It was only 10 days with the Lakers, but you can tell Ime Udoka thinks it should’ve been more. “I played well enough to probably stick,” Udoka said.
“I played well enough to probably stick,” Udoka said.trying to find an NBA home after being one of the final cuts on a Lakers roster loaded with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone.
“I figure whatever route I’ve taken, it was going to start somewhere. That was my belief in myself, and so if it wasn’t L.A., it would have been somewhere else,” Udoka said. ”I had a few call-ups that fell through on the way, so I was very close for a while. … You know, there were ups and downs along the way, and if not for that situation, I was going to kick the door down at some point regardless.
Udoka brings all of that to the bench just like he did to the Trail Blazers and Spurs — and could’ve brought to the 2003-04 Lakers. But now, as the Celtics coach, he carries a determinedly serious aura through these Finals — a calm and confidence that his players believe tracks directly with the kind of on-court performer he was.