[HitsterParticipant]

Boston suspending Ime Udoka for the entire new season could have a big factor on the Celtics chances this year. Ime lead them to the Eastern Conference Title and to the NBA finals in his first year as head coach. Celtics Assistant Joe Mazzulla will coach the team this coming season.

Ironically the Celtics lead assistant from last season Will Hardy jumped ship to reunite with Danny Ainge and help the Jazz rebuild after their summer mega trades.

Ime has been suspended due to inappropriate relationships with a junior member of the Celtics staff and will suffer a financial penalty across his suspension. There is no promise that he will definitely return to his role next year and if the Celtics do well under Joe Mazzulla then what happens?

Joe would be in prime position for any other HC job in the NBA and the Celtics are clearly reluctant to lose Ime who lead them to the finals in his first year but can he return to the job in the same organization who have deemed fit to suspend him for a year?
Would he look to return or might he try to negoiate a release in due course. we don’t know exactly what did did but if he will have served a suspension then I’m sure several teams would be very interested in a coach of his pedigree. At worse he may have to do another year or two as a lead assistant if the dust needed to settle a bit more.

I’m a bit surprised Brad Stevens didn’t return to the HC role for next season if the clear intention is to bring Ime back especially after Will Hardy left as Joe Maz was effectively 3rd in their coaching hierarchy during las season. Joe could have been lead assistant and I’m sure Boston has a very strong front office if Brad did need to return to the bench for a year.

With the team being legit contenders I thought Brad would return unless they feel Joe Maz has been around the team more for the last year than Brad has been and there would be more continuity of playing style.

How this affects Boston in what could be a their title window remainsto be seen. Al Horford is 36 now and going into the last year of his deal, Jalen Brown only has two years left so any rocking of the boat could affect things. But Boston are a well run team and have a top 10 NBA player in Jayson Tatum who their future will be built around.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

Robert Williams out a while doesn’t help, but Boston’s culture is pretty tough. They’re a legit threat regardless of who they play. They will probably extend Jaylen Brown. He played better than Tatum in the finals imo. They have a deep solid young core of a team. Al Horford isn’t one of the young ones and I don’t think he’s going to be as productive as last year. Grant Williams might contribute a little more though. Horford will get SOME minutes, just more saved for the playoffs. He’ll be monitored. Horford and Gallinari will probably help coach the others. It might take a minute to get used to life without Udoka, but everything will iron out. Their chemistry is solid and the depth is there. The stars are healthy. They should be fine.

[OhCanada-Participant]

They have so much talent they will be fine. They also have a bunch of young guys just waiting to get minutes so a few injuries won’t really hurt them during the regular season.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

This basketball season is going to be fantastic!

[Author]

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