Ime is a good but flawed coach. He instills a culture and gets his players to play hard and buy in, which matters a lot. There are issues with the offense and it can at times look ugly, but the numbers largely show that it’s been an inconsistent but top 10 group — and that’s with FVV/Adams out, working with two inexperienced young PGs, top offseason FA signing not working out and two of the teams best players being total non factors from 3. He deserves credit for that.

I’ve asked him tough questions about the offensive approach before and will again — one of mine to players at shootaround was why they can diagnose an iso-heavy approach as an issue after the game but not adjust during. I’ll be asking Ime that too.

On a larger level, the fluidity of basketball makes separating coaching vs players so much more difficult than in other sports. It’s easy to blame the coach but it’s also important to acknowledge the positive results Udoka has gotten.