Were the only viable options just Joe and Damon?

[bricone29]

While there are Celtics fans who didn't want Joe as coach. Was Damon the only option at that late juncture?

[Dchuck]

I think Vogel was available.

[Roy H.]

I think Vogel was available.

Snyder, too?

[Who]

No. They could've hired anyone.

They could've named Mazzula interim for 1-2 weeks while they did a proper coaching search and hired a qualified candidate. They chose not to.

This was mismanagement from the front office.

[Neurotic Guy]

It was a bad call. However I’m guessing they were concerned about shaking things up further by hiring outside.  Wanted someone who already had a relationship with the players - who they already had established some trust.  Retrospectively it wasn’t the right move.

[Celtics2021]

I think they were, yes.  With the suspending of a popular coach due to organizational rule-breaking, they could only make an internal hire.  Anything else would have destroyed that locker room from day 1, especially since, at least at the outset, they were only suspending Udoka and not firing him.  You can’t bring in an outsider under an interim position.

The only other option was Brad.

[Goldstar88]

It was a bad call. However I’m guessing they were concerned about shaking things up further by hiring outside.  Wanted someone who already had a relationship with the players - who they already had established some trust.  Retrospectively it wasn’t the right move.

Not only that, but I feel like the players have a lot of say in who the coach is. I believe Snyder, Vogel, D’Antoni were all available when Ime was hired as well.

[RJ87]

It was a bad call. However I’m guessing they were concerned about shaking things up further by hiring outside.  Wanted someone who already had a relationship with the players - who they already had established some trust.  Retrospectively it wasn’t the right move.

Not only that, but I feel like the players have a lot of say in who the coach is. I believe Snyder, Vogel, D’Antoni were all available when Ime was hired as well.

We're also kind of ignoring the elephant in the room here. I don't think suspending/firing an African-American coach the players backed after they had a breakthrough trip to the finals and replacing him with a white coach would've been well received in the locker room at that point in time. I also don't think it would been well received from a publicity standpoint either.

[Who]

It was a bad call. However I’m guessing they were concerned about shaking things up further by hiring outside.  Wanted someone who already had a relationship with the players - who they already had established some trust.  Retrospectively it wasn’t the right move.

Not only that, but I feel like the players have a lot of say in who the coach is. I believe Snyder, Vogel, D’Antoni were all available when Ime was hired as well.

We're also kind of ignoring the elephant in the room here. I don't think suspending/firing an African-American coach the players backed after they had a breakthrough trip to the finals and replacing him with a white coach would've been well received in the locker room at that point in time. I also don't think it would been well received from a publicity standpoint either.

I was thinking that too after seeing those three names named above. All white coaches. They made such a big deal about getting a black coach when hiring Ime. Players like Jaylen made a big deal about it.

You have to wonder if they would have even hired a white coach to replace Ime at that point. No way to know.

[SparzWizard]

I would've been so down for Vogel or Snyder. They were both available at the time. Esp the latter.

[johnnygreen]

Ime was suspended at the time Brad named Joe the interim head coach. At the time, I do not believe Brad could hire a full time head coach for legal reasons, as the Celtics legal team was probably trying to find a loophole as to not have to pay Ime his full contract. In other words, any hire outside of the organization would be deemed as the Celtics hiring a head coach, meaning Ime would have to be fired and not suspended.

[Dchuck]

It was a difficult situation particularly with the timing.  If Brad knew about Ime early enough, then the easy choice would have been Will Hardy.  That, to me, is a big kick in the balls….knowing we missed out on Will being our coach by a matter of days.

The more egregious move, I believe, is extending Joe during the all star break.  Why??

Why couldnt they let the season play out.  The playoffs have really magnified Joe’s incompetency as a coach for this team.  Brad should have waited and then rewarded Joe with an extension or more realistically kept his options open.  The extension really is one of Brad’s worst decisions because letting Joe walk is not only an indictment on him as President of Ops but an expensive one that Wyc will have to pay for.

[gouki88]

I think Vogel was available.

Snyder, too?

I can't remember how the team operated in the situation, but was it publicly known that they weren't going to partake in a hiring process for outside candidates?

[Roy H.]

I think they were, yes.  With the suspending of a popular coach due to organizational rule-breaking, they could only make an internal hire.  Anything else would have destroyed that locker room from day 1, especially since, at least at the outset, they were only suspending Udoka and not firing him.  You can’t bring in an outsider under an interim position.

The only other option was Brad.

Why suspend a coach for a year?  Either fire him or put him on probation.

[greg683x]

I think Vogel was available.

Snyder, too?

I can't remember how the team operated in the situation, but was it publicly known that they weren't going to partake in a hiring process for outside candidates?

Ime still had the suspended tag well into the regular season.  I would think it would be very unorthodox to start an outside hiring process for a coach that you’re telling everyone is just suspended.  Just terrible decisions by the front office just sit on this so long at that point.  Especially since it was kind of obvious at that point that he was probably not coming back