Boston Celtics: Brad Stevens not taking over for Udoka the right choice
The Boston Celtics are at a crossroads once again, which will serve as another test for Brad Stevens the executive.
While the Ime Udoka one-year suspension continues to send shockwaves throughout the NBA, a team that was just two games away from winning an NBA championship and favorites to return to the finals ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season are suddenly on the brink of disaster.
A promising young coach, two players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the brink of superstardom and one of the deepest benches in the league have hit a wall of bad luck the moment Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL while playing for the Italian National team.
Still, this Celtics team still has the focus, the talent and the depth to have a say in who wins the title, but without Udoka leading the way or at least without Udoka motivating the team, will they fall back into that mode of inconsistency that plagued the team throughout the first half of last season.
Boston Celtics must overcome more adversity if they want to win Banner 18
Adversity has become this team’s middle name, and this should serve as another test in which an inexperienced coach in Joe Mazzulla will now have to serve as not just a head coach, but a galvanizer. Though the easy way out would’ve been Stevens returning to the bench as the head coach, he knows he wouldn’t have been the right person for the job because his impact while on the bench wore its way thin with the current core of the Boston Celtics roster.
During the team’s press conference on Friday, Stevens basically said that without saying that.
"“There’s a lot of factors in play of why I wouldn’t necessarily even want to do that,” Stevens said when asked if he gave thought to taking over as interim coach. “I’ve told Joe this: I’m going to be there for him without stepping on his toes as much as he needs. But he doesn’t need as much, I believe in that strongly. Hopefully, I can help him with any questions he has as he goes through it.“Sometimes, you just need somebody that’s been there next to you to be able to go in and let your shoulders down and talk about what you’re going through. Hopefully, I can be that for him.”"
In a player driven league, Stevens made his choice knowing what was best for his superstars. You best to believe Tatum, Brown and maybe even Marcus Smart gave approval with the decision to go with Mazzulla as the interim head coach.
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With the current distraction, the players are the ones who will be impacted no matter how much the organization tries to protect them. Stevens on the bench as the head coach could help settle things as far as X’s and O’s, but there is a motivational factor that Stevens recognizes he doesn’t have with these players.
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Besides, the Celtics president of basketball operations has more impact on this team as an executive who has already proved he is not afraid to wheel and deal to make the on-court product better. Although Stevens couldn’t have seen Udoka’s violations coming, Mazzulla presents as a second chance for Stevens as Udoka was his first hire.
When all is said and done, the former Boston Celtics head coach knew exactly the type of coach his players needed to succeed. It worked out and if Stevens is saying Mazzulla is the “best choice” for the job over himself…. maybe everyone should trust in Brad.