Ex-Celtics Assistant Opens Up About Transition From Ime Udoka To Joe Mazzulla

Former Boston Celtics assistant coach Damon Stoudamire didn’t have any torn allegiances before the start of 2022-23 season.

Just a few days before training camp started, the Celtics issued a season-long suspension to Ime Udoka, who has a close relationship with Stoudamire, and promoted Joe Mazzulla to interim head coach.

It was a move that could have caused waves. But it wasn’t that case for Stoudamire as he told the Boston Sports Journal’s Bobby Manning that he had no desire to be the Celtics head coach and was ready to fully back Mazzulla.

“Everybody knows that Ime is one of my good friends and will always be one of my good friends and the situation was unfortunate, but at the same time, I still had a job to do too. So it never dawned on me,” Stouadmire told Manning. “The task at hand wasn’t completed. So I told Joe, even when everything went down and he was named (head coach), we met and I told him, ‘No different than if Ime was here. I’m gonna do my best to make sure you succeed. It’s my job. So whether it’s putting out fires, whether it’s being there for you, lending an ear, game planning, whatever it is that we need to do to be successful, that’s what I’m gonna do to help you.'”

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Stoudamire left the Celtics in mid-season last March to become the head coach at Georgia Tech, his alma mater.

But even though he’s no longer a part of the Celtics organization, his support for Mazzulla hasn’t wavered from afar.

“Even now fast forwarding and all the way to now, the thing that I take really good joy in watching him is he’s so much more comfortable with who he is as being the head coach of the Boston Celtics,” Stoudamire said, “and I think he wears that with a badge of honor and it’s not easy. … I think they got the right guy at the helm to get them to where ultimately they want to hang that 18th banner.”