Joe Mazzulla officially named head coach
- Thread starter Beale13
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He'll be walking like Bobby Cox some day.
View: https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1802923356339019795
Joe Mazzulla says he has to have knee surgery for a torn meniscus this offseason.
View: https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1802923356339019795
Joe Mazzulla says he has to have knee surgery for a torn meniscus this offseason.
Given that people questioned the team line of "play hard, but we still have 2 games left if we don't win it", shouldn't CJM get massive credit for finding an unorthodox way to get them loose?
They played with a crazy combination of freedom and intensity, even when things weren't going perfectly.
If Spo came on the market tomorrow and said he wanted Boston, I'd keep Joe.
They played with a crazy combination of freedom and intensity, even when things weren't going perfectly.
If Spo came on the market tomorrow and said he wanted Boston, I'd keep Joe.
Joe Mazzulla will never have to worry about a job again. And to be honest he is probably a top 5 coach in the NBA.
Speaking of job, it’s time for Wyc to rip up Joe’s deal and give him a healthy raise.
CJM made a huge leap in all sorts of ways in his sophomore year. He took the Ferrari on an amazing journey and got it safely back in the garage.
Great coaching job by Joe tonight and all season long. 3 minutes into his first shift it looked like playing Porzingis was a mistake. I thought they should take him out and I know I’m not the only one. Joe stuck with him and it was clearly the right move.
Shortening the rotation to 7(except end of quarter heaves) also worked to perfection. Pritchard was picked on this series and Dallas couldn’t get a run together with him out.
Playing Tatum/Brown nearly the whole game also could have backfired. He knew his guys had it in him. Just a coaching masterpiece by Joe.
Shortening the rotation to 7(except end of quarter heaves) also worked to perfection. Pritchard was picked on this series and Dallas couldn’t get a run together with him out.
Playing Tatum/Brown nearly the whole game also could have backfired. He knew his guys had it in him. Just a coaching masterpiece by Joe.
"And there's another [gap] over there."
That's my guy. Also the Brandeis shoutout! (My alma mater, doesn't come up in sports too often.)
Ten year deal today.
Amazing stuff— thanks for posting.
It's fascinating how he gives thoroughly analytical answers to two questions in a row (counting possession with a clicker in his first job, and how Boston arrived at single-covering Luka and Kyrie by counting all the points scored by different Dallas players and doing the math) and then immediately to talking about belief in god with the same sense of assurance (him reassuring Tatum that, win or lose, the team was exactly where it was supposed to be). Also, very revealing and Belichickian, the way he attributes the difference between this year's and last year's outcomes to winning a handful of possessions around the margins (rather than some character-driven narrative about last year's team being 'weak' and this year's being 'strong', or what have you.)
And, LOL at his staring up at the empty rafter space during each national anthem.
It is. Solid questions, too. And the followup showing the guy was actually listening to what JM said. ("you said details matter. Which ones?")
As said above. He has a lot of BB in him. Ask good questions, get good answers.
I've written it before but we are going to look back on calls for his head and just LOL, like Heat fans do with Spo.
The methods to measure players' performance has increased exponentially in the last 10 years. Other than judging them on results (which is totally fair), off the court people, like coaches and GMs, remain a black box. Even among ex-players, it seems that assessing a particular coach with a particular team is an impossible task for outsiders.
At some point, CJM is going to write a motivational book.
I suppose I'll probably get the audiobook version.
I suppose I'll probably get the audiobook version.
He was interviewed by Pardon My Take (Joe absolutely loves them) and talked about the Dark Knight scene. Its a great listen given that it was taped yesterday when they landed in Miami and he had all of the celebrations etc to discuss.
Interesting. Video is below for folks. I'll have to listen to it. (edit: just realized CJM doesn't come on until 1:08. Tried to have video start at that time):
View: https://youtu.be/5mho0BLeLso?t=4139
No even 2 minutes in and CJM is talking about how great it was to hurt his meniscus, quote: "It was just awesome. I think about getting hurt every season at the All-Star Break..."
This is fascinating:
View: https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/1803589545662796162
New Lowe Post podcast: Joe Mazzulla goes inside the Celtics title run + his unlikely journey to this moment. Then JEFF VAN GUNDY is back to discuss his year in Boston, new Clips job, more. Plus: The offseason has started!
View: https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/1803589545662796162
New Lowe Post podcast: Joe Mazzulla goes inside the Celtics title run + his unlikely journey to this moment. Then JEFF VAN GUNDY is back to discuss his year in Boston, new Clips job, more. Plus: The offseason has started!
I have to say I wonder if they win with Ime. I'm going to say yes only because there's so much talent but I agree that the Cs ended up with a better coach.
Yeah I think they win, but I also think Joe is perfect for this roster. I think Joe is a great coach who was thrown into a tough situation last year, and I could see what he was trying to teach during timeout-less stretches this year. However, I also think Joe's coaching style needs absolute buy in from everyone, and that starts with the stars. JT and JB 110% bought into putting into the work, and while that would set the tone, I don't think anyone on the roster needed that push thanks to Brad. I also expect JB and JT and the rest of the roster to stay locked in. Joe with a star like Ja might end up in an actual fight
The offense would have been a lot worse, imo, and the defense hit really high notes under Joe.
Ime is not in Joe's zip code as an offensive coach.
Anyone else catch that he challenged an out of bounds call late in game 5, with like 2 minutes left to a trophy, up by 20 - and, of course, won it? Can't give up that +EV.
He's our psycho, but he's a psycho. God love him.
He's our psycho, but he's a psycho. God love him.
Dallas had just scored on two possessions in a row I think.. and Luka drove for another layup… and Holiday swiped the ball off of Luka’s leg.
Dallas had just cut the lead from 26 to 21… and if Luka had made the layup it’d brought it down to 19. It was at the 2:37 mark. Kidd subbed everyone out after the successful challenge.. including KI who then did the whole bench thing.
Man preached keeping the gas pedal down, keeping the foot on your opponent's neck. Gotta practice that too.
This really speaks to me. I would do everything in my power to make sure I remembered as much of the moment as possible, staying in the gym until they killed the lights, letting my brain collect all the details. It looks like he’s just walking the perimeter, probably going through the game moments with his life partner. The Celtics found a special coach.
Given all of his movie references here was my first thought after reading this post:
He spoke a bit about this on the Pardon My Take pod...really hit home. Soaking in all the history and realizing he is now forever a part of it.
Ive seen a 14 point lead with 1 minute left wiped away. Im surprised they subbed out their guys as soon as they did. Its the finals!
Joe on how he'd rob a bank.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/06/joe-mazzulla-boston-celtics-championship-bank-robbery
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/06/joe-mazzulla-boston-celtics-championship-bank-robbery
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioVfp5-fubY
If you don't think that JM doesn't think about timeouts... around the 1/2 hour mark he talks about timeouts more than any coach I've ever heard and it's really, really interesting... Including reasoning for why he doesn't make certain challenges as well. Great stuff.
If you don't think that JM doesn't think about timeouts... around the 1/2 hour mark he talks about timeouts more than any coach I've ever heard and it's really, really interesting... Including reasoning for why he doesn't make certain challenges as well. Great stuff.
Yup. The Celtics will give him all the money he could ever want. As long as he pays his taxes he won't have to worry about things going bad
I wonder how things would have worked out with Will Hardy as Celtics Head Coach.
Brad obviously liked Joe than a generic 2nd row asst. coach, but I have to imagine if the timing of the Ime stuff worked out differently, Hardy would have been the pretty obvious choice. And hard to imagine Hardy not taking the job.
Seems like he's started off fine in Utah, but amazing how things work out sometimes.
Brad obviously liked Joe than a generic 2nd row asst. coach, but I have to imagine if the timing of the Ime stuff worked out differently, Hardy would have been the pretty obvious choice. And hard to imagine Hardy not taking the job.
Seems like he's started off fine in Utah, but amazing how things work out sometimes.
Idk. Wasn't there a lot of noise about the importance of hiring a black head coach at the time Ime was hired? I don't think Mazzulla got the job for that reason, but I'm sure it would have been a factor if Hardy was still around. (The particulars of the Ime drama certainly would not have helped.)
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-jaylen-brown-told-celtics-it-was-important-to-hire-black-head-coach
In any case, Joe has more than met the standard and deserves all the accolades coming his way.
Yup. Hardy was always one seat ahead of Joe and the more Head Coach-ready. Utah also felt this way as both interviewed for the job and it quickly went to Hardy without Joe getting a second interview. We had 3 real good options in Ime, Hardy and Joe….I have a hard time believing any one of them would have screwed this up.
Dude said that he watched every TO called in the last five minutes of a basketball game (I presume he meant in the 2022-23 season). He then said because he wondered why some coaches only had a few TOs left during that time, he asked for select clips to look at every TO called during specific games.
That's . . . . . . something. Dedication for one. Desire to get better for another. And some other stuff.
That CJM listened to the criticisms and explored the issue, had an open mind, and had the ability to change his approach is a very positive trait.
I've thought about this more that I like admitting. I think it's certainly possible Boston defeats Miami in 2023 with a more experienced coach like Ime or even Hardy, but I think the Brogdon/Smart/Williams version of this team would be a likely underdog against Denver.
The unanswerable questions involve the offseason and organizational alignment. Trading for Porzingis was a great decision because it maximized Mazzulla ball. In a parallel universe where CJM is just an assistant, maybe Stevens hesitates when the Brogden version of the trade falls through, because he doesn't completely trust Ime or Hardy to maximize Porzingis by letting him shoot above-the-break threes and posting him up, which Dallas had eschewed. Mazzulla was the only Stevens assistant retained by Udoka, so Brad clearly has his ear and vice versa.
Belichickian. Mazzulla needs to find his Ernie to delegate that stuff to.
The fascination with Will Hardy around these parts is something. Hardy may be the best coach in the NBA or yet another guy who is a lifetime front bencher - we simply don't know.
Its fair to wonder what attributes Hardy has that leads some to believe he is a superior coach to Mazzulla.
Its fair to wonder what attributes Hardy has that leads some to believe he is a superior coach to Mazzulla.