After Steve Nash’s abrupt departure, suspended Celtics coach Ime Udoka is on the verge of being hired by the Nets for the coaching job. Udoka was suspended for “violations of team policies” after a report surfaced about his alleged involvement in an “improper” consensual relationship with a female member of the team’s staff.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Celtics guard Marcus Smart gave his reaction to the reported move.
“Obviously, we wish he was here,” Smart said Wednesday. “We have no control over that. It definitely sucks. I guess it was deemed that whatever happened was enough for him not to be the coach here, but I guess not enough for him [not] to be a coach anywhere else, obviously.”
Smart appeared to be unhappy with the move and the front office’s communication on the situation.
“[Udoka’s] name got slandered and slaughtered and it was ‘He’ll probably never coach again,’” Smart said. “And a couple of months later now he’s possibly going to be the coach of one of our biggest rivals? It’s tough. It makes no sense. But we can’t control that. We have to control what we can and I love the team here.
“It really doesn’t matter what we say [to the front office],” Smart added. “We can voice our opinion, but I’m sure it’s going to be, ‘Yeah, we hear you.’ And that’s it. I’m sure they know how certain people feel. But it is tough, because there’s only so much that they can say. It’s a tough spot for everybody. It just sucks all around.”
Per reports, the Celtics will not look for compensation in the move. Joe Mazzulla is serving as the team’s interim coach, and Boston is 4–2 to start the season.
“We obviously thought [Udoka would be] be back, but obviously the team and organization felt a different way,” Smart said. “Unfortunately, that’s the business side of it and we have to deal with it. … Now he’s possibly going to take a job right down the street from us and be coaching the same guys we were trying to beat to get to where we were last year.”
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