Mazzulla and Boston will stay together.
Boston Celtics President Brad Stevens spoke to the media on Tuesday (Feb. 2) about head coach Joe Mazzula.
Boston left a lot of footprints in the 2022 playoffs, reaching the Finals. Ime Udoka’s impressive first year in charge seemed to brighten the outlook for the future.
But the bad news came from an unexpected source. Udoka, who was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee of the organization, was relieved of his duties just a month before the start of the 2022-2023 season. Coach Joe Mazzula took over as interim head coach to put out the fire.
Born in 1988, Majula is two years younger than team veteran Al Horford. His youth and inexperience raised some eyebrows. But the Celtics have been solid this season, consistently ranking at the top of the Eastern Conference. Despite falling short of the No. 1 seed to Milwaukee, they finished second in the league with a 57-25 record.
After being recognized by the team for his leadership, Majula signed a full-time head coaching contract with the team in February. Instead of searching for a new, more experienced head coach, Boston decided to put their faith in him.
However, after being picked to win the title, Boston had a roller coaster ride in the playoffs. After taking Philadelphia to seven games, the Celtics dropped the first three games of the conference finals against Miami, a team they seemed to have an absolute advantage over. They rallied to take the next three games, but ultimately fell short of advancing to the Finals.
Along the way, there was a lot of negative talk about Majula’s abilities, from rumors of his lack of locker room discipline to his lack of game management skills. There was even speculation that Boston would part ways with him shortly after the season ended.
In an interview, however, Stevens expressed his unwavering confidence in Majula and his intention to stick with him.
“I think Joe Mazzula is the best coach for our team,” Stevens said. Everybody is hard on the players and the coaching staff after every game. We know that, so we have to be able to look at the big picture. Even with Mazurah suddenly being the head coach, I think he’s done a really good job when you look at the overall performance of the team. We were second in the league in offense and we won 57 games in the regular season. We even got a chance to host the NBA Finals on our home court,” praised Mazzula.먹튀검증
“He’s a great leader, and he’ll get better at anything with experience because he’s constantly trying to learn. And he takes a lot of responsibility. That kind of leadership is hard to find. The players, the front office, the people around him, they all believe in him and we have to do everything we can to help him move forward.”
A number of well-known coaches were on the market after this season, including Mike Budenholzer, Monty Williams, Nick Nunes, and Doc Rivers. But Boston chose to put more faith in Majula.