The Nets may be having second thoughts about hiring Ime Udoka as their next head coach, tweets NBA reporter Marc Stein, who hears that “strong voices” are warning owner Joe Tsai about the potential move. Udoka emerged as the “strong frontrunner” for the job almost immediately after the decision to part ways with Steve Nash was announced last Tuesday.
However, league sources tell Stein that people close to Tsai are warning him to reconsider any commitment to Udoka considering the atmosphere of turmoil in Brooklyn. Udoka would bring additional baggage after being suspended for the season as Celtics head coach following an affair with a team staffer.
Jacque Vaughn continues to serve as interim coach and has led the Nets to a 2-1 record, with back-to-back road wins over the weekend.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets star Kevin Durant is interested in being part of the ownership group for the NFL’s Washington Commanders if the team is put up for sale, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. Durant is a long-time fan of the team, but he might have competition from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and recording artist Jay-Z if current owner Dan Snyder decides to sell. “Our market is incredible,” Durant said. “There’s a lot of support in D.C., a lot of money in D.C. to be made. … Regardless of what’s going on, they pretty much built that team up, built that stadium, built the brand up pretty nicely. I know we’ve had some losing seasons, but it’s starting to come around for us. I’m excited as a fan. I’m excited about the sale. I’m excited to see who they bring in and who they sell the team to and see how we move forward with it.”
- Sixers coach Doc Rivers believes there’s a “75% chance” Joel Embiid will return tonight after missing three straight games with an illness, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He looked good,” Rivers said after watching Embiid at Sunday’s practice. “I mean listen, he had the flu and it’s hard. Your lungs are burning and he [still] looked pretty good.” Rivers plans to run the offense through Embiid while James Harden is sidelined with a strained tendon in his right foot. Harden is wearing a walking boot, and the foot is currently non-weight-bearing, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- The Raptors will need someone to replace the contribution of Pascal Siakam while he’s out of action with an adductor strain, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Veterans Thaddeus Young and Otto Porter looked good in Sunday’s win over the Bulls. “They just know kind of where to be … so that felt like the right move, playing those guys tonight just because the schemes were pretty tricky,” coach Nick Nurse said.
I’m pretty sure Udoka is a better coach than Vaughn. Who are the alleged “strong voices” warning aginst the hire?
I always proceed with “caution” when a story like this pops up, and it ain’t from Shams or Woj.
Woj yes Shams no.
It’s not about ability but saving face of the brand…
These voices are warning against adding more fuel to the dumpster fire…
Strong voices = the NBA front office. They probably told them not to hire him for poor optics on the league. It happens from time to time. Barry Bonds had a 480 OBP in his last season and wanted to continue playing but magically couldn’t get a contract.
NBA is OK2,
There are rumors within the Boston media that the Udoka situation is even uglier than what has been revealed publicly.
Legal concerns have kept a tight lid on details about what happened.
If he gets the Net’s job and more details leak out or a lawsuit is filed against Udoka, it could be a really bad look for Nets ownership and management.
Disappointed Celtics fans took Coach Udoka’s “crude” talk to be just that & looked past it. But there was a thorough investigation by an outside legal team into the situation & “crude” may have meant more than that. I would guess so but who knows. Go Celtics!
I don’t see how anything could be a significantly worse look for the Nets than their current one is.
If there was going to be a lawsuit filed against him it would have already happened.
It still doesn’t mean you want to add to it.
Nets should make the move now and sign him
Agree
He definitely is better than Vaughn, but based on your responses in other threads, I’m surprised you can’t tell that this has nothing to do with the two guys’ coaching skills.
Brooklyn is to close to Boston. The entire shawdow of not being told what really happened shifts a few hundred miles over.
The media will roast Kyrie and Sarver all day, but let Ime walk is bad for business.
Why is he not being held accountable?
He will have to get out of the eastern conference to get out of the shawdow and take the assistant route for a time until enough time passes.
It’s just to soon.
Wrong.
LOLNets
Bezos might let Durant get .005 percent
Kyrie took the heat off hiring Udoka. Let the Nets add one more undesirable and lets move on. This experiment is about over regardless.
Never thought the Nets could make the days of Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks look normalized.
Bad idea from the start. Since the Simmons trade, I’ve believed that it was baked in that Tsai would be selling the team within the next NBA media contract cycle. Assuming that’s the case, this is at best a high risk, high reward, hire. Although maybe he thinks that KI has given it some cover. Certainly, it will be awhile before Udoka being hired will be the Nets’ top story.
Joe needs to figure out who the owner of the team is. He flip flops more than a fish out of water.