CANTON, Mass. — Jaylen Brown, like so many both inside and outside the Boston Celtics organization, is looking for answers regarding the season-long suspension to head coach Ime Udoka.
It became a theme in Brown’s press conference during Celtics media day Monday.
“Initial reactions, I think I was, we were all shocked with what was going on. A little confused, a little bit,” Brown said. “But a lot of the information wasn’t being shared with us or members of the team so you can’t really comment on it.
“There’s a lot going on. Some we can control, some we couldn’t,” Brown added. “I think it’s going to be something we have to address as a group, which we started that process of doing. Not a lot of information is being shared, so there’s a lot of confusion going around, a lot of speculation going around, which makes it difficult on the guys that have been here and the guys that are here now. But I guess what we do is do our jobs. That’s what we’re here for. So we try to put our best foot forward, come out there and do what we got to do.”
Udoka has been suspended for the 2022-23 season due to violations of team policy, the Celtics announced Friday. Udoka has been a constant storyline with reports indicating he had an improper relationship with a Celtics female staffer. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Udoka made “unwanted” comments towards the staffer, someone who reportedly handled his travel arrangements, after the two initially had been involved in a “consensual” relationship.
Brown wishes the Celtics were able to share more with the team. Jayson Tatum and Grant Williams later revealed they learned about the Udoka situation on Twitter. And while Brown acknowledged the “privacy” concerns from the team perspective, he admitted the lack of information makes it more difficult for the group.
“I mean, I’ll say it again: I wish we had more details,” Brown said. “From what we know, it’s hard to make a decision based upon whether it’s consensual or not in the workplace, or whatever is going on, which we know that’s happened before in the workplace. But I guess there’s more to it than that, possibly, which we don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t have all the details being shared with me. So, it’s hard to really comment on something that you are not filled in with all the details.
“So, I don’t really have a comment of emotion about it because I don’t have all the details,” Brown concluded.
The Celtics issued a three-sentence statement regarding the official suspension Thursday night, some 24 hours after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Udoka could be suspended due to violations in the workplace. Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck and Brad Stevens cited “privacy” concerns Friday when asked about details of the suspension.
Follow along with NESN’s coverage from Celtics media day here.
