We're really not going to know until the playoffs.
Until then, I have him as top 10. Justified or not, this team has the best record in the NBA at the moment and has emerged from the Ime debacle without much detriment. People can certainly nitpick his schemes and the decisions but, at the end of the day right now, this team has the best record in the NBA nearly 50 games in.
I have the same opinion. I don't think you can tell until you've seen his full body of work, including the playoffs. If we had asked the same question of Ime this time last year the Celtics were 24-24 and Ime would probably have been ranked in the bottom 10. In fact many were calling for him to be fired. Here's an example of some posts from that time period in late January:
Anyone else taking a break from watching?Is our coach/front office better or worse than last year? (Hint: the majority answer to the poll was both were worse)
How much longer can this team endure this level of performance without imploding?This team is unwatchablePerk slams Ime in gameObviously we are all creatures of the moment, and we're on a 2 game losing streak, and so far most of us have struggled with Joe Mazz's in game management, which is the part of his coaching that we see. We judge coaches by timeouts, substitutions, plays drawn up and by that metric he doesn't match up to many people's expectations of what a good coach should be. But we should also remember that a) we're halfway through the season and b) we are 35-14 after 49 games vs 24-24 after 48 games last season. This time last season a lot of people were advocating for Ime to be fired, just click on any of those links or do a search of the forum around January 2022. Here are a few examples:
"I love Perk’s frankness and insight. Anybody see Perk pre-game? He said Ime needs to be held accountable by Brad. Perk likened Ime to a parent who has lost control of his kids. “ You give them too much rope and they play with you all the time. He has to draw the line [with the players]. Uchoka is in way over his head."
"TBH, I feel like we’re stuck on the treadmill, so getting higher picks may be the only chance to improve/become a contender. But judging how this is wearing on the fans, you can only imagine what’s it’s doing to the players."
"I can't do this anymore. I have seen them blow games all season long. This team is poorly constructed and they don't believe in each other.. Their body language shows it."
"A viable head coach might have a bigger impact!"
"The whole Tatum bringing up the ball was a disaster when Brad did it, it is still a disaster with Ime."
"Coach is certainly worse in my opinion. We’ve got a fairly substantial sample size to be able to say that with confidence. He just has no idea on the offensive side of things."
"They have decent talent. They just have a head coach who doesn’t know how to use that talent effectively, either short or long term, and he especially doesn’t have the coaching skills to get them to perform by holding them accountable."
This is not to embarrass anyone, at the time those comments were made the Cs were playing terrible and everyone thought Ime was a fail. You can only comment based on how you felt at the time, and those comments were 100% valid based on how the team was performing. The point I'm trying to make is that 4 months later everyone's opinions on the team and the coach completely turned around so let's not give up on Joe too soon. It's premature to write someone off before they've been given the same opportunity every coach we've had was given, which is to complete a season and see where he and the team end up.
Right now the evidence suggests he's more of a facilitator than a coach. He's got an excessively hands off approach. But I think his coaching philosophy is to empower the players to take responsibility rather than tell them what to do. Even if it costs them games, I suspect he's looking at the bigger picture and trying to prepare them to make decisions in the cauldron of the playoffs, so even if they make mistakes now the experience they gain is worth it to him. It could also be because he doesn't have the gravitas of someone like a Pop or a D'Antoni who has been in the league for decades, or even an Ime or a Juwan Howard who has been an NBA assistant for many years, and he's coming in coaching a team that made it to the NBA finals and was 2 games away from winning it all. I also suspect his in game management will change come playoff time - he'll never be a Pop type coach, I just don't think he's built that way - but in the playoffs when every win matters I doubt he would throw games away to "teach someone a lesson".
I'm inclined to give him a little bit of rope until his full body of work has been completed.