Big news hit the press out of the Boston Celtics camp this morning as the organization announced they have removed Joe Mazzulla's "Interim" tag and named him Head Coach, officially. This, of course means they have also officially removed Ime Udoka from office and came to terms on breaking the means of his existing contract.
Joe Mazzulla's time as "Head Coach" might have started in 2023, but his tenure with the organization came long before this season. Coach Joe started his coaching career in 2011 at the collegiate level, then moved up the hierarchy to be an assistant for the Maine Redclaws in 2016 (Celtics G-League affiliate). While the Redclaws are a hop and a skip away from the big leagues, the Celtics organization quickly familiarized themselves with his skillset.
After a two year hiatus from the Celtics organization, Mazzulla found himself back on the Celtics coaching staff in 2019, again as an assistant coach but this time in Boston.
Fun fact about his time as the assistant coach, he started reporting directly to Brad Stevens, who was at the time, the Head Coach. As we all know, Brad is now the Celtics head of basketball operations coming off his promotion in 2021. Even more interesting is that Mazzulla could have been considered low man on the totem pole, positioned on the "second bench" during games. This however did not stop him from showing off his skills to his current and eventual once again future boss, Stevens.
After a trip to the finals in the 2022 season, under the directive of rookie Head Coach Ime Udoka, the Celtics front office found themselves in a difficult and troubling situation. Just a few weeks before Celtics summer training camp, the news broke from ESPN that the Celtics would be placing disciplinary action against Ime Udoka for having broken team conduct and organization rules. To put it lightly, this was a total and utter shock to the full organization including all players and staff, let alone the fans and media. Based on the complexities of Udoka's contract, this forced the Celtics to suspend Udoka (versus firing) for the full season and select an Interim Head Coach in his place. While it was never official, all speculation pointed towards Udoka being finished in the city of Boston.
Once again the Celtics were in a position of great gamble, should they select from within the organization? Should they bring back Brad Stevens until they found a proper suitor for the job? All of these questions and more circled the media and Celtics franchise during what has become an extremely confusing time period for this team. Ultimately, Brad Stevens and owner Wyc Grousbeck, graduated to the decision of placing Joe Mazzulla in the coveted Head Coach role, but with the infamous "interim" tag, based on Udoka's contract complexities. This made Joe Mazzulla the youngest acting NBA coach in the league. Even younger than some players on the team.
So while the average fan and perhaps media had never heard the mention of Joe Mazzulla's name in the past, he was no stranger to Brad Stevens.
In the past, Brad has mentioned, that he fully believed in Joe's leadership and his skillset. He also touched on his full confidence of not only Joe, but the supporting cast of assistant coaches behind Mazzulla. Perhaps Brad Stevens just has a magic 8 ball and can tell the future because this was ultimately an excellent decision made all way from the top of the organization.
Fast forward to the start of the 2022-23 NBA season, the Celtics were once again employing a rookie Head Coach, whether or not the interim tag really mattered in this scenario. Since taking on the challenging and highly criticized decision, Joe Mazzulla has been nothing short of spectacular this season from the sidelines. As of February 16th 2023, the Celtics have now made things official by making Joe the Head Coach and parting ways finally with Ime Udoka. The specifics of Udoka's departure including contract information or even what he did that broke conduct remains unclear. But what is clear is that the Celtics have placed on their chips on Joe and it has worked out in their favor.
With over ten years of coaching experience as an assistant, Joe Mazzulla is no stranger to the game, however it's his first rodeo with being the captain of the ship. In his first year, he is leading the number one team in the league with consistent dominant performances night in and night out. Based on his team's winning record, he's also been selected to be the representative coach for the Eastern Conference for this weekend's All-Star game, which is no small feat.
Mazzulla ball so far is to play hard and to play fast. To be aggressive on defense and take advantage of open shooting opportunities from deep. His methodology also includes not wasting time outs, which often critiqued, but hey sometimes change is hard! He's become famous for his pre-game coaches games of basketball and his level of intensity. The level of respect and professionalism he has commanded from this limelight team should also not go unmentioned. A sincere congratulations to Head Coach Joe Mazzulla on the official title today, I know I'm excited for what the future holds and I'm sure that sentiment is shared widely given the fun ride this team has been on.
Comentarios