Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[SparzWizard]

If you had Ime and the Rockets with a better record than us at this point, raise your hand.

Still raising my hand anyway because

Ime > Joe, 10fold

[green_bballers13]

If you had Ime and the Rockets with a better record than us at this point, raise your hand.

Still raising my hand anyway because

Ime > Joe, 10fold

I?m not sure if Ime is 10x better, but I get your point. Imagine if Ime was a decent man in Boston? We might have won the next 10 rings!

[Roy H.]

If you had Ime and the Rockets with a better record than us at this point, raise your hand.

Still raising my hand anyway because

Ime > Joe, 10fold

I?m not sure if Ime is 10x better, but I get your point. Imagine if Ime was a decent man in Boston? We might have won the next 10 rings!

I don't think anybody cares whether he was a decent man.  It's more that he opened the Celtics up to liability.  The lawyers made the decision here.  But, Ime was indeed profoundly stupid about carrying on a relationship with a subordinate.  And that's too bad, because he's to date been an absolutely tremendous coach.

[SparzWizard]

If you had Ime and the Rockets with a better record than us at this point, raise your hand.

Still raising my hand anyway because

Ime > Joe, 10fold

I?m not sure if Ime is 10x better, but I get your point. Imagine if Ime was a decent man in Boston? We might have won the next 10 rings!

I don't think anybody cares whether he was a decent man.  It's more that he opened the Celtics up to liability.  The lawyers made the decision here.  But, Ime was indeed profoundly stupid about carrying on a relationship with a subordinate.  And that's too bad, because he's to date been an absolutely tremendous coach.

I still blame the Celtics FO on how they handled that entire thing, last-minute promoting Joe Mazz as HC during all-star break, not hiring another HC if they knew they were going to can Ime either by season start or later in the season (I forgot when).

But to Roy's point, yes, Ime would have those guys' behinds and know to hold guys accountable.

[Vermont Green]

I think Udoka is a good coach.  That doesn't mean that Mazzulla is a bad coach.  As to HOU performance vs. BOS overall this season, I think a key factor is line up continuity.  They have had their best unit for 416 minutes over 28 games.  We have had our best unit (with Porzingis) for 208 minutes over 14 games.  That is a big factor and makes it a lot easier on the coach.

In this most recent game, we played them with a very limited line up and almost beat them.  HOU is a better team than BOS without White, Horford, and Hauser.  Joe was able to cobble together some units with summer league players that held up pretty well.  For example, a line up with Springer, Peterson, Queta, Pritchard, and Tatum was +5 in 3 minutes.  In the end, we had a chance to win and didn't.  It was good coaching that we were even in it right to the end, but bad coaching because we couldn't close the deal?

I think overall, people are too hard on Mazzulla.  The grass is always greener when looking at other coaches.  Joe has his flaws. his blind spots.  But this game is a good example, he seem to get no credit for what he did with a limited line up last night but a couple of bad plays at the end and he is the dumbest coach in the world.

[Larry for 3]

I think Udoka is a good coach.  That doesn't mean that Mazzulla is a bad coach.  As to HOU performance vs. BOS overall this season, I think a key factor is line up continuity.  They have had their best unit for 416 minutes over 28 games.  We have had our best unit (with Porzingis) for 208 minutes over 14 games.  That is a big factor and makes it a lot easier on the coach.

In this most recent game, we played them with a very limited line up and almost beat them.  HOU is a better team than BOS without White, Horford, and Hauser.  Joe was able to cobble together some units with summer league players that held up pretty well.  For example, a line up with Springer, Peterson, Queta, Pritchard, and Tatum was +5 in 3 minutes.  In the end, we had a chance to win and didn't.  It was good coaching that we were even in it right to the end, but bad coaching because we couldn't close the deal?

I think overall, people are too hard on Mazzulla.  The grass is always greener when looking at other coaches.  Joe has his flaws. his blind spots.  But this game is a good example, he seem to get no credit for what he did with a limited line up last night but a couple of bad plays at the end and he is the dumbest coach in the world.

lol. So many excuses. That?s all that was. Gimmie a break with the justifications. Were you saying the same thing when Houston had all those guys out last time they played? I doubt it. And since when is KP a pillar of heath to play all those minutes? Come on

[Phantom255x]

People in this thread are acting like Ime didn't do anything wrong to get let go by the Celtics to begin with. Sure, he's probably better than Mazzulla. The C's won it all last year anyways. I've moved on.

It's cool to see what he's doing with Houston and that team. I'm rooting for them out West to make a run.

[Kernewek]

If you had Ime and the Rockets with a better record than us at this point, raise your hand.

Still raising my hand anyway because

Ime > Joe, 10fold

I?m not sure if Ime is 10x better, but I get your point. Imagine if Ime was a decent man in Boston? We might have won the next 10 rings!

I don't think anybody cares whether he was a decent man.  It's more that he opened the Celtics up to liability.  The lawyers made the decision here.  But, Ime was indeed profoundly stupid about carrying on a relationship with a subordinate.  And that's too bad, because he's to date been an absolutely tremendous coach.

I still blame the Celtics FO on how they handled that entire thing, last-minute promoting Joe Mazz as HC during all-star break, not hiring another HC if they knew they were going to can Ime either by season start or later in the season (I forgot when).

But to Roy's point, yes, Ime would have those guys' behinds and know to hold guys accountable.

At this point he's Schrodeinger's Celtics coach, so there's not much point in making these sorts of assertions. The guy coached a good team that didn't win a championship for one season and got sacked before he had a chance to repeat because he's an idiot.

I have no doubt that if Mazzula had coached Houston to the same record that Ime has since his departure some members of the board would be using it as a cudgel to diminish his accomplishments here, because some of you are weird like that.

[SCeltic34]

I've been critical of Joe quite a bit.  Praised him last season but this season more critical of him.

I thought Joe did a great job against the Knicks.  The game plan was solid.  Gave the ball to Tatum and attacked KAT in PnR.  The rotations were very unusual but it worked.  Double big lineups with Kornet and Queta and playing Tatum for very long stretches outside of his normal rotation.  This is how I expect the playoffs to look - better planning, more refined play.  It of course helped that the 3's were going in.

I thought Thibs made a very poor decision to start Achiuwa.  The guy was horrible.  Would have been better to go with a smaller, more versatile player and help space the floor more.

[green_bballers13]

Coaches are like refs. People like to overstate their importance because it is easy to do so. It is much more complicated to look at the root causes for a team's struggles.

Not that this team would know- they don't struggle!

[Silas]

People in this thread are acting like Ime didn't do anything wrong to get let go by the Celtics to begin with. Sure, he's probably better than Mazzulla. The C's won it all last year anyways. I've moved on.

It's cool to see what he's doing with Houston and that team. I'm rooting for them out West to make a run.

I'm not sure Ime is better than Joe.  Joe is younger and has less experience.  Also has a strange personality, however the Cs are winning big time with him (#18 and counting).  Joe is solid on defense, 6th in the league and great on offense, 3rd in the league.  Ime is strong on defense, 4th, and weak on offense, 14th.  BTW, Houston is currently on a 6-game losing streak.  I like Joe.

[Vermont Green]

I remember being pretty underwhelmed with the offense under Udoka. No nuance. No layers. The team was bought in and played hard under Udoka. He is a good coach, current loosing streak notwithstanding, but that doesn?t mean the Celtics would be any better. It is all just conjecture.

[Roy H.]

I remember being pretty underwhelmed with the offense under Udoka. No nuance. No layers. The team was bought in and played hard under Udoka. He is a good coach, current loosing streak notwithstanding, but that doesn?t mean the Celtics would be any better. It is all just conjecture.

Reminder that it was still a top-7 offense overall, and were ranked 2nd after January 1 with a 119.4 Off Rtg.  That's better than we were in 2023, and about where we are this year (but well below last year).

[green_bballers13]

I'm not sure how Ime Udoka became idolized. He was a relatively obscure assistant until his name was floated for the Celtics. Yes, he was involved in USA basketball, coached for Pop, and played in the league. Guys like KD (who were never coming to Boston) got along with him.

He came in and lost a championship for the Celtics.
Joe came in and won a championship for the Celtics.

I think the Ime love is weird. He harassed a young woman in the organization. Cya Ime!

[Roy H.]

I'm not sure how Ime Udoka became idolized. He was a relatively obscure assistant until his name was floated for the Celtics. Yes, he was involved in USA basketball, coached for Pop, and played in the league. Guys like KD (who were never coming to Boston) got along with him.

He came in and lost a championship for the Celtics.
Joe came in and won a championship for the Celtics.

I think the Ime love is weird. He harassed a young woman in the organization. Cya Ime!

lol.  Taking a .500 team from the year before to the Finals is "losing a championship".