The Boston Celtics were due for a change in the coaching staff. While Brad Stevens was pretty solid, the team had constantly fallen short of their goal and there were some troubling reports about the locker room.
But even if some people speculated that Brad Stevens’ days in charge of the team were coming to an end, it was still somewhat surprising to see that they were promoting him to take over Danny Ainge’s former spot.
Stevens didn’t wait long before making big moves on the team, trading away Kemba Walker and bringing back Al Horford. But the biggest move he made was signing Ime Udoka as their next coach.
Ime Udoka will bring some fresh perspective for the Celtics but more than that, it seems like Stevens thinks that he’ll even be an upgrade over him:
“Obviously, we improved our coaching,” said Stevens when asked about the next season, as quoted by Brian Robb of MassLive.
Brad Stevens on next season: "Obviously, we improved our coaching."
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) August 19, 2021
The new-look Celtics are looking forward to making a big splash in the Eastern Conference. With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown locked in for the future, they need to make the most of their young core and finally take a step forward.
Thus far, it seems like Udoka and both Tatum and Brown are all on the same page, which is huge for them as the two cornerstones of the franchise.
Besides the aforementioned Horford, the Celtics also added Josh Richardson and Dennis Schroder while also extending Marcus Smart’s contract once and for all.
Then again, it still feels like the Celtics are a couple of steps below other Eastern Conference contending teams such as the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, or even Philadelphia 76ers.
But, who knows? Maybe Udoka is indeed an improvement over Stevens and this team will finally reach their ceiling.
