Calling Guys Out In The Media

[Roy H.]

I think one thing to watch out for is Ime's early tendency to candidly discuss his players in the media.  This was something about Doc Rivers that I always hated, and was something that Brad didn't do a lot.  Case in point:

Udoka on the uneven play of Jaylen Brown thus far: "I'm trying to ramp him up during the game, pump him up to get going but the contrast of some of those previous games, especially Charlotte and the New York game and the way you see him come out tonight is kind of mind boggling."

Is that something that is going to motivate, or lead to resentment? 

[Sophomore]

I’m wondering whether some of the players are thinking: you know who else should be held accountable? The guy who has us switching everything, and who’s playing lineups where the tallest guy is 6’4”. Maybe I should talk about that next time I’m at a mic.

[Celtics2021]

Time will tell.  The rumor was that Jayson and Jaylen wanted to be held more accountable, so Ime’s following through on that.

[liam]

Time will tell.  The rumor was that Jayson and Jaylen wanted to be held more accountable, so Ime’s following through on that.

Ime isn't holding himself accountable at all yet.

[Vermont Green]

This won't end well if it continues.  It can be mitigated if the coach and player discussed it privately before it got to the media but in general, this is just going to lead to media members asking Brown what he thought of what the coach said and otherwise generating more needless talk.

[cons]

yeah
this isn't good

that type of thing will eventually have jaylen leave

not good

[PaxtonDarcy]

I think we all need to give this thing some time to relax. First time head coach + high expectations= growing pains.

But I do agree, I dont like what I see so far. I think they will be fine.

[knuckleballer]

I prefer the Belichick approach of keeping everything in house.  I think that’s generally what Brad was doing.  I think an experienced, successful coach can get away with calling out players, but I don’t like it at all from a rookie coach. 

[liam]

I think we all need to give this thing some time to relax. First time head coach + high expectations= growing pains.

But I do agree, I dont like what I see so far. I think they will be fine.

I hope this is just growing pains. Didn't Ainge lose like 16 in a row to start as a coach with Phoenix? 

[blink]

I am not sure this is the right point in the season to be pointing fingers by the coach.  We are five games in, Jaylen has been a bit injured through some of these games, and is coming back from Covid.  The fact that through that he is averaging 25 ppg and only missed one game is probably worth noting as well.

Again, it isn't the end of the world to get called out by the coach, but how about a larger sample size before he starts casting stones?  How about he takes a little bit of the blame and the pressure off his young stars by admitting that he is still learning as he goes, and he is only 5 games in.

Just a weird and likely unproductive way to deal with the media right now.

[footey]

Did Pop do that? Serious question. I don't know.  I'm guessing that if he did, Ime feels it is okay for him to.

I personally think it's a mistake and could backfire. Especially the personal ones like Roy mentions.

I have no problem with him calling out the team publicly for not taking pre-game seriously enough.  That was good stuff.

[Celtics2021]

From Udoka’s introductory press conference:

"They're going to allow me to coach them, push them," said Udoka, who was introduced alongside Brad Stevens, now the Celtics' president of basketball operations, and owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca at a news conference at the team's practice facility Monday morning. "They know I'm going to be on their $#%!, and that's what they like about me, they've asked me about that. They want to be pushed, they want to be directed toward winning, and you expect that from your stars.

"I'm not worried about our group worrying about hard coaching," Udoka said. "They are asking for that, and it's something I'm going to bring to the table."

To me calling out Jaylen is very consistent with what he said he’d do, and something that the players indicated they supported when he was hired.  Now, it’s certainly possible that upon receiving this style of coaching they find out they were wrong and don’t like it, and/or it doesn’t successfully motivate them, but it raises zero issues with me.  I could see it wearing thin eventually, but theoretically everyone is on board with tough love.

[SparzWizard]

Either the young kids gotta suck it up and take accountability or its time to just admit Udoka is a bad coach. Three of these losses fall on him on top of other players not stepping up.

Either way, if this team can't win games and win playoff games, Tatum and Brown are goners.

[Roy H.]

From Udoka’s introductory press conference:

"They're going to allow me to coach them, push them," said Udoka, who was introduced alongside Brad Stevens, now the Celtics' president of basketball operations, and owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca at a news conference at the team's practice facility Monday morning. "They know I'm going to be on their $#%!, and that's what they like about me, they've asked me about that. They want to be pushed, they want to be directed toward winning, and you expect that from your stars.

"I'm not worried about our group worrying about hard coaching," Udoka said. "They are asking for that, and it's something I'm going to bring to the table."

To me calling out Jaylen is very consistent with what he said he’d do, and something that the players indicated they supported when he was hired.  Now, it’s certainly possible that upon receiving this style of coaching they find out they were wrong and don’t like it, and/or it doesn’t successfully motivate them, but it raises zero issues with me.  I could see it wearing thin eventually, but theoretically everyone is on board with tough love.

I don't necessarily see those as being the same.  I think the Belechick example is a good one.  He's a very tough coach, and he holds guys accountable.  But, he shares almost nothing with the media.  To me, it's the difference between hard coaching, and public shaming.

[liam]

I am not sure this is the right point in the season to be pointing fingers by the coach.  We are five games in, Jaylen has been a bit injured through some of these games, and is coming back from Covid.  The fact that through that he is averaging 25 ppg and only missed one game is probably worth noting as well.

Again, it isn't the end of the world to get called out by the coach, but how about a larger sample size before he starts casting stones?  How about he takes a little bit of the blame and the pressure off his young stars by admitting that he is still learning as he goes, and he is only 5 games in.

Just a weird and likely unproductive way to deal with the media right now.

Yeah, well said!