Ssj16 wrote:___Rand___ wrote:G R E Y wrote:Is that what it was? I don't recall. Houston seems farther ahead in their development but of course injuries really derailed your season. Still, I think roles are more defined in Houston. Maybe that was a factor. I don't know if it was a case of TO backing out/cooling on him or his choosing the situation. Sometimes it also boils down to/factored by the feel of either side for the other.
I thought TO would go for Jordi given his success at the WC with Team Canada. I thought they should have gone with him, but that's also not really knowing much about your current coach.
Yup. Canada is pretty sensitive about women's rights and standings so him coming over would have been a huge scandal. Masai was asked about Udoka at a press conference and what I remember was his facial expression more than his words - one of shrugging his shoulders and resignation - and he said something like "it's not the right time" or something to that effect. They did interview him days after Nurse was let go, before weeks Udoka was hired by Houston.
Udoka made this remark about "not taking a job with a team that had 2nd round ceiling" referring to Raptors at the intro press conference in Houston.
Houston isn't further in their development than Raptors - at the start of the season Raptors had OG, Siakam, and Scottie along with Schroeder and Poeltl. That's 2 African stars, 1 all-NBA player, 1 DPOY candidate, a ROY. That roster's better than Houston. That's a stiff defensive team, the kind Udoka likes to coach. OG Siakam Scottie Poeltl are excellent defenders. Long athletic team. Schroeder is an ok guard defender. Our problem was lack of consistent guard play. We only had one shooter - Gary Trent Jr - who's wildly inconsistent. Gradey Dick's a rookie and it took him most of the season to find his footing. Darko was NOT ready to coach an NBA team and just fumbled the first 1/3rd of the season. That's when Masai blew it up. Udoka wold've won more with that roster - in ugly defensive brawls, but still wining.
At the start of the season outside of Segun and Smith who else did they have? just Fred and Brooks. Segun is undersized for a center. Smith is still underwhelming so far for a top 3 pick - OG is better than Smith as a 3&D guy. a TON better. Poeltl is better defensively than Segun. Pascal has no comp on Rockets. Fred is better than Dennis but Dennis is a bit better to defend small guards.
By the time Jordi got the Canada job he's already been interviewed and passed over, and Raptors had already picked Darko without naming him yet.
Is there a source for this? Like the other poster mentioned, I thought Udoka ultimately went with Houston because he saw more upside in the roster.
There was plenty of reporting around the time Nurse got fired and our hiring process. Udoka was interviewed along with 30 other candidates Raptors looked at. He was out pretty early. Nobody wrote a big article "Udoka rejected" because it was a nothing burger - there were other 29 candidates who were rejected along the way. Raptors' reference was the only one Udoka made at the Houston intro press conference. You can look that up. Why would he make a reference to another team at an intro to a new gig if he wasn't sour about a missed opportunity?
