Ime Udoka's Suspension By The Celtics Raises Questions About Team Culture

There were many hurt by Ime Udoka's violations of "team policies," but there was one group of folks that Brad Stevens' empathy for was on display for all to see.

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For all that people associate as character traits of Brad Stevens, showing visible emotion doesn't usually doesn't rank high.

Courtesy of A. Sherrod Blakely

But as Stevens, the Celtics President of Basketball Operations and Co-owner Wyc Grousbeck addressed the media to discuss Ime Udoka's season-long suspension, there was a moment when Stevens became visibly shaken.

It was when Stevens began talking about the impact of social media going wild with false assertions about some women within the team's Basketball Operations group whose names were falsely tossed around haphazardly - with zero proof - in connection with Udoka's violations of "team policies."

Multiple reports say Udoka had a consensual affair with a female employee of the Celtics organization which is a violation of company policy.

"Obviously, it's been a hard time. We have a lot of talented women in our organization. (Thursday) was really hard on them," said a visibly shaken Stevens. "Nobody can control Twitter speculation ... Twitter bullshit. We as an organization have a responsibility to support them now."

He's right.

But it does raise questions as to how much support they received prior to Udoka's suspension.

As the NBA began to make strides towards increasing the number of women within its teams, the Celtics have been part of that wave of change.

Current Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson was the first female assistant coach in franchise history (2019-2020).

Allison Feaster is the Celtics' Vice-President of player development and organizational growth. The 46-year-old Feaster is viewed by many as one of the NBA's brightest young executives.

Her name was among those falsely tossed about as being part of Udoka's violations.

"There's a lot of people that were dragged unfairly into that," said Stevens without naming anyone specifically.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

As a former head coach of the Celtics, Stevens understands all too well how the social media cesspool that Twitter does at times becomes, can cast a false light on individuals and situations with little if any recourse.

When he was leading the Celtics, there were rumors seemingly every year that alluded to him leaving for a college coaching job. As they kept coming, Stevens kept refuting them.

Now as the team's basketball operations leader, Stevens has to deal with the various rumors involving his players, well aware that most of them have little to no foundation based on the truth.

For most of this summer, the talk of the NBA centered around a possible deal that would have brought Kevin Durant to Boston with Jaylen Brown, among other less-established talents, being the centerpiece of such a deal.

But this, well, it seemed to hit a different chord with Stevens.

While he didn't go into the specifics, there was an undeniable level of pain that Stevens was feeling at that moment as he talked about the impact of the false rumors about his female co-workers.

It was both moving and an unexpected sight to see.

But it also served as either a reminder or a wake-up call that whatever the Celtics are doing as it relates to the franchise's women, there has to be more done to ensure they have the kind of support needed in order to be successful.

The path taken by Feaster is evidence that Boston is more than open to women taking upon them greater positions of leadership within the company.

And Stevens has made no secret about wanting to continue blending the basketball operations team with as many talented, diverse individuals as he can.

It remains to be seen if this will do anything to deter women in the future from pursuing positions with the Celtics.

But it has created more conversations about women being in a culture that supports them, conversations that need to take place on a regular basis.