“At the end of the season, there were a lot of people who thought Joe Mazzulla was in some level of trouble—to the point Brad Stevens needed to say in his press conference interview that [Mazzulla] is coming back,” Windhorst said (10:10 mark).
“Not only was [Mazzulla] never in trouble, Brad Stevens’ biggest moves as the president of the team has been to lean into more of the way Joe Mazzulla wants to play, which is high-volume three-point shooting and offense over defense.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10083102-celtics-rumors-hc-mazzulla-was-never-in-trouble-for-heat-loss-amid-hot-seat-buzz
by horseshoeoverlook
13 Comments
Honestly, I miss the way Ime had us playing.
Having a new coach in 4 years is just not a good look for our players and having to play a different system every year is not the solution
It’s very rare to win a championship without a top defense. The high volume 3 ball shit will only work if we have a great defense that can keep us in the game when the long shots aren’t falling. That is where we failed last year and I sure hope this is a priority for brad and joe
I honestly don’t know how much y’all expected from a first year head coach with a week to prepare for season lol
Pretty good showing all things considered
Translation: “under no circumstances was brad getting a 4th coach in as many years”
We definitely need a more defensive game plan this year. The shots didn’t fall for an entire series last playoffs, we need something to fall back on if that happens again.
Oh dear god no
I think getting swept by the Heat would have maybe maybe made Wyc overrule Brad. But he really did get dealt pretty much the worst hand a coach of a contending team could get when walking into the job.
Excited to see what he does with a full off-season as the coach, plus everything he learned last year
While I am in the camp of being incredibly underwhelmed and frustrated with Coach Joe, you can’t fire a guy after one season outside of an egregious error. It would make the front office look terrible and inept. I fault Wyc and Brad with the hiring more than I do Coach Joe for the frustrating play that led to our exit. They’re the ones who gave a 34 year old with zero NBA head coaching experience, minimal NBA experience and zero NBA playing experience the keys to a team that had just come off a Finals appearance and then sat idly by as Joe’s coaching bench was depleted as the season progressed. Disappointing.
Doesn’t surprise me, which again raises an eyebrow at all the reporters dumping their dirty laundry Celtics rumors when they were down 3-0
Yeah no shit it wasn’t mazzula fault that Tatum got hurt, that jaylen can’t dribble, and that the rest of the team except for white decided they didn’t feel like playing.
i’m okay with the offense being build around the 3 pt shot. totally fine with it. we will have lost options and paint options but the focus is on the 3. fine.
however, defense absolutely wins championships not offense. and we struggled many times creating a stop, stopping a run, or closing out which are all defense driven actions.
great teams have both offense and defense and i’d think it’s rare to win it all without having both in top form.
Rookie head coaches that made the playoffs/play-in and got fired:
2021 Nate Bjorkgren (Pacers) after losing the play-in tournament
2014 Jason Kidd (Nets) after losing in the second round
2009 Michael Curry (Pistons) after being swept in the first round
2005 Jim O’Brien (76ers) after losing in the first round
2004 Tim Floyd (Hornets) after losing in the first round
Rookie head coaches who get to game 7 of the ECF do not get fired. As soon as we beat PHI his job was never in danger. Expectations were so high after Udoka was 2 games away from doing what only 5 other head coaches have ever done by winning in their rookie season.
Like Mazzulla or not, he had one of the most successful rookie HC seasons in NBA history especially with what happened with the assistant coaching staff. He just had a less successful year than the guy right before him, so it leaves a feeling of disappointment from the recency bias.