Joe Mazzulla has exceeded expectations as interim coach of the Boston Celtics. He is 24-10 through 34 games, leading the Celtics to the NBA's best record thus far this season. Caesars Sportsbook has him as the early favorite to win the NBA's Coach of the Year award with strong odds at plus-175. For a coach who took over in September, it would be hard to ask for much more.
And yet, the Celtics don't plan to rush into a long-term commitment. According to The Boston Globe, the Celtics do not plan to remove the interim tag from Mazzulla during the season. More simply, this means that the Celtics are not ready to make Mazzulla their full-time head coach.
That is still a decision they could eventually make. However, they do still have suspended coach Ime Udoka under contract for next season and beyond. He was initially a candidate to replace Steve Nash with the Brooklyn Nets, but they ultimately decided to promote Jacque Vaughn and have thrived ever since. Mazzulla will coach the rest of this season no matter what, according to Himmelsbach. Eventually, though, the Celtics are going to have to make a decision.
In basketball terms, that is not going to be an easy one. Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals with the league's best defense. Mazzulla has led the Celtics to the league's best record with its No. 1 ranked offense. By not making a decision now, the Celtics may be waiting to see how Mazzulla performs in the postseason.
They may also be continuing to investigate the incident that got Udoka suspended. Udoka allegedly engaged in a consensual relationship with a team employee, and while the Celtics have not formally fired him, Brooklyn's decision not to hire him after reports indicated that he would be the next coach of the Nets was curious, to say the least.
Ultimately, the Celtics are in a relatively enviable position. Many teams lack a single viable head coach. Boston has two. It's not clear which of them will hold the job long-term, but whoever doesn't get it should be a leading candidate for other jobs around the league.
