For multiple seasons as a player and seven as an assistant, new Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka had an up-close look at San Antonio Spurs legend Gregg Popovich. With five NBA titles, Popovich is widely viewed as one of the best coaches in sports history.
Their run together included trips to the 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals, with the latter culminating in a fifth and final championship for the Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker-led dynasty.
Buy Rockets TicketsAs Udoka sees it, perhaps the biggest key to their success — from a coaching perspective — wasn’t in any tactical move. Instead, it was about building positive relationships and strong culture.
In a new interview with Vanessa Richardson, courtside reporter for Houston’s television broadcast partner AT&T SportsNet Southwest, Udoka shared these takeaways from his time with the Spurs:
The most important thing [to Popovich’s coaching] is the relationship aspect of it. He taught us that from day one. I felt that as a player, even being a role player coming off the bench. He puts his arms around everybody and knows the importance of that.
Going into the coaching side, he was the first to say it’s not about the Xs and Os. Anybody can draw up plays and scheme for different guys. It’s about the relationship aspect. I saw that first hand with Tony, Tim, Manu, and those guys.
It’s one thing doing it with guys for 20 years that you’ve been with, and it’s different when you have to jump around and form those relationships. But I took that from him, and I think that’s by far the most important piece of coaching.
Udoka points to superstar forward Kawhi Leonard, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, as an example of a young player who learned from that model. “I think Kawhi seeing the humility and the selflessness of that group has helped him throughout his career,” Udoka said.
Beyond Popovich and coaching assistants such as himself, Udoka credits Duncan for setting the right standard among players.
“Tim was the most humble, selfless superstar you’ll ever meet,” Udoka recalled. “You wouldn’t know he’s as great as he is… just by talking to him. He’s never going to brag on himself. But he went about it day by day, and I think everybody seeing that example trickled down throughout the entire organization.”
Then again, not every superstar is cut from the same mold. That’s where Udoka learned key lessons from his time as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers (2019-20) and Brooklyn Nets (2020-21).
Getting to be around Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and then KD, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving… it helps you formulate how you will coach different types of guys. Not everybody is going to be the boy scouts, like in San Antonio, so you have to figure out ways to make them their best, and reach them.
That helped me tremendously going to Boston, where I had two young, great superstars there [Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum in 2021-22]. I think this helps me into any situation I go into it.
Today, Udoka’s decision to accept a job in Houston with a much younger roster makes for a very different dynamic relative to when Udoka was head coach with the Celtics. Nonetheless, he believes his coaching style can work in multiple roster constructs.
“I’m direct,” Udoka tells Richardson of his style. “I’m not a guy who sweeps things under the rug. You want to address things head on. But I’m also honest, caring, loving, and very competitive. You want your team to be a reflection of who you are as a coach, and those are lessons and things we’ll instill from day one as we try to nurture these guys into becoming professionals.”
“It all goes back to relationships,” Udoka concludes. “What you do off the court can allow you to coach them a certain way on the court. I look forward to reaching out to everybody, and seeing a lot of these guys in the offseason. I want to meet their families and be around them in their environments, so that we can hit the ground running.”
“I think that’s such a big part of this. Once you build those relationships and they understand you care about them on that level, they’re willing to do whatever on the court.”
“The tough love will be a lot easier for them to take.”
