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Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens Discuss How the Celtics' Head Coach Has Grown in His First Year at the Helm: 'He's Been a Great Strength for Us'
The leap Joe Mazzulla made from sitting behind the bench a season ago to becoming the NBA's youngest active head coach (34) is challenging enough.
Getting thrust into the job as media day and training camp arrive and replacing a head coach the Celtics' stars picked and rewarded that decision by helping guide them to the NBA Finals made the task all the more difficult.
But Mazzulla knows who he is; he's comfortable in his skin. And he didn't let his promotion change him. The same went for Boston's 20-5 start to the campaign. Or when the defending Eastern Conference champions lost 5/8 games shortly after the All-Star break.
A season has its ebbs and flows, and losing focus around March is common for NBA title contenders. But that dip in performance also has a lot to do with why the Celtics likely have to go through the Sixers and Bucks and won't have home-court advantage against the latter if they're to return to the Finals.
Still, Mazzulla's been steady, and his team's been consistent. Boston finished with the NBA's second-best record (57-25) and ranked in the top five in points scored (117.9) and allowed (111.4) per game in the regular season.
"I knew we wanted to be a well-balanced offensive team; wanted to really work on situational basketball, (and) wanted to get better at game management; those things I had in mind," Mazzulla expressed after the Celtics' 120-114 win over the Hawks in their regular-season finale.
"And then I wanted to rely, empower, and have the guys take as much ownership as possible because it's a very strong locker room, and it's their team, and they've been through a lot. So, those were the two biggest goals for me."
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Mazzulla, whose thirst for knowledge is an invaluable asset to his growth and something his team benefits from, conveyed the following about his first season at the helm.
"You don't know what you don't know; you have to go through certain stuff in order to be aware of it, in my opinion. There's some stuff that you can't simulate. And so I think my focus was on what's the most important thing at this time. And then, along the way, you see some of the stuff that you need to get better at; you see some of the stuff there, (and) you handle each situation different.
"I've tried to be open-minded and flexible throughout the entire year, understanding it's not gonna go well all the time, but at the same time, I have a lot of good people around me, and we're gonna figure it out. And so, I think if you can maintain that open-minded perspective, it'll help you."
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Speaking before Boston's Easter Sunday victory vs. Atlanta, the franchise's president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, who sat in Mazzulla's seat for eight seasons, praised the Celtics' bench boss for his consistent approach, an essential ingredient to getting the most out of his team.
"He was gonna be really good. That's been pretty obvious for a long time. He's been consistent in his own approach, win (or) lose. He comes back, and he works the next day; he wants to grow, (and) he wants to improve. He demands that of the team. I think he does a good job of picking what the emphasis needs to be in the big picture, and also in those small moments, the snippets of time, the snippets of games when something is waning a little, he does a good job of figuring that out and making that a priority to improve.
"Obviously, every team has their ups and downs, but if you've watched us in the last two weeks, and the vast majority of our play, I think we've gotten better, and that's really encouraging because we struggled out of the gate after the All-Star break and we could've limped in. But I thought we did a much better job in the last couple of weeks, and he's been very consistent regardless of whether we've lost three in a row or won five in a row the whole year."
Stevens also highlighted the added difficulty for Boston to have the regular-season success it did, getting every opponent's best shot at a time when it feels like the NBA's filled with more talent than ever before.
"It's hard to be good; it's hard to win. Winning as many games as this team's won, especially with the idea that you're gonna get everybody's best shot every night ... they've done a great job.
"Players and coaches, they've navigated the inevitable ups and downs of a season well, and I think that obviously, looking ahead or moving forward, the East is very, very good. I think it's probably the best I've seen since I've been here. And to have however many wins we have right now and to be where we've been and also to do that with a target, I would tend to agree with him; I think it's been really well navigated by everybody."
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While discussing Mazzulla's progress in his first season at the helm, Stevens, who said his head was "spinning" his first 20 games as the Celtics' head coach, trying to stay on the pulse of everything he had to manage, but that every 5-10 games, he got more comfortable staying on top of those responsibilities, pointed to Mazzulla's growth with managing timeouts.
"He's calling the game as he sees it now, even more so than before, right? So, he's quicker to stop a run. He's quicker to do things. He may stop the game so he can make a sub. Or he may let a game go so (that) they can't make a sub.
"There's a lot of decisions to be made in that moment, and you feel out how your team best needs you, and that takes time. That takes time for a person that's done it for 30 years. And it takes time for a person that's never done it before. And he's done a good job. I think he's done a good job."
Stevens added, "All he wants to do is learn and grow, and he's great with that. And I think that he's been a great strength for us."
And when asked if his communication with Mazzulla will change in the playoffs, Stevens doubled down on that stance.
"We talk every day. But I want to go back to this, Joe's a strength. He's done a really good job. I understand because he's new that the easiest thing to do is nitpick him, but he's done a really good job. If he needs me, I'm here, but I trust him. And I trust his staff. And they've all done a really good job, and I think our players would all second that."
Further Reading
Celtics Positioned for a Top Second-Round Pick
Ime Udoka Reportedly a Top Candidate for Multiple Head-Coaching Vacancies
The NBA Announces When the Playoffs Start for the Celtics
Brad Stevens Provides Update on Celtics' Star Jaylen Brown's Injured Right Hand
Celtics Discuss Malcolm Brogdon's Sixth Man of the Year Candidacy
Jaylen Brown on His Relationship with Jayson Tatum: 'We’re a Part of Each Other’s Destiny'
