Brutal smackdown from Ime Udoka to Marc Gasol: "I found it strange that he won the DPOY, it was a weird year"
The current Houston Rockets coach does not believe that the former player of the Grizzlies and Raptors deserved to be considered the best defender in the NBA in 2013
Ime Udoka, head coach of the Houston Rockets, was asked in a press conference if he had shown videos of Marc Gasol defending Alperen Sengun. The former Celtics coach, who left Boston after being accused of harassment by a colleague, made it clear that he was not a fan of the Spanish player, stating that Gasol did not deserve the Defensive Player of the Year award and even hinted that he was not impressed when facing him:
"We didn't show Alpy any videos of Marc Gasol, but if I'm not mistaken, I believe he won the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award and was not included in the First Team that year. It was a strange year. I found it a bit strange that (Gasol) won it. I remember playing against him many times in San Antonio. So I'll leave it at that."
We don't know what videos they showed Sengun, but what we do know is that at the moment, the Turkish player is light-years away from the Catalan in terms of defense.
One of the comments in the Hoopshype article where Udoka's statements were found criticized the coach:
"Interestingly, the 'This day in history' segment of tonight's Grizzlies game highlights a memorable moment: Memphis' 96-86 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in 2019. In that game, Marc Gasol shined with a remarkable performance, recording 26 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block."
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Brutal zasca de Ime Udaka a Marc Gasol: "Me pareció extraño que ganara el DPOY, fue un año raro"