Suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka is not proving to be irreplaceable as the 2022-23 season enters the winter months. In fact, the Cs may be proving the opposite with their play through the first quarter of the schedule.
With the best record in the league as of this writing, Boston is doing just fine under interim head coach Joe Mazzulla — who may just shed that label should this torrid pace continue through the new year and up to the trade deadline. Udoka did bring the Celtics to great heights, but it’s possible that the whole, including a Cs core that has stuck together for the last half-decade, is greater than the sum of its parts.
According to CBS Sports’ Bill Reiter, Udoka may not be all that valuable considering the baggage he brings. Reiter shared as much in a piece titled ‘Why the Boston Celtics’ success this season might impact Ime Udoka’s job prospects next season’:
"“They may also have, in all this success under interim head coach Joe Mazzulla, a lesson for the rest of the league: That when it comes to Ime Udoka, the juice simply won’t be worth the squeeze…the Boston Celtics have already told the rest of the league how to proceed: The guy’s not worth it.”"
Nia Long ticked that the Boston Celtics never checked up on her
Ime Udoka’s former fiancé and the mother to one of his children, Nia Long, recently took aim at the Boston Celtics for not checking up on her after the scandal entered the newscycle back in late September.
“If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK,” Long said to to The Hollywood Reporter.
Long seemingly indicated that she was done with Udoka back in October when the story first broke and it appears she has no love lost for the Boston Celtics organization either.