Getty Ime Udoka, Grant Williams, Boston Celtics
Ime Udoka and the Boston Celtics are back in the news again, this time because it appears the suspended head coach is close to joining the Brooklyn Nets to replace head coach Steve Nash, who was fired on November 1.
According to one source, who spoke with Heavy Sports’ NBA insider Steve Bulpett, the Celtics made a mistake in suspending Udoka in the first place and should have fired him upon the completion of their internal investigation.
The hope is that Udoka can tighten the Nets defensively and command the respect of franchise’s key players. Udoka spent a season on Steve Nash’s staff before accepting the Celtics job and winning the Eastern Conference. With suspension, his future in Boston was essentially over.
“But he was never going to coach the Celtics again, and everybody knew it. C’mon. You weren’t going to bring him back,” the source told Bulpett. “You were never going to bring him back. I thought it was a mistake to suspend him. If they had enough to suspend him, they should have just fired him and gotten it over with.”
Unfortunately for the Celtics, they did suspend Udoka, and now they find themselves embroiled in yet another media circus surrounding the talented young head coach, although that may be short-lived.
According to a November 1 report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Udoka could be named as the Nets head coach as early as Wednesday, November 2, assuming discussions between Brooklyn and Boston go smoothly.
Eddie House Sounds Off on Ime Udoka Joining Nets
Speaking on a November 1 episode of NBC Sports Boston’s “Celtics Talk” podcast, former Celtics champion Eddie House shared his opinion on Udoka’s opportunity to return to coaching with the Nets — noting that it may be a poisoned chalice.
“I’m not sure if that’s such a great job. I think you’re walking into a toxic environment. Number one, it just seems like the inmates are running the asylum over there, and nothing good has come out of there,” House said.
As things stand, Brooklyn is 2-6 on the season and has as many problems on the court as they do off it.
House Hopes Udoka’s Departure Helps Boston
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Celtics since Udoka got suspended was how interim head coach Joe Mazzulla would fare while operating under Udoka’s shadow. Could he get the team to buy into his methods given that he may just be a stop-gap in their coaching staff? And would he be able to garner the same togetherness seen under Udoka’s leadership?
Those are the sort of questions House believes the Celtics organization can now begin to address, as Udoka joining Brooklyn will give the team a fresh start and remove a dark cloud from over the franchise.
Imo, if and when Udoka does complete a move to Brooklyn, announcing Mazzulla as full-time head coach could give him some extra juice in the locker room.
It removes any questions about the team’s long-term outlook, and gives everyone more reason to buy-in to his methods
“I look at it like it’s an opportunity for them to say, ‘Hey, we didn’t know much about this anyway. We got blindsided. We answered the questions, and we wish him the best, but we’re moving forward with our coach and our organization, and this team moving forward. This team is different from last year. We have a different coach, we have some different players and different personnel, but it’s still the Boston Celtics. We’re looking to move forward, and we wish him nothing but the best,’ and I’m thinking that’s the best way you can handle it,” House said.