Jeff Van Gundy said multiple times Friday he doesn’t know all of the facts surrounding Ime Udoka’s one-season suspension.
Yet, Van Gundy kept defending Udoka anyway.
How the media whiffed on Ime Udoka
Van Gundy commented extensively on the Udoka story during the first quarter of Celtics-Heat. The ESPN analyst probably should’ve stopped talking the second time he admitted he doesn’t know anything about the situation.
“I want to make sure, because I feel strongly about this, Ime Udoka, I don’t know everything about that situation, but I know there’s a way back,” said Van Gundy. “And I’m not condoning or condemning anything that he did. Like I said, I don’t know anything about that situation other than, Ime Udoka I worked with for two years with USA Basketball. And he’s proven obviously to be a terrific, terrific coach, but beyond that, I know how he treated me. That’s how I judge people. I think he’s a terrific man.”
As ESPN’s lead NBA analyst, Van Gundy needs to be smarter. Udoka’s treatment of Van Gundy, a peer, is mutually exclusive from how he may treat female underlings.
Van Gundy guaranteed that Udoka will be back coaching in the NBA.
“Whether it’s with the Celtics or some other team, people insinuating that he’ll never get another opportunity, I think are dead wrong. He will be back, and I think he will be better than ever,” he said.
Again, it’s surprising that Van Gundy would speak with such certainty, considering he doesn’t know what happened. This wasn’t any reflexive commentary, either. Van Gundy also defended Udoka in an interview with the Globe’s Gary Washburn earlier this month.
“I believe in him both as a coach and a person, again from what my experiences have been with him, and I hope that whether it’s in Boston or another spot that he’s able to regain his coaching career very soon because he did an incredibly good job with that Boston team,” said Van Gundy.
Little remains known about what led to Udoka’s suspension. The most details we’ve received are from Shams Charania, who reported Udoka made “unwanted comments” towards the woman. The woman apparently alerted the Celtics of Udoka’s alleged misconduct after she had disclosed the relationship.
Former NBA player Matt Barnes initially defended Udoka — just like Van Gundy — before retracting his support and saying the truth is “100 times worse” than anybody would believe.
Even allowing for hyperbole, it’s apparent that Udoka actions were egregious. The Celtics took the dramatic step of suspending him for the season just days before training camp. There are still seemingly a lot of details that we don’t know.
Maybe they’ll never be revealed. But even if some of them do, Van Gundy could look very foolish, or worse.