Anyone who has been employed for more than a month has probably encountered a situation where the rules of the company were overlooked. In most cases, it happens because the person who broke the rules is either too important to the company to fire or because they had enough friends in high places to find a way to make the problem go away. That’s why the actions taken by the Boston Celtics regarding head coach Ime Udoka are so startling.
Given that the Boston Celtics are favored by many to win a title this season, the temptation to find a way to maintain the status quo had to be enormous. They had a coach who had won 28 of his last 35 regular season games and then taken the Warriors to six games in the NBA Finals.
They then added Malcolm Brogdon to their core without losing anyone of consequence, and they hoped to have Robert Williams healthy. If everything clicks, the Boston Celtics are as good as anyone. A lot of teams in that situation would have taken the path of least resistance, which would be to pretend nothing happened.
The Boston Celtics risked a lot to do the right thing regarding Ime Udoka.
Maybe you have to write a big check to keep someone quiet, but when you have already invested $170 million in your team payroll, you could justify spending a big chunk to protect that investment. We know from history that such ventures usually end badly, but that hasn’t stopped teams from trying. But the Celtics took a different path, and you have to admire the courage that it took.
The Boston Celtics have suspended head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 23, 2022
That $170 million investment is entrusted to Joe Mazzulla, who is 34 years old and whose head coaching experience consists of two years at Fairmont State. The first question that comes to mind is that if whatever Ime Udoka did was egregious enough to justify throwing the team into this much tumult, why wouldn’t they fire him? Also, if Mazzulla is good enough that they were willing to put the team in his hands for this season, why would they not just hire him full-time?
Instead, by suspending Udoka, the Celtics have set themselves up for a season full of drama. Even though Udoka Udoka is technically under contract, his name will likely be mentioned if any coaching jobs come open during the regular season. Even more interesting will be what happens if the Celtics get off to a slow start under Mazzulla.
The Boston Celtics have plenty of uncertainty with their head coaching position.
They were patient with Udoka last year when they were 23–24, and that paid off for them, but last year we were all distracted by the drama in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. This year, Boston is the defending conference champion, so if they are stuck at .500 in late January again, the attention will be squarely on them.
If that happens, will they feel pressured to bring Udoka back? Or will Brad Stevens feel pressure to come down from the front office and take over? Would an outsider be willing to come in, knowing that Udoka is waiting in the wings? Conversely, what if Mazzulla gets back to the Finals? You have to assume that if Mazzulla wins a title, he will be made the permanent coach.
But what if he just gets to the Finals and loses, like Ime Udoka did? Or what if Mazzulla gets to the Eastern Conference Finals? At that point, would the blemish on Udoka’s record tip the scales toward Mazzulla? And how quickly would whoever isn’t retained get hired by someone else?
It was less than a month ago that the Celtics were having as close to an ideal offseason as possible. Even though the injury to Danilo Gallinari happened early enough, the Celtics have time to find an adequate replacement before the season starts (watch what happens if the Jazz buy out Kelly Olynyk). Now there’s just enough chaos happening in Boston that nothing seems certain, and much of that chaos is due to choices the Celtics themselves have made.