Milwaukee Bucks: 10 potential head coaching candidates
By Adam McGee
Ime Udoka
After a journeyman playing career that saw him earn a reputation as a great teammate, Udoka was immediately added to the coaching staff in San Antonio, with Gregg Popovich describing him as having “an outstanding work ethic” and “a natural inclination to teach”.
Udoka’s influence has played out in a number of important ways for the Spurs over the last five-and-a-half years, showing a versatility that could present great value to organizations if he was to ever make the leap to head coach.
Udoka’s greatest strength seems to come in the form of building relationships. When LaMarcus Aldridge chose the Spurs as a free agent back in 2015, he hailed the influence of his former Trail Blazers teammate in getting a deal across the line.
"“If I had questions, I would call him. And when things weren’t looking as good (during the Spurs’ pursuit), him and I would talk for an hour or two, just going over everything. He would maybe reaffirm some things that I didn’t understand, or I didn’t think were accurate. I told (Spurs general manager) R.C. Buford, I said, ‘Ime got the deal done.’ Pop (indicating that he’d remain the coach in the coming years) was very important to me, but Ime put in a lot of work on that.”"
That kind of respect and fondness for Udoka seems to be common, as Gregg Popovich outlined to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN the way in which the former Nigerian international manages relationships and promotes a sense of trust.
"“He exudes a confidence and a comfort in his own skin where people just gravitate to him,” Popovich says. “He’s a fundamentally sound teacher because he’s comfortable with himself, he knows the material and players read it. Often times, I’ll say, ‘Ime, can you go talk to so-and-so? Go talk to Patty Mills, go talk to Timmy, go talk to Kawhi.’ And he’ll do it better than I would do it — and I’m not blowing smoke."
Coming from a situation where relationships with players regularly seemed frayed under Kidd, Udoka may well be a breath of fresh air.