Georgia Tech Basketball made the surprising hire of Boston Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire in March after firing former coach Josh Pastner. Since then, Georgia Tech has been working hard of raising its talent level through the transfer portal and the Celtics had their season cut short this week after losing to the Miami Heat in an epic seven-game series.
While Stoudamire is coming from the NBA ranks, he is no stranger to being the head coach at a college program. He was the head coach of Pacific from 2016-2021 and finished with a 71-77 record as the head coach. Some will look at that head coaching record and scoff at it, but USA Today's Dan Wolken put his record into context on Twitter:
I have written about how I think Stoudamire was a good hire and he has had a good offseason in Atlanta, the team he was an assistant coach on might have missed him during their playoff run these past couple of months.
Stoudamire talked about what made him leave the Boston Celtics so close to the beginning of the playoffs, the team that at the time was favored to win the NBA title, during his introductory press conference in March:
"You know... that's a good question. What I would say is and I say that because I had a couple of people text me the same thing but I would say that more than me leaving, I think it shows what these two gentleman brought to the table when we talked and what they shared as a vision of where the program can go. I just thought it was a no-brainer. I thought now was the time and we can get things going back in the right direction. You see the conference changing a little bit and that is exciting. The commitments they made and I just felt like it was perfect.
When Boston wins a championship, I will still get my ring, we already talked about that, I get my ring. Right now, everybody understands why I left, but even with that said, talking with Joe (Massulla) and Brad (Stevens), I would have liked to stay, but that would have been not given Georgia Tech the credit and attention it deserved. If I am going to do this, I am going to do this 100%. So, I am committed and in this for the long haul and I feel like Georgia Tech has a chance like I said to get back and win championships and that is all I really want to do is to inspire children."
Clearly, Stoudamire won't be getting his ring, but would he have one if he had stayed to help the team? Jay King and Jared Weiss cover the Celtics for the Athletic (NBA insider Shams Charania also contributed) and in an article about the Celtics season, they discussed what losing Stoudamire meant to the locker room:
"Damon Stoudamire, initially expected by several players and coaches to be a favorite for the interim job, later said Mazzulla contacted him upon earning the promotion. Mazzulla told Stoudamire he trusted him and considered him his right-hand man."
“Joe is a great dude,” Stoudamire said in December while acting as head coach for a game when Mazzulla was sidelined by an eye injury. “Got to know him a lot last year. Our friendship has just continued as we’ve moved forward this season.”
“It’s not like Damon had a certain power, but players really respected him,” said one team source. “Joe used Damon to have a guy that’s been here that’s played that can speak to them. Damon could speak their language and no one else on the staff can do (it).”
The fact that he appeared to be so respected by players in the locker room speaks volumes to me and it is one of the reasons I am high on the Yellow Jackets hiring him. There is no way of ever knowing if Stoudamire had stayed in Boston, they would be getting ready to play in the NBA Finals. The fact that it is even mentioned and talked about by people close to the team suggests that he would have had a role in it.
However, Boston's loss might be Georgia Tech's gain in the long run. Stoudamire has brought in an impressive transfer portal class to Atlanta and scored a win yesterday with last year's leading scorer Miles Kelly deciding to come back after initially going to the NBA Draft. This decision could be looked back on at some point as a great move for Georgia Tech, but one that might have cost the Boston Celtics an NBA title.
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