Ime Udoka

[Gooner]

Considering how much he improved Boston Celtics in one year. Made them the best defensive team in the legue, found the perfect balance offensively between 1-1 ball and passing. Improved Marcus Smart, revitalised Horford, made JT and JB better playmakers. Is he a top 5 coach in the NBA already?

[jalengreen]

ranking coaches is always a very imprecise practice to me, but five coaches id probably rather have for my team right now are spoelstra, nurse, lue, kerr, and maybe monty?

[sp6r=underrated]

IMO, it takes years of data to evaluate coaches and it is far too soon to tell with Ime.

[Colbinii]

I would still take Kerr, Spoelstra, Nurse and Lue. Coaches like Malone, Snyder, Finch, Monty and Green likely in a similar tier and need more time before we can accurately judge.

[Doctor MJ]

Considering how much he improved Boston Celtics in one year. Made them the best defensive team in the legue, found the perfect balance offensively between 1-1 ball and passing. Improved Marcus Smart, revitalised Horford, made JT and JB better playmakers. Is he a top 5 coach in the NBA already?

So I voted "Yes", but I think it's hard to answer stuff like this about new coaches.

What's definitely the case is that Udoka was one of the 5 most effective coaches this year, and a big step up over the performance under the previous Celtic coach who is obviously highly regarded.

We'll have to see Udoka in more situations to have a sense of the entirety of his strengths and weaknesses.

[Doctor MJ]

ranking coaches is always a very imprecise practice to me, but five coaches id probably rather have for my team right now are spoelstra, nurse, lue, kerr, and maybe monty?

While it's tough for me to rank, yeah, I'd have those first 4 ahead of Udoka.

I'd be inclined to put Udoka ahead of Monty though. Monty's lack of adjustment in these playoffs was eye-opening.

[Cavsfansince84]

Considering how much he improved Boston Celtics in one year. Made them the best defensive team in the legue, found the perfect balance offensively between 1-1 ball and passing. Improved Marcus Smart, revitalised Horford, made JT and JB better playmakers. Is he a top 5 coach in the NBA already?

I don't think you can give him full credit for everything you just wrote above. He gets some of the credit. At the end of the day they are a young core that was still improving and had some good pieces around them like Smart and Horford. Maybe he's a top 5 coach already but coaches tend to get too much credit and too much blame(though some deserve it). Stevens also made some decent moves as gm.

[Outside]

I really like the job Udoka has done this year, but you have to see a coach over time to tell where he ranks. I can't put him in the top five based on one season. Doc won COY his first year, but he's not generally considered as top five now.

[Gooner]

IMO, it takes years of data to evaluate coaches and it is far too soon to tell with Ime.

Usually it does, but look at coaches like Steve Kerr or Nick Nurse for example. It was obvious after their first year that they are elite coaches. If Udoka led his team to the final in his first year, I doubt he will do any worse as a coach with more experience. Now his team may or may not have the same level of success, but that's a different story that depends on injuries, trades, competition etc...

One thing that I look at first in regards to coaches is their philosophy, and I like how Udoka coaches defense. That's the foundation for long term success.

[Gooner]

ranking coaches is always a very imprecise practice to me, but five coaches id probably rather have for my team right now are spoelstra, nurse, lue, kerr, and maybe monty?

I respect Spoelstra, but I also see him as Pat Riley's protege. I'm not sure if he could have the same impact on another team, on his own. Udoka won the series against him already, it has to be said. I'm not necessarily saying it was his Spo's fault, but when you have two evenly matched teams like Boston and Miami, coaches always play a big role.