Udoka unleashes chaos in Boston

It’s official. Ime Udoka is not going to coach the Boston Celtics next season. The Massachusetts franchise has made this decision after becoming aware of “an intimate relationship” between the trainer and a female franchisee, something that is prohibited in the code of conduct of the Celtics. The relationship would have been consented to by both parties and in the franchise they would have heard from her since July, but recently the woman would have accused Udoka of making public comments about her, according to the journalist from The Athletic Shams Charania. This fact provoked the reaction of the board, which has led to the sanction of Udoka. Though for the moment the technician has not been firedsimply sanctioned for one year, in the official statement the Celtics add that “The decision about his future in the franchise beyond this season will be made later”.

Udoka’s contract with the Celtics is hanging by a thread, as is already being indicated in the Boston press, where they don’t see much point in the contractual relationship between the two parties continuing. instead, and for now as interim, Joe Mazzulla will take his place, who was going to debut this year as main assistant of Udoka. Mazzulla is going to convert into the youngest coach in the NBA at just 34 years old, surpassing by a few months Will Hardy, assistant to the Celtics until last June and who is now the new coach of the Utah Jazz, a position for which he was also interviewed. Mazzulla has no experience as a coach and already There is talk of including a veteran coach on his staff to help him run the locker room. Among others the name of Frank Vogel sounds, who has managed the Los Angeles Lakers the last three seasons (winning the 2020 ring), and who has a great personal relationship with Brad Stevens, president of the Celtics. Though The first problem that Mazzulla may face may not be that of inexperience, since news of some inappropriate behavior in his university stage is appearingwhen he would have been reported for mistreatment of a woman, his partner at that time, in addition to urinating on public roads.

The sanction to Udoka, who has apologized in a statement (“I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation and I accept the decision they have made. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will not comment further.”), leaves the Boston team in a very delicate situation just three months after having the championship at hand. In June they played the NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors after a fabulous season in which, for many, they were the best team in the league. The immediate future looked bright and they appeared in almost every pool as the number 1 favorite in the race for the next ring. Now they have been left without the coach who managed to get on trackin addition to making play like angels, to a locker room previously criticized for its problems with concentration, motivation and disconnection between its members. Mazzulla will have to try to prevent all these defects from reappearing, but he will also have to coping with the loss of robert williams, estimated between 4 and 6 weeks at the moment, who has had to undergo surgery after not recovering well from the knee problems that prevented him from performing 100% in the past playoffs. And not only that, but Jaylen Brown, the second most important player for the Celtics, would be angry with the franchise for having appeared as a bargaining chip in the attempted trade for Kevin Durant. In summary, a very complicated situation for a team that until recently was in the pole position of the NBA.

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