Thunderstorms rolled through New England Thursday morning, producing thunder that shook houses and providing an apt metaphor for what’s happening with the Boston Celtics.
As we wait for the official announcement of Ime Udoka’s suspension, reports are now circulating that his role in a consensual relationship with a female Celtics employee could cost him a whole season.
And while a lot of the reaction focuses on the word “consensual,” that doesn’t mean the relationship wasn’t inappropriate. Whatever it was, whatever the circumstances, the Celtics view what happened as a serious situation and the consequences for Udoka will reflect that.
Boston’s offseason was once considered the best in the league, but now looks like it was engineered by Jeff Gillooly.
The Celtics used their only significant tool to sign a free agent on Danilo Gallinari, and he tore his ACL playing for Italy in EuroBasket. Robert Williams is going to miss about a month because his left knee needs an arthroscopic “clean up.” And now the head coach, a man who created a culture of discipline and accountability that helped guide Boston to the NBA Finals, is about to miss the season because of poor decision-making in his personal life.
It’s one thing to have to make up for the loss of a recently-signed free agent. Losing Williams was also going to be a challenge. But those were things the team could navigate in the short term.
Udoka is the personification of the culture being built with the Celtics. He’s the no-nonsense guy players were hoping for; a guy unafraid to even throw a dig at this new boss during his introductory press conference. He called out his players, especially during the team’s early struggles last season, choosing tough love in public to hammer his private point home.
Regardless of how you, I, or the players view his transgressions, Udoka’s actions are costing the team dearly. The first practice of the season is just days away, and now the man who created the plan is gone for the season. Celtics assistant Joe Mazzulla will likely be put in charge, and he’s been a strong up-and-coming coach who has already been a finalist for a head coaching job, but he’s taking over mid-stream.
It’s one thing to pilot the plane from gate to gate, but jumping into the seat and taking over when the plane is losing altitude is asking a lot. Mazzulla has been in on the planning, but he’s going to be asked to execute someone else’s ideas, which is never easy.
He’s also a new voice in the room. Where Boston once could rely on familiarity built between Udoka and the players, now Mazzulla will have to find his own voice, even if he’s carrying on what Udoka started. There's going to be a new cadence to things, new decisions made on the fly, and new ideas for how to handle things from game to game.
It’s not exactly square one, but the Celtics car has stalled in the garage while the rest of the competition is lining up for the race.
We make decisions every day that have consequences. From what to have for breakfast to comportment in professional and social situations, every decision we make leads to something. Udoka’s decisions were clearly bad ones, and he’s paying a very dear price. For a man who worked so hard for so long to find one of the most prestigious jobs in the league, it seems hard to fathom taking chances that would put that at risk.
We don’t know the details, but the team clearly found the choices Udoka made to be poor ones, and ones that have cost him at least this season, and who knows what else inside and out of the organization. On the floor, the man who preached doing the right things and being held accountable for mistakes has put his team in as bad a situation as any misguided drive or bad pass.
Udoka wowed us with his coaching this past season, and he entered this one in the pole position for Coach of the Year. The team was ready to ride his guidance to another level this season, hopefully leading to another run to the Finals, and maybe even a banner.
Maybe this team will still pull it off. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both still here, and both still great. The talent level hasn’t changed, and Robert Williams will still be back soon after the season starts. There is still a lot to be excited about on the floor.
But Udoka jeopardized all of that. If he truly is considering resigning, as has been reported, then he will have cost himself everything that he worked for professionally. And for what?
Dark clouds rumbled across New England Thursday, but the darkest seem to be circling at the Auerbach Center. Suddenly, the season that had Celtics fans swelling with anticipation is already disappointing in ways no one could have seen coming.