The Boston Celtics have shocked the rest of the NBA by suspending their own head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season.
Udoka was found to have broken the Celtics organizational code of conduct by having an intimate relationship with a female employee of the C’s, and was promptly suspended after a month-long investigation.
The news has caught the entire league off guard, and chances are the official suspension for Udoka isn’t the last we will hear of this matter. Lost in the madness is the fact that the Celtics will be opening training camp next Tuesday. There’s a lot that this team needs to digest in a short span of time, so let’s run through three questions that will need to answered by the Celtics throughout the upcoming season.
Boston Celtics question No. 3: Will the players be able to handle a sudden coaching change?
Losing Udoka’s presence on the bench for the C’s obviously hurts, but Boston’s saving grace is that they still boast one of the best rosters in the entire league. They didn’t lose any key pieces of their rotation this offseason, and added Malcolm Brogdon (and maybe Danilo Gallinari) during the offseason to make them one of the deepest teams in the league .
But it’s clear Udoka played a big role in Boston’s unexpected run to the Finals last season. It took some time, but the team bought into his system in a way that the guy he replaced, Brad Stevens, couldn’t ever seem to figure out. The players clearly enjoyed having Udoka lead their team, and losing him is going to be a potentially devastating blow for them.
After finally becoming comfortable with a coach, they will have to switch gears completely just before the start of the season. Will the players be receptive to this change, and will they be able to handle to attention that has come with Udoka’s sudden suspension? It will certainly be a challenge, and we will find out a lot of these answers early on in the season.
Boston Celtics question No. 2: Will Joe Mazzulla be able to make the transition from assistant coach to head coach?
Since Udoka is now out for the entire season, someone is going to have to step up and fill in for him. With that in mind, the front office settled on assistant coach Joe Mazzulla to fill in for Udoka in the interim. It only took a short amount of time for Mazzulla’s decision to be a polarizing one.
While Mazzulla was a finalist for the Utah Jazz’s head coaching vacancy, fans were quick to note that Mazzulla’s rap sheet wasn’t very clean either. He has had several run-ins with the law dating back to his days in college, with most folks being concerned about a domestic battery charge he picked up back in 2009.
That was obviously a long time ago, but it still isn’t a great look for the Celtics. When discussing Mazzulla’s appointment, Stevens acknowledged his prior transgressions, but believes he’s learned from and it’s helped make him a better man and a better coach. It’s clear Stevens and the rest of Boston’s front office hope that’s the case.
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Even beyond that, Mazzulla is going to have his work cut out for him. He’s going to have to take charge of a locker room that was devoted to Udoka and enjoyed playing for him. Mazzulla knows how Udoka ran things last season, and will likely try to replicate it as much as he can this season, but at some point he’s going to have to step out of Udoka’s shadow is he wants to be successful.
It’s quite a situation to inherit for your first head coaching gig, and we are quickly going to find out whether Mazzulla is cut out for this job. He’s got his work cut out for him, and managing the egos of the stars on this team could prove to be a more difficult challenge than initially expected. Whether Mazzulla can successfully replace Udoka will play a big role in Boston’s success this upcoming season.
Boston Celtics question No. 1: Did the Celtics miss their best shot at winning a title already?
Now that Udoka is officially out for the entire season, this question has to be asked; did Boston just miss their best shot at winning a title? It wasn’t unreasonable to expect them to make another deep playoff run this season, and that still may be the case, but the cracks are already starting to show.
For starters, Udoka is gone. There’s still a lot we don’t know about this suspension. but it would be fair to assume Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals was the last time we will see him coaching for the Celtics. We’ve already seen a report emerge that he made unwanted comments to this woman, which prompted the entire investigation, and as details continue to emerge on this story, they probably won’t paint Udoka in a great light.
We also witnessed Jaylen Brown’s name get thrown around in trade rumors for Kevin Durant this offseason, and there’s a chance the front office could have damaged their relationship with one of their best players. There’s a decent chance the Brooklyn Nets were just making a desperate play here, but it obviously isn’t ideal for a star player to have to endure this.
Even beyond that, there are so many questions that could plague this roster. Robert Williams III is still dealing with his bothersome left knee; will that continue to impact him throughout the season? Al Horford is already 36; will he be able to continue to play at a high level? Will Jayson Tatum be able to recover from his horrible Finals series against the Golden State Warriors?
The cracks on this team are starting to form, and while they may end up being nothing, you have to acknowledge that they do indeed exist. And with all that, you begin to wonder whether or not this team just missed their best chance at winning a title last season.
The Celtics still have a very strong roster, and they will be one of the toughest teams to beat this season, but it’s beginning to feel like they may have missed their best chance at winning a title last season. The 2022-23 team will have to prove that isn’t the case; the question remains whether or not they can do with Udoka no longer on board.