Ime Udoka gutting Celtics coaching staff

[Kernewek]

first of all, anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time; the risk of a lawsuit is always present. massachusetts is an “at-will” employment state, which means an employer can fire any employee at any time for any reason, or even for no reason at all, with the exception of discrimination (gender, race, age, religion, disability, nationality, sexuality, etc). furthermore, if an employee has signed an “at-will” agreement, it is not required for an organization to explain their decision. typically, highly paid executives work under such agreements, and ime certainly had one of these agreements.

Worth pointing out that Ime is a member of the NBCA, the National Basketball Coaches Association, so highly unlikely that he would have been operating under the same at-will employment terms you would find in a different, non-unionised business.


And, in a bit of deeper Celtics lore, the NBCA was founded by the man himself, Tommy Heinsohn.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

first of all, anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time; the risk of a lawsuit is always present. massachusetts is an “at-will” employment state, which means an employer can fire any employee at any time for any reason, or even for no reason at all, with the exception of discrimination (gender, race, age, religion, disability, nationality, sexuality, etc). furthermore, if an employee has signed an “at-will” agreement, it is not required for an organization to explain their decision. typically, highly paid executives work under such agreements, and ime certainly had one of these agreements.

the NBA league office found nothing they considered to be disqualifying in ime’s situation to prevent him from working again in the NBA, which acknowledges that the C’s are holding ime to a higher standard vs. the nba. combined with facts detailed earlier in this thread, some might consider the C’s action to be an overreaction.

secondly, you’ve jumped to an erroneous conclusion regarding my opinion of brad. i don’t hate brad; actually, i like him and think he’s a very good gm. however, i do think he made a mistake in his handling of ime’s situation, and it’s my opinion that this mistake was made due to brad’s inexperience and emotions. his tears at the press conference were extremely odd.

1.) The Celtics' code of conduct is separate from the NBA's. There may stipulations in there specific to this organization and how they want their authority figures to conduct themselves.

2.) Brad doesn't make decisions like this unilaterally. We have an entire ownership who very likely made the final call on what to do with Ime.

right. brad did not fire ime. wyc and others fired ime. that much is obvious.

[hodgy03038]

Good. take the rest including Mazulla. They obviously didn't help our inept coach.

[knuckleballer]

I don’t expect them to, but I’m hoping they hire a new coach.  If they do, they need to do so soon so they can at least hire the preferred assistant coaches.

[radiohead]

I wonder how the players would react to this. I’m sure they’ve built some good relationships with these guys. It’s easy to assume that these coaches would follow Ime “out of loyalty”. But would one really want to go to a rebuilding team instead of being a top assistant with a supposed contender? Not unless the Celtics are really in shambles internally. Maybe these assistant coaches weren’t happy with how Joe ran things? I just hope players don’t ask to be traded in the coming days.

[Big333223]

Not surprising that Ime's guys are going to go work for Ime again as soon as possible.

It does make me wonder, though: What impact did it have on the locker room that most of the staff was just waiting to get from under Mazzulla so they could go work with their buddy again?

How many coaches had one foot out the door for most of the year and how much harder did that make Mazzulla's job?

[Who]

I wonder how the players would react to this. I’m sure they’ve built some good relationships with these guys. It’s easy to assume that these coaches would follow Ime “out of loyalty”. But would one really want to go to a rebuilding team instead of being a top assistant with a supposed contender? Not unless the Celtics are really in shambles internally. Maybe these assistant coaches weren’t happy with how Joe ran things? I just hope players don’t ask to be traded in the coming days.

It is strange. You would think all these guys got a bump up in the pecking order after Mazzula became Head Coach, after Hardy left, after Damon Stoudamire left. That they would all have relatively nice promotions over where they were 12 months prior.

That they would be better off. Better opportunity.

[radiohead]

I wonder how the players would react to this. I’m sure they’ve built some good relationships with these guys. It’s easy to assume that these coaches would follow Ime “out of loyalty”. But would one really want to go to a rebuilding team instead of being a top assistant with a supposed contender? Not unless the Celtics are really in shambles internally. Maybe these assistant coaches weren’t happy with how Joe ran things? I just hope players don’t ask to be traded in the coming days.

It is strange. You would think all these guys got a bump up in the pecking order after Mazzula became Head Coach, after Hardy left, after Damon Stoudamire left. That they would all have relatively nice promotions over where they were 12 months prior.

That they would be better off. Better opportunity.

Aand if you’re Joe, you really need to take a hard look at yourself and ask why these guys are abandoning a contender (and him for that matter) for a rebuilding team. A silver lining though is Brad will hopefully be able to surround Joe with experienced assistants. I hope we get a better idea of how these things are unfolding in the coming days.

[SHAQATTACK]

Wyc and Stevens idiots

[W8ting2McHale]

The consensus around here seems to be that if Joe returns as head coach that he needs assistants with more NBA level experience.

Now there’s some job openings.

Without Ime poaching the guys he brought in, someone would need to be fired to make the above possible. Sounds like an opportunity, not a problem.

[radiohead]

I have a feeling Steven Silas is gonna be an assistant soon. Still hoping for a vet guy like Vogel to be associate head coach.

[gouki88]

I have a feeling Steven Silas is gonna be an assistant soon. Still hoping for a vet guy like Vogel to be associate head coach.

Silas has ~20 years of experience, for better or worse

[radiohead]

I have a feeling Steven Silas is gonna be an assistant soon. Still hoping for a vet guy like Vogel to be associate head coach.

Silas has ~20 years of experience, for better or worse

Wow, that I didn’t know. Hopefully he can command respect from the players. I’d still like to have Vogel as well. And maybe JJ Reddick, who apparently Joe tried to get this season.

[Moranis]

I have a feeling Steven Silas is gonna be an assistant soon. Still hoping for a vet guy like Vogel to be associate head coach.

Silas has ~20 years of experience, for better or worse

Wow, that I didn’t know. Hopefully he can command respect from the players. I’d still like to have Vogel as well. And maybe JJ Reddick, who apparently Joe tried to get this season.

Yeah he started as an assistant with the Hornets in 2000.  Slowly moved around getting more and more responsibility before landing the Houston head job. 

[gouki88]

I have a feeling Steven Silas is gonna be an assistant soon. Still hoping for a vet guy like Vogel to be associate head coach.

Silas has ~20 years of experience, for better or worse

Wow, that I didn’t know. Hopefully he can command respect from the players. I’d still like to have Vogel as well. And maybe JJ Reddick, who apparently Joe tried to get this season.

Yeah he started as an assistant with the Hornets in 2000.  Slowly moved around getting more and more responsibility before landing the Houston head job.

Yeah, he was in his mid-late 20s when he started. I don’t know how good he actually is. Struggled as a head coach, but might be fine as an assistant