Ime Udoka was introduced as the new coach of the Rockets on Wednesday, and he faced several questions regarding his suspension and eventual ouster from the Celtics.
Udoka was issued a full-year suspension by the Celtics last offseason for a violation of team rules stemming from an inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate in the organization. Udoka and the Celtics parted ways midseason, and the interim tag was removed from Joe Mazzulla, who subsequently signed a contract extension to become the team’s permanent coach.
When asked about the interview process with the Rockets and the discussion regarding the end of his brief tenure with the Celtics, Udoka described how it all came together.
“Well I’d say in general, like [Rockets owner] Tilman [Fertitta] alluded to, they’ve done their due diligence and homework on who I am as a person,” Udoka began. “I think we spent quality time together to get to know each other and clicked pretty easily and pretty well. But overall, I released a statement months ago when everything happened and apologized to a lot of people for the tough position I put them in and I stand by that and feel much more remorse now towards that. I spent this last offseason working on myself in a lot of different ways, improving in areas, and it gave me a chance to sit back, reflect and grow and I think that’ll make me a better coach and overall a better leader. But the situation, the matter, has been resolved and can’t really speak much about it.”
When probed further on whether he believed the Celtics were justified in firing him, Udoka further owned up to his actions.
“Yeah, I mean obviously, my part in it was to take ownership and accountability for my part. They had a choice to make a decision and chose to go that route, and my thing was to own up to it and take responsibility and serve the suspension, and I had to own it, honestly. Same thing I’ll preach to the guys. I can’t sit here and not take accountability myself, so it was their right to go about it however they wanted to and that was the choice they took.”
Udoka had previously led Boston to the NBA Finals. The Rockets hope those on-court results will follow him to Houston.
