Big trouble looms for the Celtics as they start training camp this week.
Ime Udoka is out as head coach for the 2022-23 season, suspended through June 30, 2023, because he had an inappropriate intimate relationship with a subordinate in the Celtics organization, a clear violation of team policy.
Joe Mazzulla, the Johnston kid who starred at Bishop Hendricken and West Virginia University, is in as interim head coach despite his relatively young age (34) and this thin head coaching resume (Division II Fairmont State).
But wait! That is not all.
Robert Williams III, the defensive force capable of changing the direction of shots and games, will miss three months after having surgery on his left knee Friday for the removal of loose bodies.
And forward Danilo Gallinari, a free agent who signed in July, had surgery Friday to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. He is out for the year.
Ouch! Talk about getting the new NBA season off on the wrong Reebok! Monday is Media Day, usually an upbeat, feel good session with easy questions about the season ahead and light banter between local media and Celtics players and coaches.
Not now. The eyes and ears of Sports World will be all over this one. They will want the latest on the biggest jolt to the iconic Celtics franchise since Len Bias died of cocaine intoxication the night of the 1986 NBA Draft, the night the Celtics chose him with the second pick overall.
Udoka’s transgression(s) have dealt the Celtics a devastating blow. The team policy prohibiting intimate — read sexual — relationships between senior and junior employees must be crystal clear because the club suspended its head coach five days before the opening of training camp. Remember, Udoka guided the Celtics to the sixth game of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors last spring after a mediocre 23-24 start. Behind the steady prodding of Udoka, the offense of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and the spirited play of the NBA defensive player of the year Marcus Smart, the Celtics won 26 of their last 32 regular-season games for a 51-31 finish. They eliminated Brooklyn, Milwaukee, the 2021 NBA champion, and Miami to reach the Finals.
Hopes were high for another title run and an 18th banner this season, but now those hopes are as up in the air as a Steph Curry three-point shot. According to co-owner Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics learned of the relationship in July and retained a respected law firm, which he did not name, to investigate. The firm delivered its findings on Wednesday. Word of possible suspension leaked to ESPN Wednesday night, the Celtics issued a terse announcement Thursday, and Grousbeck and Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations, met with the media Friday morning. They offered no specifics about Udoka’s behavior.
Only Udoka can answer why he risked so much for a liaison with a member of the Celtics staff. He spent nine years as an assistant in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Brooklyn before landing his first head coaching job in Boston. He somehow convinced well-paid prima donnas to play for each other and not themselves. He took this team to the sixth game of the NBA Finals and finished fourth in voting for coach of the year. Fourth! As a rookie coach!!
Also, Udoka, 45, is in a 12-year relationship with the actress Nia Long, 51, with whom he has a 10-year-old son. They have been engaged since 2015, but she has said she has no intention of marrying.
The manner in which Grousbeck and Stevens addressed the culture of respect and freedom from harassment in the Celtics offices and the impact this case has had on the two dozen female staffers all but confirmed multiple reports that Udoka and a woman in the Celtics organization had a consensual sexual relationship. Social media and on-line speculation as to Udoka’s partner abounds.
In 2022 such relationships in corporate America, consensual or otherwise, are unacceptable. Udoka left the Celtics no choice but to penalize him. Was a one-season suspension too harsh? Absolutely not. Business executives have been fired or forced to resign for similar relationships. He has a chance to return to the Boston bench for the 2023-2024 campaign.
For now it’s up to Mazzulla, given the greatest opportunity of his basketball life, to pull this team together when workouts start Tuesday. Stevens hired him from Fairmont State before the 2019-2020 season. He is aware of Mazzulla’s troubles at West Virginia — arrests for underage drinking, aggravated assault and domestic battery, suspension from the Mountaineers basketball program for part of an offseason, citation for public urination — after a thorough vetting and has confidence in the Joe Mazzulla of 2022.
The new Celtics coach and his players will say all the right things Monday. Negative thoughts might be many, but negative words will be few. Nevertheless, until they prove otherwise by winning early and often, the Boston Celtics are in trouble.
