The Boston Celtics have had a tumultuous offseason, to say the least. This came after a remarkable turnaround to start 2022, in which they tore through the regular season and the playoffs, culminating in an NBA Finals appearance. They didn’t ultimately win the championship, but things look to be on the right track after a couple of seasons of underachieving.
Then the offseason happened. Things started off pretty well; they traded a bag of peanuts for a valuable rotation player in Malcolm Brogdon and signed a useful sharpshooting veteran forward in Danilo Gallinari for the minimum. Both were great additions and helped the Boston Celtics get deeper.
What happened to the Boston Celtics’ promising offseason?
Then things started to get weird. Kevin Durant demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets just as Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown began questioning whether he was valued by fans.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1541410508846268422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Of course, the Celtics then reportedly discussed trading Brown (subscription required) as a part of a package for Durant.
That obviously didn’t happen, but that definitely didn’t help the team’s relationship with Brown, who will be an unrestricted free agent in a couple of seasons. There’s still plenty of time for the Celts to repair that relationship, but it didn’t help the team’s reputation for treating their players as just assets.
If that were the only bad thing to happen to the Celtics, then the offseason would’ve still been considered a success. However, a few weeks after signing Gallinari, he tore his ACL while playing in EuroBasket, negating the addition. Then, starting center Robert Williams was ruled out for up to six weeks with a knee procedure, putting his availability to start the season in question.
Factoring in Williams’ previous health issues, that may be a concern, though it could also help him stay healthy next season, to be determined on that. Now there’s the news that head coach Ime Udoka has been suspended for the entire season for violating team policy.
The Boston Celtics have suspended head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 23, 2022
There’s obviously no good time in which to lose a coach for a season but losing him just before training camp and the preseason is a particularly bad time. Especially now that players will have to answer awkward questions during media day. With the Udoka cloud likely hanging over the team for all of next season, it could impact the Celtics beyond on-court strategy.
Udoka seemed to get the most out of the team’s talent after they seemed to get stagnant under the previous coach, Brad Stevens. With Udoka gone, will the Celtics not have the same edge that they had last season? It’s possible, likely even, and since it’s already hard enough to make it back to the NBA Finals, it definitely puts that into question.
They are a better team than a year ago, so there’s that, but coaching matters, and swapping out Udoka for Joe Mazzulla could mean that the Celtics are a few games worse. A few games worse means worse seeding and a more difficult path back to the NBA Finals, as well as possibly not having home court if they make it back.
Ultimately, despite a promising start to the offseason for Boston, it’s quickly devolved into a nightmare. In fact, with no Udoka, a potentially discontent star, and injuries to deal with, the Boston Celtics should no longer be considered the favorites in the East.