Boston Celtics Have a Long Term Plan in Place With Joe Mazzulla But May Face the Ime Udoka Roadblock This Season
The Boston Celtics appear to be the world’s best team. They now have the best record in the NBA (12-3) and an eight-game winning streak that leads the league. The Celtics haven’t skipped a beat despite all the bad press the team has received in relation to the Ime Udoka affair. It’s a victory for interim head coach Joe Mazzulla, who took over after Ime Udoka was suspended for the whole season by the team in September.
Recently, Udoka was also mentioned in connection with the open Nets head coaching position; however, Brooklyn finally chose assistant coach Jacque Vaughn for the position. Adrian Wojnarowski, an NBA insider, projected that Mazzulla will soon take over as the Celtics’ full-time head coach during a Wednesday interview with ESPN, albeit a delay may result from the present situation involving Udoka.
Joe Mazzulla will be the interim coach of Boston Celtics this season if Ime Udoka remains without a job
Here’s what Adrian Wojnarowski had to say about the Celtics’ situation: “Everything is aligned and in place for Joe Mazzulla to be the long-term coach for the Boston Celtics, except for one thing: Ime Udoka is technically still the head coach of the Boston Celtics, on suspension,” said Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN. “For all intents and purposes, he has coached his last game in Boston. This is uncharted territory certainly. Unless Ime Udoka takes another job this season elsewhere, it still may be an interim label until the end of the year.”
Joe Mazzulla is 12-3 to start his head coaching career. That is tied with Chris Ford for the 2nd-best record by a Celtics head coach through his first 15 career games.
The only Celtics head coach with a better record through his first 15 career games was Bill Russell. pic.twitter.com/RyJyeoXhXF
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 17, 2022
Wojnarowski noted that Mazzulla has so far done a decent job of leading a squad under uncertain circumstances and stated he thinks the interim tag could still be present through the rest of the current campaign. At only 34 years old, Mazzulla is the NBA’s youngest head coach.
8 game winning streak for Joe Mazzulla’s Boston Celtics 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uX81lIpTvm
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 17, 2022
In 2019, the Celtics hired him as an assistant coach, making him the team’s first coach. Prior to joining the Celtics, Mazzulla worked as an assistant with the Maine Red Claws of the G-League. He previously served as the head coach of Division II Fairmont State men’s basketball team for the 2016–17 season.
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