Ex-Celtics GM Danny Ainge claims Joe Mazzulla is a 'better' coach than Ime Udoka

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Last season, the Boston Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals under head coach Ime Udoka. Shortly after, Udoka was suspended for the entire 2022-23 season, and the Celtics announced assistant coach Joe Mazzulla would take over head coaching duties on an interim basis.

In February, the team announced it would drop the interim tag and officially named Mazzulla as the 19th head coach in franchise history. 

Udoka eventually moved on from Boston and was named head coach of the Houston Rockets. 

Meanwhile, the Celtics had a successful regular season under Mazzulla, earning the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But the team failed to return to the Finals.

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Danny Ainge addresses the media as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are introduced as Boston Celtics Sept. 1, 2017, at the TD Garden in Boston.  (Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Despite what transpired, Danny Ainge, the Celtics' former president of basketball operations, thinks Boston is better off with Mazzulla as coach.

Ainge worked in the Celtics' front office 18 years and shared some of his thoughts about the state of his former team in an interview with The Boston Globe.

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Ainge said he believes Mazzulla is a better coach than Udoka.

"This team found joy. They were inconsistent, but they were rooting for each other. They were all defending Joe in the media," Ainge told The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy. 

"You see Joe’s toughness and stubbornness. He’s a relentless worker. He has a passion to learn. Joe is a leader, and