Ime Udoka will soon be patrolling the sidelines for the first time as a head coach. For all the experience he has as an assistant, there’s something different to being in charge.
First-time head coaches are always in a bit of a precarious position regardless of whether they come from the college ranks or off someone else’s bench. That’s what makes assembling the right staff of assistant coaches so important.
“It’s been pretty extensive so far,” Udoka said of the coaching search. “Tons of great candidates out there. Obviously I have the benefit of being a journeyman and being in so many organizations, you meet a lot of people. I have a lot of relationships built around the league.”
The days of Red Auerbach coaching without an assistant coach by his side are long gone. Today, assistant coaches handle a lot of opponent game-planning, player development, and specific aspects of the game like Udoka himself did with the defenses in Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
Teams now need a brigade of assistants in order to execute the increasingly complicated game plans of the modern NBA. There is always a rush to exploit each new wave of rules changes and tweaks. For example, the rise of zone defenses has emerged from the elimination of the illegal defense rule, and each season that passes brings us more, and more complicated zone coverage. Bigs like Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez exploit rules that allow him to basically camp out in the paint and force teams into difficult floaters and inefficient midrange shots.
Newton’s third law of motion applies to basketball too, because for every defensive action there is an equal and opposite offensive reaction. Let’s call it Newton’s third law of motion offense, and each screen and cut get more intricate with the level of misdirection and decoys sent through the defense just to open up a sliver of light for a scorer.
It’s all very complicated, and with all due respect to Red, even he would have needed some help with the diagramming.
Udoka will build his staff to not only handle this level of planning, but also to further exploit whatever hidden cracks there are in the game. In a sense, it’s a bit of basketball fracking, with new perspectives forcing themselves into fissures to extract valuable wins (but without setting anyone’s water on fire).
During games, while his staff is barking out orders from the sideline, Udoka will be standing somewhere by the scorer’s table doing what head coaches do: seeing how well the plan works, changing personnel based on what he sees, and reacting to the unforeseen like foul trouble or injuries. Like any rookie, there will be a transition period where his head will be full of thoughts as he tries to process what’s happening. There will be a time where the game moves a little too fast, even for a person who has seen and done this his whole life.
As much as he’s been meant to coach, each step up in the league comes with this transition period. That’s true of everyone. It was the same for you when you first started your job, and for me when I started here and tried to figure out how things worked. Udoka has a lot going for him, but human nature is unassailable; he will have some moments where he forgets something obvious.
This is why it’s imperative that Udoka add someone to his bench with head coaching experience. Every boss needs his consigliere, and that’s especially true of a first-time head coach. Udoka, at least outwardly, seems to disagree to some extent.
“I'm not specifically looking for that,” Udoka told NBC Sports Boston. “I think there are definitely benefits to it, but it’s not a must for me. I’m more so hiring the best people with basketball knowledge, they don’t have to be an ex-head coach but if it falls into that category, then great.”
Every team needs a veteran leader. We simply can’t spend as much time as we have advocating for that when it comes to the team on the floor and then ignore it on the team preparing those guys. There is no difference between a coaching staff, the team on the floor, or any other collection of people working toward a common goal. Someone who has been there and done that to add the “I’ve seen this before” voice to the mix is incredibly important.
No one on an NBA team deals with everything quite like the head coach. He has to deal with the media on an almost daily basis, receive and process game plans, developmental progress reports, and health status from his staff, deal with the front office as player personnel moves are considered, and then whatever community obligations the public relations staff puts on him. The distractions are everywhere, and it can be a lot to process when you’re the new guy.
Brad Stevens can help since he’s in the building, but he won’t be on the sidelines. This is a job for someone who can be around on the practice floor and in the coach’s room before the game. This is a job for someone who can enhance Udoka’s learned coaching skills while he hones new ones.
We’re not looking for a person to take over if Udoka trips and falls. We’re looking for someone to steady him whenever he wobbles a little.
“I’m looking for energy, juice in the building, a great environment to produce winning. That’s what I’m looking for in my staff and some of the people I’ve talked to so far,” Udoka said. “Then in general just a little bit of mix. I don’t feel like I need to have an energetic staff more so than a veteran staff, so I’m looking at both areas and a ton of great candidates.”
This is a team built to start winning now. Maybe they won’t be title contenders right away, but Udoka should still come out of his first couple of seasons with a fine-looking coaching record. The goal is to give him the best chance to do what he does best.