Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla spoke on his mindset as a coach and being on the same page as the players heading into the season.
Joe Mazzulla may not have expected to be head coach of the Boston Celtics entering the 2022-23 season. But it sounds like he has a plan.
The 34-year-old assistant was named interim head coach last Friday following Ime Udoka's season-long suspension for violating organizational guidelines. It's a difficult spot for Mazzulla, who is charged with leading a team that enters the season as a 2023 NBA championship favorite but also is still processing the news of Udoka's suspension.
In his first press conference as head coach Monday at Celtics Media Day, Mazzulla said he's preaching patience with his players and other members of the organization.
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"The message is first to give people space and time," Mazzulla said. "Not just for the players, but for everybody. It's an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, so you have to give people the time and space to feel and the time and space to feel. So, that's key. You can't rush anything."
Those are wise words from Mazzulla, who is the NBA's youngest head coach at age 34. While Mazzulla doesn't have any head coaching experience beyond the Division II level, he is Boston's longest-tenured assistant coach and is the only holdover from the previous coaching regime of Brad Stevens, who hired him in 2019.
"He had a concussion that day I think," Mazzulla quipped when asked about Stevens' strong endorsement of him in a press conference Friday.
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So, how will Mazzulla go about meeting Stevens' lofty expectations and helping the Celtics carry last season's momentum into this fall? The West Virginia product stressed that he won't deviate much from last year's plan.
"The great thing about this organization, the players that we have and the season that we had last year is, we have a formula for what we know we need to do in order to get better every single day to get back to where we want to get to," Mazzulla said. "So, as much as we can focus on that, we'll be in good shape."
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That means fans can expect Boston to have a commitment to defense, superior effort and consistent ball movement, all of which helped the C's turn their 2021-22 season around. Since those emphases were instilled in last year's squad, Mazzulla is focused on getting his players to deliver as opposed to putting his own stamp on the team.
"If I want the Celtics to be successful, if I want our players to be successful, I shouldn’t be focused on what I’m trying to do," Mazzulla added. "It’s only my job to focus on the execution standpoint. How do we execute our togetherness? How do we maximize our roster?"
The spotlight still will be on Mazzulla as he makes important roster decisions, like who to lean on while Robert Williams is sidelined due to injury. The first-time head coach seems prepared for the challenge, though.
"We've had the offseason to kind of prepare for what we want to do this season," Mazzulla said. "So, there's not much to change at all. I think it's about learning from last season and then how do we get better?
"I'll be relying on the relationships that I've built over the last three years here, especially with the players in the organization, and just moving forward one day at a time."
