What can a coach really tell a veteran team that they don't already know or haven't heard a million times before?  Especially for the high bball IQ players (Rondo, Chris Paul, LeBron, etc.), I always figured they gotta be rolling their eyes on the inside.

This Ime/Pop approach actually seems like it makes the most sense for NBA players.

[liam]

I can't wrap my mind around people wanting to fire a rookie head coach without giving him a full season to implement his system.

The Celtics are great on defense and playing with more pace on offense. Everyone plays hard. Ime is clearly figuring things out but I'd much rather have someone who is figuring things out than someone who thinks they've already got it all figured out.

I really disliked Ime after the beginning of the season but even I knew he'd get at least this year and maybe next year too before reevaluating. I'm glad the Celtics got to play this weaker schedule and get on this win streak and hope it carries over. Too bad we didn't start the season witha weaker schedule.

[Celtics4ever]

At the beginning of the year the ATOs were really bad but have improved.    One had to wonder, if they put things as components as we've gotten better as the year progressed.  Some of this could player's know what to do and when to do things too.

[hwangjini_1]

Has anyone changed their mind and now thinks "Ime has got to stay!"?

I wanted to replace Udoka very late in the movement, mostly for his poor offensive sets and philosophy. I always thought that once he went away from the "switch everything all the time" defensive game planning to the better "switch everything only against some teams but against others don't switch against certain players" approach, his defense would be great. That has been proven correct.

Regarding Ime's offensive schemes, I have recently seen more of what I wanted:
- more ball movement
- more intelligent passing
- consistency as to who starts the offense
- less iso Jays-centric plays and sets
- faster pace

The offense still needs some work like adding more of the Jays playing off each other, more outlet passing to create more fast break points, more inside out offense utilizing Horford's and Timelord's great passing skills and more intelligent cutting that doesn't do it through the paint when it will obviously not work because you have a big down there already clogging driving lanes up.

But overall, I am going to go back to thinking Ime needs to be given at the very least, one more season, because I've seen growth from him and because I seen the team buying into his defensive schemes with excellent play, not complaining all the time about bad refereeing, looking to increase pace on offense, and better ball movement.

I still think Udoka's coaching staff could use an offensive coordinator's position that makes this team hum, but other than that, Ime has earned the right to stay for a while

good post with which i agree. just to add one item to your list above: much quicker bringing the ball past the half court line.

the past few games the celtics didn't walk the ball up the court. they ALL seem to move up court with a purpose and start the offensive sets sooner.

about the slowest two in doing this now are tatum and schroder.

Tommy would be proud. 

[Celtics2021]

I’m glad my vote of “No, not even close to enough time to evaluate him” is still available for me to see.  I’m still not completely sold, but he’s clearly got his players’ ears at this point, as what he said he’s wanted is now how we’re seeing them play.  I think the next point of evaluation will be do they rebound faster from a slump.  No team brings their best version of themselves every night, but instead of having the downturn last 8-10 games, can it be limited to 2-3?  And the next time there’s an injury, can the remaining players fill in the breach, or are they still not able to pick up a bit of what’s missing?

That said, moving on from Udoka would be lunacy.  He’s improved, as you would hope a first-time coach does.

[SHAQATTACK]

Has anyone changed their mind and now thinks "Ime has got to stay!"?

I wanted to replace Udoka very late in the movement, mostly for his poor offensive sets and philosophy. I always thought that once he went away from the "switch everything all the time" defensive game planning to the better "switch everything only against some teams but against others don't switch against certain players" approach, his defense would be great. That has been proven correct.

Regarding Ime's offensive schemes, I have recently seen more of what I wanted:
- more ball movement
- more intelligent passing
- consistency as to who starts the offense
- less iso Jays-centric plays and sets
- faster pace

The offense still needs some work like adding more of the Jays playing off each other, more outlet passing to create more fast break points, more inside out offense utilizing Horford's and Timelord's great passing skills and more intelligent cutting that doesn't do it through the paint when it will obviously not work because you have a big down there already clogging driving lanes up.

But overall, I am going to go back to thinking Ime needs to be given at the very least, one more season, because I've seen growth from him and because I seen the team buying into his defensive schemes with excellent play, not complaining all the time about bad refereeing, looking to increase pace on offense, and better ball movement.

I still think Udoka's coaching staff could use an offensive coordinator's position that makes this team hum, but other than that, Ime has earned the right to stay for a while

Good points .  He seems much more comfortable in the saddle ,   Winning is giving him confidence in his coaching as well as helping unite the team.   He is getting the hang of it me thinks.

[PhoSita]

Has anyone changed their mind and now thinks "Ime has got to stay!"?

I wanted to replace Udoka very late in the movement, mostly for his poor offensive sets and philosophy. I always thought that once he went away from the "switch everything all the time" defensive game planning to the better "switch everything only against some teams but against others don't switch against certain players" approach, his defense would be great. That has been proven correct.

Regarding Ime's offensive schemes, I have recently seen more of what I wanted:
- more ball movement
- more intelligent passing
- consistency as to who starts the offense
- less iso Jays-centric plays and sets
- faster pace

The offense still needs some work like adding more of the Jays playing off each other, more outlet passing to create more fast break points, more inside out offense utilizing Horford's and Timelord's great passing skills and more intelligent cutting that doesn't do it through the paint when it will obviously not work because you have a big down there already clogging driving lanes up.

But overall, I am going to go back to thinking Ime needs to be given at the very least, one more season, because I've seen growth from him and because I seen the team buying into his defensive schemes with excellent play, not complaining all the time about bad refereeing, looking to increase pace on offense, and better ball movement.

I still think Udoka's coaching staff could use an offensive coordinator's position that makes this team hum, but other than that, Ime has earned the right to stay for a while

the winning lately has been nice, albeit against a mostly easy slate.

what I would like to see is evidence that the team is actually improving in terms of how they respond to adversity in competitive fourth quarters.  that's where this team has really struggled.

if the Celts end up making the playoffs, it will also be interesting to see how Ime fares in terms of making adjustments over the course of a series (hopefully one that lasts more than 4-5 games).