Why Celtics trust Joe Mazzulla in interim head coach role after Ime Udoka suspension

https://us.yahoo.com/sports/why-celtics-trust-joe-mazzulla-143400920.html




Why Celtics trust Joe Mazzulla in interim head coach role after Ime Udoka suspension



Chris Forsberg
Thu, September 22, 2022 at 6:15 PM



When newly hired Celtics coach Ime Udoka traveled to Tokyo for the 2021 Olympics, he leaned heavy on Joe Mazzulla, the only holdover from Brad Stevens’ on-the-bench coaching staff, to hold the fort back in Boston.


Mazzulla had coached Boston’s summer entry that year and used his familiarity with the core of the team to ease the transition to a new coach.

Now, with Udoka’s future in question, the Celtics will again lean on Mazzulla. The Rhode Island native will serve as interim coach in Udoka’s absence for violating team policy.


The 34-year-old Mazzulla interviewed for the Jazz opening in June before Utah hired fellow Celtics assistant Will Hardy for that post. Mazzulla was expected to make the jump to one of Udoka’s lead assistants this season and, instead, he’ll get the keys to the coaching car.

Udoka gushed about Mazzulla during Boston’ run to the Finals.

"I talked to everybody in the organization when I got hired, players included, and [Mazzulla] got glowing reviews. I didn't know much about him going into it. I take the players' opinions at high value,” Udoka said in June. "He was a guy that there was a consensus 'yes.' Somebody that they all worked with closely, believed in, and understood his upside.

"Once I met with him and Tony Dobbins, Evan Bradds, some of the guys we kept, I think it was pretty easy conversations to see why. As all young guys, he coached summer league, kind of held everything together while I was gone to Tokyo. The value and the relationship aspect, which was a big part of my coaching staff, he carried over well.”

It’s one thing to hold things down while Udoka is overseas or conduct workouts while Udoka was in protocol before the season. It’s another to steer a team coming off a Finals appearance while getting thrown into the fire just days before the start of training camp.

But Udoka spoke highly of Mazzulla’s potential and growth last season.

I love Joe. ... He's helped me out tremendously as a player and as a person.

Jayson Tatum on Joe Mazzulla

"It's easy to see why [players wanted him] once I got to know him and be around him. What I've encouraged our guys to do is be more vocal, be more out there, get their own voice. Same way I was kind of brought up in San Antonio.

"I think all our guys have done that throughout the year. We've all learned each other, for the guys I didn't know as well. Obviously with the Miami series, that being [Mazzulla’s] scout, you've seen him grow throughout the season.”

Jayson Tatum had similar praise for Mazzulla.

"I love Joe,” said Tatum. "I think just being around him … you could tell how passionate he is about the guys and his craft. He's gotten so much more knowledgeable, more detailed, just vocal. More comfortable in his role as a coach. You've seen a growth from his first year.

"He's helped me out tremendously as a player and as a person. I can't say enough good things about Joe. Everybody appreciates him, what he brings to this team. I'm glad that we have him.”

What are the Celtics getting with Mazzulla? Udoka detailed his personality while praising Mazzulla’s scouting during the Miami series.

"Joe is a very enthusiastic guy, obviously,” said Udoka. "The guys know him, he’s been here for some years and is a great, young, up-and-coming coach. But he’s been huge for this preparation, just as the others have for the other series. But it’s very noticeable because, like I said, he’s a very energetic, outgoing guy.”

Mazzulla joined the Celtics as an assistant with the Maine Red Claws before taking a college head coaching job. He returned as part of Stevens’ staff in 2019 and worked extensively with Kemba Walker during his first year with the team.


Bob
MY NOTE:  A little confusion by Forsberg, I think.  He had two different quotes attributed to Jayson Tatum when it's clear from the context he was quoting different people.

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Here is a tweet that may have included Tatem's quotes. I posted this on another thread, but this thread is a better place for it. I apologize in advance for posting it twice:

With the long list of coaching candidates always available the front office obviously feels Mazzulla is a good fit. They could have easily selected from a number of others, very likely some with a high profile, in short order, had they felt the need. I hope they give him a good long run to see what he can do.

Joe has big shoes to fill and apparently has past transgressions. He gets a clean slate.

His success will be heavily dependent on how the players respond to his coaching style. His experience does not qualify him to be the bench coach of a seasoned veteran title contender. If this was a rebuild coaching job, it would be different.

I wish him well and hope that the players rally around him. Make his job easier by stepping up to the plate and playing the way he needs them to play.

I didn't know where to put this, but it is about coaching, so here it goes:

gyso wrote:I didn't know where to put this, but it is about coaching, so here it goes:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1574966534837260288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1574966534837260288%7Ctwgr%5E617cb81216dc2ea6d0b2f10487f506c1fc8a3a48%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsbnation.coral.coralproject.net%2Fapi%2Foembed%3Ftype%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fwojespn2Fstatus2F1574966534837260288siteID%3D112aa377-e27f-4b58-9156-5e5df25f39a2frameID%3Dframe-id-1f31b679-6306-43dc-afda-dd819c7af470-c872e860-3f2f-11ed-ba8a-6b285b270112

gyso,

Interesting.  Jay Larranagga was one of the coaches Ime let go so he could bring in his "Portland Mafia" (Damon Stoudemire being one).  Brad wants him back, apparently, and Joe doesn't seem to have a problem with it either.

What this suggests is that Ime's suspension will be permanent.  I don't see them bringing Larranagga back if they thought Ime was going to be back in a year and I cannot see Brad lying to Jay and telling him Ime was gone if he thought he'd be back and Jay would be back out on the street again. That's not Brad Stevens.


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:

gyso wrote:I didn't know where to put this, but it is about coaching, so here it goes:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1574966534837260288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1574966534837260288%7Ctwgr%5E617cb81216dc2ea6d0b2f10487f506c1fc8a3a48%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsbnation.coral.coralproject.net%2Fapi%2Foembed%3Ftype%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fwojespn2Fstatus2F1574966534837260288siteID%3D112aa377-e27f-4b58-9156-5e5df25f39a2frameID%3Dframe-id-1f31b679-6306-43dc-afda-dd819c7af470-c872e860-3f2f-11ed-ba8a-6b285b270112

gyso,

Interesting.  Jay Larranagga was one of the coaches Ime let go so he could bring in his "Portland Mafia" (Damon Stoudemire being one).  Brad wants him back, apparently, and Joe doesn't seem to have a problem with it either.

What this suggests is that Ime's suspension will be permanent.  I don't see them bringing Larranagga back if they thought Ime was going to be back in a year and I cannot see Brad lying to Jay and telling him Ime was gone if he thought he'd be back and Jay would be back out on the street again.  That's not Brad Stevens.


Bob


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Bob,

I read some comments that Brad would be undercutting Joe Mazzulla by bringing Jay Larranaga back, but IMO, Brad wouldn't do that without Joe's buy-in first.

Brad is very good at communication and doing things the right way.  We'll have to wait and see if it happens and what it may cost the Celtics to make it happen.

Imememine is most likely gone, either fired or bought out for much less than he would like.  The suspension is just the waiting room for internal lawyer discussions, its location is right next to the exit door.

bobheckler wrote:

gyso wrote:I didn't know where to put this, but it is about coaching, so here it goes:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1574966534837260288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1574966534837260288%7Ctwgr%5E617cb81216dc2ea6d0b2f10487f506c1fc8a3a48%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsbnation.coral.coralproject.net%2Fapi%2Foembed%3Ftype%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fwojespn2Fstatus2F1574966534837260288siteID%3D112aa377-e27f-4b58-9156-5e5df25f39a2frameID%3Dframe-id-1f31b679-6306-43dc-afda-dd819c7af470-c872e860-3f2f-11ed-ba8a-6b285b270112

gyso,

Interesting.  Jay Larranagga was one of the coaches Ime let go so he could bring in his "Portland Mafia" (Damon Stoudemire being one).  Brad wants him back, apparently, and Joe doesn't seem to have a problem with it either.

What this suggests is that Ime's suspension will be permanent.  I don't see them bringing Larranagga back if they thought Ime was going to be back in a year and I cannot see Brad lying to Jay and telling him Ime was gone if he thought he'd be back and Jay would be back out on the street again.  That's not Brad Stevens.


Bob


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Larranagga or no, Ime’s not coming back. This moves doesn’t further substantiate anything because we all know or should know he will not be back as coach.
Common sense kicked in last Friday.

I am really struggling to be optimistic about this season at this point I have to admit.

We are super thin in front (for the N-th year in a row) and who knows how long Williams' knees will hold up.

But my main concern is the coaching staff. I get that all have only good things to say about the "interim coach". But let's face it, we knew Udoka had no HC experience, but he was known for his tough attitude and no nonsense approach which. Him lacking morals aside, this in combination with his undeniably imposing personality was almost not enough to get to the players' heads.

From the limited exposure so far I do not think Joe Mazzulla has what it takes to be tough and stay the course once the boats starts rocking and it inevitably does. So it will be much more up to the players to help in that regard this year. Something they have been quite visibly BAD at so far in their careers.

The good news is they have seen it work now. They know that it works and they know that they have to sacrifice for it to happen. Now they will have to come to that point without the extra push from the coach though and that is something only true veterans can do. They have the years, let us hope they have reached the maturity as well and are still determined to win.

Vankisa wrote:I am really struggling to be optimistic about this season at this point I have to admit.

We are super thin in front (for the N-th year in a row) and who knows how long Williams' knees will hold up.

But my main concern is the coaching staff. I get that all have only good things to say about the "interim coach". But let's face it, we knew Udoka had no HC experience, but he was known for his tough attitude and no nonsense approach which. Him lacking morals aside, this in combination with his undeniably imposing personality was almost not enough to get to the players' heads.

From the limited exposure so far I do not think Joe Mazzulla has what it takes to be tough and stay the course once the boats starts rocking and it inevitably does. So it will be much more up to the players to help in that regard this year. Something they have been quite visibly BAD at so far in their careers.

The good news is they have seen it work now. They know that it works and they know that they have to sacrifice for it to happen. Now they will have to come to that point without the extra push from the coach though and that is something only true veterans can do. They have the years, let us hope they have reached the maturity as well and are still determined to win.

I believe that last season, the coach (finally) got the players to buy in with the "sharing is caring" approach to their game. Now it should be all muscle memory going into the new season. Coach Maz just has to keep preaching the same message.

There's a lot to be excited about going into the new season.

All of us are in a wait and see mode.

I believe that Joe will do well with this team. He is not going to reinvent what works. Our veterans have an added incentive to play well.

First preseason game right around the corner.

Even more reason to appreciate Al Horford being on the team...

This move reminds me of Riley’s naming a young but internally highly regarded Erik Spoelstra the Heat’s coach. Also, in a player’s league, the Cs two stars will need to step up their leadership roles on and off the court.

BingBang! wrote:This move reminds me of Riley’s naming a young but internally highly regarded Erik Spoelstra the Heat’s coach. Also, in a player’s league, the Cs two stars will need to step up their leadership roles on and off the court.

I do not see any comparison other than they were both young and inexperiencd when that got a head coaching job.

dboss wrote:

BingBang! wrote:This move reminds me of Riley’s naming a young but internally highly regarded Erik Spoelstra the Heat’s coach. Also, in a player’s league, the Cs two stars will need to step up their leadership roles on and off the court.

I do not see any comparison other than they were both young and inexperiencd when that got a head coaching job.

Yes on young and inexperienced (the latter comes with the youthful part).
Also, “The move” was unexpected in both instances.
Also, they were both highly regarded internally.
Spoelstra was a Heat staffer for his entire pre-head coaching career and was specifically mentored by Riley as his replacement.
I’m hoping ( and you and others are free to join me) that Stevens has the same prescience that Riley had.

Reports are that Jay Larranagga nixed returning to the Celtics after speaking with them.

Can't blame him, but that still leaves us two coaches short.  Will Hardy was hired by the Jazz as their new head coach, so we have to replace him and Mazzulla in the assistant coaching ranks.

The timing here is tough.  We really need to have the coaches on board now, for camp.  Larranagga would have been great because his learning curve would be flatter than just about anybody else's.

If I have a recurring issue here it's with timing.  Why couldn't/didn't Rob Williams have his surgery after then end of last season?  Why'd he wait until one week before camp?  I understand Wyc and ownership had to wait until the outside consultants returned with their recommendations but why weren't they thinking a bit more strategically?  They knew something was wrong.  Even if they didn't know the full depths of it, and even if they wanted to get all their ducks in a row before going overt, they knew there'd be some fall out from the allegations.  Even if Ime was only going to be suspended for a couple of months that's still a couple of months where we'd be TWO assistant coaches down.  We were already one down with the hiring of Will Hardy by Utah, where's his replacement?  He was hired by Utah before Summer League in July.

Questionable planning, if there has in fact been any, beyond legal CYA.


Bob


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Bob,

"Why couldn't/didn't Rob Williams have his surgery after then end of last season? "

Because after the regular season, TIMELORD went on a complete rest routine, in order to reduce swelling, pain, etc.  It did.  When it became time to get back to the gym and ramp up his activity, the swelling and pain returned.

This situation would have happened in a totally normal off-season.

As to the hiring of assistant coaches, that had to wait until after the results of the investigation.  I believe when the results were presented to Brad and the owners, they were shocked at the findings.  It was hard to plan around that.

Still, we needed a replacement for Will Hardy. Now Mazulla too.

Dboss, Ktron, Heckler - are any of you available?

worcester wrote:Still, we needed a replacement for Will Hardy. Now Mazulla too.

Dboss, Ktron, Heckler - are any of you available?

I vote for both ktron and BobH.

What say you?

worcester wrote:Still, we needed a replacement for Will Hardy. Now Mazulla too.

Dboss, Ktron, Heckler - are any of you available?

I must admit, I’d make a terrible coach. I don’t have the patience.

Worcester I believe you could coach. 

Dboss would make a great coach but it would probably be short lived once Wyc and Brad find out that he’s trying to sell insurance policies to the players on the DL. Scandalous!!

Heckler would be super until the boys get bored and tired of his math classes.

Ktron wrote:

worcester wrote:Still, we needed a replacement for Will Hardy. Now Mazulla too.

Dboss, Ktron, Heckler - are any of you available?

I must admit, I’d make a terrible coach. I don’t have the patience.

Worcester I believe you could coach. 

Dboss would make a great coach but it would probably be short lived once Wyc and Brad find out that he’s trying to sell insurance policies to the players on the DL. Scandalous!!

Heckler would be super until the boys get bored and tired of his math classes.

Tommy sold insurance PT, why can't I?

dboss wrote:

Ktron wrote:

worcester wrote:Still, we needed a replacement for Will Hardy. Now Mazulla too.

Dboss, Ktron, Heckler - are any of you available?

I must admit, I’d make a terrible coach. I don’t have the patience.

Worcester I believe you could coach. 

Dboss would make a great coach but it would probably be short lived once Wyc and Brad find out that he’s trying to sell insurance policies to the players on the DL. Scandalous!!

Heckler would be super until the boys get bored and tired of his math classes.

Tommy sold insurance PT, why can't I?

You can but never during Time Outs.