Recapping a strange, yet optimistic Celtics' media day

Sep. 28—CANTON — Let's just get this out of the way now before it continues to be a recurring topic of discussion as the Boston Celtics dive into the 2022-23 campaign: Ime Udoka is out as head coach, and realistically, he's likely never coming back.

While no decisions have been made regarding Udoka's future beyond this season, it's become more and more clear in recent days that the damage he's caused within the organization is virtually irreversible. Former assistant coach Joe Mazzulla will take over, and the team is now solely focused on moving forward with their new leader.

"I'm optimistic," Jaylen Brown said in a press conference at Monday's media day. "I believe in Joe, Joe believes in me, I've had conversations with him and I don't think he sees a limit with my game. I think he's coming in excited so I'm optimistic."

Like many of the players on this year's roster, Brown has built a strong relationship with Mazzulla during the latter's three previous seasons with the team. Yes, at 34 years old Mazzulla is younger than many current players in the NBA, including Celtics power forward Al Horford.

But he's experienced, knows what the Celtics need to do to win at the highest level, and appears eager and ready to make his mark.

Nobody, including Boston's players, could have predicted they'd be in this situation mere months after coming within two wins of an NBA Championship under Udoka. For all intents and purposes, the franchise had a bomb dropped on it just days before a highly anticipated training camp begins, and that's a difficult position for anyone to be in.

But there's nothing they can do about it now, and having the confidence and trust in their familiar new head coach should go a long way to their hopeful success.

"There's not much to change at all," said Mazzulla. "I think it's just about learning from last season and how we can get better. I'm really relying on the relationships I've built in the three years here, especially with the players and the organization and just moving forward one day at a time.

"In moments like this you just have to stay poised and you have to stay focused on what's the most important thing, and the most important thing for me is making sure that the players and myself are on the same page," he added. "Making sure we're focused on the expectations that we have for this season from a basketball standpoint, and how we move forward together building trust and building relationships. I think that's key."

Make no mistake about it; Monday's media day was an awkward, and for lack of a better term, weird couple of hours riddled with questions surrounding the Udoka situation. But all those questions didn't necessarily produce answers, as numerous Celtics players were admittedly just as shocked as the rest of us when it came to last week's big news.

In fact, Jayson Tatum admitted he found out about Udoka's allegedly consensual inner-organizational relationship and subsequent suspension the same way as everyone else: through social media.

"... on Twitter like everybody else," Tatum said when asked how he first head the news. Tatum, Brown, Smart and others all said they haven't spoken with Udoka since the news broke.

"Nobody expected this coming into the season and we were all caught off guard by everything. We have to try to move forward and play basketball."

Tatum, as well as the rest of the Celtics' players to take the podium on Monday, also made it crystal clear that they weren't given any further information on the situation due to privacy concerns surrounding the people involved.

And so, we move on to a new Celtics season in a shockingly different manner. Not only is Udoka out of the fold, but newly acquired sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari will miss the entire season with a torn ACL and starting big man Robert Williams is out at least 8-12 weeks following recent surgery to his problematic knee.

Still, expectations remain high for the reigning Eastern Conference champs. Brown says he's in the best shape of his life; Tatum is coming off his most productive and awe-inspiring season yet after being named to the All-NBA First Team; newcomer Malcolm Brogdon believes he and Marcus Smart can be the best defensive backcourt in the league; and Horford says he feels great, wants to play in the second game of all back-to-backs and sees himself contributing in this league for more years to come.

Despite all the disappointment, uncertainties and overall shaky vibe heading into the season, Boston is still one of the most talented teams in the Association. They've gotten a taste of what Finals play is like, and that drive and commitment to getting back to the top is undoubtedly still the common goal surrounding the team.

"It was a learning experience," Tatum said of last year's Finals appearance. "You understand how tough it was to get to that point and how much tougher it is to obviously win the whole thing. So you take some time to reflect, rest, and attack the summer with a plan of things you feel like you need to do to be the best version of yourself going into that next season and ultimately try to get over the hump this year."

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.