How big are these Celtics crises?

Beyond the Ime Udoka suspension, Boston has some new problems. Will they stop the C's from being a top team?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Reading of a Letter, Alfredo Keil, Late 1800s

The Celtics suspended Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season, and will determine whether he returns the following season at the conclusion of the suspension. Udoka apparently only has a single season on his contract after the suspension, potentially putting the Celtics’ front office in the awkward position of either bringing back Udoka for a lame-duck 2023-24 campaign (having demoted or fired new interim Joe Mazzulla) or negotiating an extension with someone coming off of the biggest punishment ever handed down on a coach short of firing.

There’s still precious little information about what exactly Udoka did. The Celtics’ statement cited “violations” (plural) of team policies. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported this ($):

Some members of the Celtics organization first became aware of the relationship in July, sources said. At that time, team leadership was led to believe by both parties that the relationship was consensual. But sources said that the woman recently accused Udoka of making unwanted comments toward her — leading the team to launch a set of internal interviews.

Udoka released a statement apologizing to everyone (including his family) and accepting the sanctions.

We don’t know anything more than that. But we do know this isn’t the only rock in the tracks threatening to derail the Celtics’ season. Let’s talk about all these rocks in the tracks.

How much a coach matters

Insomuch as replacing a head coach last minute matters for the potential of an NBA team, we have no idea how players feel about what’s happened with Udoka. Reports suggest Mazzulla has ingratiated himself with at least some members of the team, and he was a surprise finalist for the Utah Jazz opening that went to a different Celtics assistant, Will Hardy. (There’s a Sliding Doors situation: Hardy wins the job and will coach a full-on tank team; Mazzulla doesn’t get it but somehow ends up the head coach of a title contender.)

Notably, Mazzulla has been here longer than Udoka — he was a holdover from Brad Stevens’ staff. That indicates that he has Stevens’ trust, which is important because there are reasons to believe Boston could start slower than you’d like. (We’ll get to those.) The concerns come heavy if the Celtics get off to a really slow start. Is there a point at which the Celtics will be prepared and willing to pull the plug on Mazzulla? What then, a different interim head coach from the current staff? Does Stevens come back to the bench temporarily? Do they hire from outside and buy out Udoka’s contract? If this Mazzulla decision doesn’t work out, the franchise could be thrown into a huge pit of chaos. NBA teams know how to navigate coaches falling short of expectations during a season. But the Udoka scenario is totally unprecedented and adds an extraordinary amount of wrinkles.

Timelord’s clock

As mentioned in a recent newsletter, Robert Williams III had arthroscopic “clean-up” knee surgery this week and will miss 4-6 weeks. It’s the same knee he had surgery on to repair his torn meniscus last March. After that spring surgery, Williams missed almost exactly four weeks before returning on limited minutes for the end of the Celtics’ series against the Nets.