There’s no escaping the fact that the Boston Celtics are in the middle of a crisis following the news that head coach Ime Udoka will be suspended for the upcoming season.
However, while Udoka is certainly under the media microscope right now, former Celtics champion Kendrick Perkins is holding the front office accountable for how the entire situation has unfolded in the public eye.
Real Talk.
“I didn’t like Brad’s comments on this, and let me tell you why. Not the fact that he was taking up and protecting the women in the organization, but he spoke about the speculation and the Twitter b*******, and things of that nature and how unfair it was to the women in the organization that was not involved in this particular situation. But why was there speculation?
There’s speculation because of the reports put out by the Boston Celtics, so they never did a good job of actually protecting the women in their organization. Because, knowing they were going to give out this information, and go out and suspend Ime Udoka while only giving little details – it’s going to create speculation. In my eyes, the Boston Celtics dropped the ball,” Kendrick Perkins said in a September 23 episode of ESPN’s NBA Today.
It’s worth noting that there is no proof that the information regarding Udoka’s organizational violations actually leaked from the Celtics organization or someone who works within it, and unfortunately, we’re unlikely to ever know how the information made its way into the media or where it came from.
Former NBA Champion Backtracks on Support For Udoka
On September 23, former NBA champion Matt Barnes took to Instagram to explain why he had deleted a recent post that was showing his support for Ime Udoka, noting that he had received new information which changed his stance on the situation.
“Last night, I spoke on this Ime Udoka situation without having all the facts…after finding out the facts after I spoke, I erased the post. Because this situation in Boston is deep, it’s messy, and it’s 100 times uglier than we thought. Some things happened that I can’t condone, I can’t back,” Barnes said via a video on his Instagram account.
Similar to finding out how the Udoka situation made its way into the media in the first place, it’s highly unlikely we ever hear the full details of the situation that’s currently being dealt with by the Celtics front office. But, one thing is for sure – this situation has the potential to linger over the franchise for months to come – at least until they make a final decision over Udoka’s long-term future with the team.
Brad Stevens Not Returning to Coaching
With Udoka’s suspension rocking the Celtics, many fans believed there was a chance that Brad Stevens would look to assume the role of head coaching for the upcoming season – in a move that could potentially add some stability to a roster that is currently dealing with significant upheaval.
Yet, during the Celtics’ September 23 press conference regarding the current Udoka situation, Brad Stevens unequivocally ruled out his return to the sidelines this season, with the President of Basketball Operations throwing his full support behind interim head coach Joe Mazzulla.
Brad Stevens talks about whether he considered coaching the #Celtics
“Joe’s the best choice to do that (take the role as head coach) by a long shot. As you go through this whole process, it hits you, but I think we have the best people in place to do that, and Joe is the best person to do that in our organization…Absolutely not (would he consider taking over as head coach)…There are a lot of factors at play as to why I wouldn’t necessarily want to do that, but I’ve told Joe that I’m going to be there for him without stepping on his toes,” Stevens explained.
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Kendrick Perkins Goes Scorched Earth on Celtics Leadership