While he remains the interim head coach of the Boston Celtics, Joe Mazzulla no longer has to worry about Ime Udoka taking his job back now that Udoka will be the new head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
Some of Mazzulla’s players had reactions of their own, like Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown, following Udoka’s exit from the team. In light of his players expressing their thoughts on the matter, Mazzulla told The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach that he cared about what they have been going through and that he stressed how important communication is to him.
“I care about how they’re processing things. I care about what they’re going through. I hope that they know we can always talk about anything,” Mazzulla said. “The most important thing for me is that they feel they can be heard & can talk to me.”
Mazzulla on players’ reactions to Ime situation:
“I care about how they’re processing things. I care about what they’re going through. I hope that they know we can always talk about anything…The most important thing for me is that they feel they can be heard & can talk to me.”
Since taking over as the interim head coach, Mazzulla’s coached the Celtics to a 4-3 record. Since Udoka’s departure, the Celtics have yet to make Mazzulla their head coach full-time.
Marcus Smart’s Thoughts on Udoka’s Departure
After Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirmed that Udoka would be the Nets’ next head coach, Marcus Smart gave his thoughts on the matter to Himmelsbach.
“Obviously, we wish he was here,” Smart told Himmelsbach. “We have no control over that. It definitely sucks. I guess it was deemed that whatever happened was enough for him not to be the coach here, but I guess not enough for him [not] to be a coach anywhere else, obviously.”
Smart then brought up what he believes Udoka went through between when he was suspended by the Celtics and when he was hired by the Nets.
“His name got slandered and slaughtered and it was, ‘He’ll probably never coach again,’ ” Smart said. “And a couple of months later, now he’s possibly going to be the coach of one of our biggest rivals?
Smart then made it clear that, even though he hoped otherwise, Udoka’s departure further signifies the NBA is a business.
“We obviously thought he’d be back, but obviously, the team and organization felt a different way,” Smart said. “Unfortunately, that’s the business side of it, and we have to deal with it.
“Now he’s possibly going to take a job right down the street from us and be coaching the same guys we were trying to beat to get to where we were last year.”
Smart Praises Mazzulla
Even though Smart isn’t happy that the team lost Udoka, he is happy to have Mazzulla around as his coach.
“You can have more than one best friend,” Smart told Himmelsbach. “That’s just kind of the relationship it is. We love Joe. We also love Ime, too. Joe understands that, and Joe loves him. But we’re definitely excited for Joe and proud of Joe, and it’s not fair to Joe to have to keep hearing this either and go through what he’s going through.”
While Smart stressed his fondness for Udoka, he made it clear that Mazzulla is the Celtics’ coach now.
“They’re both our brothers, and we love them the same. Unfortunately, the circumstances called for some desperate measures, and Joe has the coaching job, so that’s who we’re listening to, and that’s who we’re rocking with. We still love Ime, but Joe is our coach.”
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Celtics Coach Sounds Off on Player’s Reactions to Ime Udoka’s Exit