Prior to the Celtics’ playoff game Tuesday, their former head coach officially landed a new job.
The Houston Rockets formally announced the hiring of Ime Udoka, who led the C’s to the NBA Finals in his lone season at the helm in Boston. Prior to the start of the 2022-23 campaign, the Celtics issued a season-long suspension to Udoka for violating franchise policies and ultimately replaced him with Joe Mazzulla.
Marcus Smart was asked about Udoka’s new gig before Boston’s Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden. While the Celtics’ longest-tenured player was pleased to see Udoka receive another opportunity, he clearly misses having his old coach around.
“Happy for him,” Smart told reporters, per The Boston Globe. “He’s a great coach. Obviously, we wish he could’ve been here with us, but we understand the business side of everything and everything that happened. So it’s just good to see him back out there getting at least another opportunity to show his wisdom and what he has to bring to the game.”
Smart added: “We built a connection together outside of basketball, me and Ime. So for him not to be here was tough, but I’m just happy for him and happy he gets another opportunity to show what he can do.”
Smart’s sentiments were echoed by a few other Celtics players. Udoka also received a congratulatory text message from Mazzulla, who’s currently in the process of trying to lead Boston to another conference crown.
The first step is advancing past the first round, which the Celtics will try to do Thursday night in Atlanta.
