Jeff Van Gundy officially a consultant to the Cs now

[Caspir]

Just want to say that by this logic, the Celtics would never have a white coach again.

I think it is more specific to this group of players. Jaylen Brown mentioned it on the record that when Brad stepped down, they wanted a black head coach. That led to Ime, but I think the main point, and one he's made in other forums, is that the people in the coaching ranks should look more like the majority of the players and less like the majority of the owners.

Doesn't mean forever, and if Steve Kerr decides he hates GS and finds his way here, I'm sure they'd be thrilled. I just see the pipeline they're building, coupled with comments from one of their biggest stars, and think it would take a perfect set of circumstances, and a lot of discussion with players making huge money for it to not mess up the team's chemistry/trust with the coaching staff and management.

 

[jon abbey]

I think it is more specific to this group of players. Jaylen Brown mentioned it on the record that when Brad stepped down, they wanted a black head coach. That led to Ime, but I think the main point, and one he's made in other forums, is that the people in the coaching ranks should look more like the majority of the players and less like the majority of the owners.

Doesn't mean forever, and if Steve Kerr decides he hates GS and finds his way here, I'm sure they'd be thrilled. I just see the pipeline they're building, coupled with comments from one of their biggest stars, and think it would take a perfect set of circumstances, and a lot of discussion with players making huge money for it to not mess up the team's chemistry/trust with the coaching staff and management.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

Just an opinion, but I think there is zero chance this franchise fires a black coach and replaces him with a white one. It will not happen. Lee or Cassell would take over (my guess is Lee).

It is all black and white today? (Pun intended) How do black players view those 50/50 guys like Mazzulla? While most have a black father/white mother, Joe is unique in that his is the inverse....do players weigh this differently too? I'm so out of the loop from my days.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

One of the thing I love about sports is your company's president and his senior consultant can hang around wearing sweatpants like two dudes at the Y:

View: https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1713963857620672701?s=20

 

[Caspir]

It is all black and white today? (Pun intended) How do black players view those 50/50 guys like Mazzulla? While most have a black father/white mother, Joe is unique in that his is the inverse....do players weigh this differently too? I'm so out of the loop from my days.

Not my place to delegate blackness, so you'd have to ask JB about that one. What I said was based solely on Jaylen's statements, and some assumptions about the team's culture based on some other more subtle things that have gone on the past year or two. I don't think it's a problem, and the C's are handling two young stars and the ego that comes with being that good extremely well. It was a response to the JVG stepping in midseason thing, nothing more.

 

[Eddie Jurak]

Not my place to delegate blackness, so you'd have to ask JB about that one. What I said was based solely on Jaylen's statements, and some assumptions about the team's culture based on some other more subtle things that have gone on the past year or two. I don't think it's a problem, and the C's are handling two young stars and the ego that comes with being that good extremely well. It was a response to the JVG stepping in midseason thing, nothing more.

As specifically regards the current Celtics situation, I think it would be a super-weird look for the Celtics to have hired Mazzulla and brought in 2 top assistants who happen to be black (Cassell and Lee), but then to reach past them for a white TV guy who hasn't coached in the league in 15 years. I think the players would notice.

I don't think the Celtics will never have a white coach again or anything like that, just not anytime soon.

BTw, historically speaking, 7 of 19 Celtic coaches have been black. Starting with the first black coach (Bill Russell), 7 of 16 have been black. Black coaches have coaches the Celtics to 5 of their 17 championships, but after Red (who won 9), black coaches have 5 of the 8 (2 for Russell, 2 for KC, 1 for Doc).

Ironically, KC's second banner was with the whitest NBA team in recent memory, the 1986 Celtics. Only 5 players who got at least one minute were black, including only 2 of the top 10 in minutes (on a team with an 8-man rotation).

 

[joe dokes]

Just want to say that by this logic, the Celtics would never have a white coach again.

Not that I agree with @Caspir's conclusion, but the post was limited to "firing."

 

[astrozombie]

FWIW, who knows if JVG would even *want* to coach at this point. He strikes me as a guy who genuinely loves talking basketball and got to do it on TV and now gets to do it for one organization, which may gift him additional access or more focused/technical discussions (rather than making things relatable to a televised audience who may not be familiar with higher level basketball strategy) or something else. Being a consultant without all the other stuff that goes into being a coach might be ideal for him.

 

[Bosoxian]

His family lives in Houston and the ability for them to stay there while he does his thing was important.

 

[Toe Nash]

Don't see a downside and I'm glad he chose to help us out rather than another contender. He has watched the best teams and players in the playoffs every year for a while now and has to have picked up a lot of nuances that others wouldn't be able to notice (and that they'd actively hide from anyone on the Celtics).