Joe Mazzulla has been one of my favorite sports stories in a long time. You could’ve asked half of this Reddit at the end of last year, and they could’ve SWORN to you that he genuinely didn’t know what he was doing and he has no idea how to coach.
Now he’s the youngest head coach to win it all since Bill, holds the highest winning % in NBA history, and already a Celtics legend.
I started to trust and believe right when Brad hired him. Because if Brad is choosing this guy from behind the bench to lead this squad after the Udoka drama, he had a vision that we needed to follow.
Sure there was a few hiccups along the way, but they all were worth it.
Did you trust Joe early on, or did you take a certain stretch of games or even just a moment to start believing?
by ECviews
25 Comments
I started believing in him when I saw him coach in the Finals…
When Brad Stevens chose him. I trust Brad’s judgment over most people’s and I understood that the situation Mazzulla was put in was not favorable at all, so I didn’t expect a perfect performance from the get go.
After the first round with the Heat.
When he almost brought us back from down 0-3 in the ECF last year
ECF last year. His growth was obvious during that series as he started calling better timeouts and making better adjustments both in-game and between games. The disparity between him and Spo noticeably shrunk between games 3-7 of that series and seeing the efforts over the summer of getting top coaching staff here and making cultural shifts like the concerted effort to involve more Celtics legends reinforced the belief in him.
He caught a lot of flak throughout this season and people loved to chalk it up to him benefitting from a great roster but it takes great coaching to create the system he did on the floor, get the buy-in from players, create a winning culture, and ultimately raise that trophy. Even after 64 wins there was still talk he wasn’t the guy which is absolutely hilarious in hindsight.
When I was a senior at Fairmont State University. A friend of mine also played for him at Glenville
Since day 1
This season
For me it was the JJ Redick interview he gave prior to the season
In it, he very openly acknowledged his mistakes from the first season and had a plan to fix them and get better
After hearing that, I felt assured he knows what he’s doing
Wasn’t really critical at any point this season, but i had a feeling something’s cooking when he pulled out all the starters in the last quarter against Kings in one of the last regular season games when we were up 20 and didn’t flinch when they cut it to minimum.
He did JJ Reddicks podcast last summer and it was immediately clear how intense and obsessive and maniacal this guy is about growth and development. He pretty much dispelled any notion that coaches are finished products and they they can grow and develop the way that players can
Sandcastles
I never doubted Joe.
When he brought on 6 (I believe) new coaching staff members
Honestly…. It was probably when he had the “Interim” tag removed. I was full in on Mazzulla after that. I had doubts in my brain sure, but I trusted after the tag got removed that he would take the job with the utmost seriousness, and look where we are now!
when he and Brad brought in Sam Cassell! Two S’s two L’s!
The first time he explained his not taking timeouts, and told everyone it was about getting the players figure these situations out themselves.
The players now coach each other on court, they motivate each other. Leaders emerged, that could also lead by example, not just in words and spirit.
There is method to his madness, I realized, and immediately loved it.
After seeing him on JJ Reddick’s podcast. Just seems like a very authentic guy
When I found out we were hooking up with the same girl in high school. Eskimo bro Joe!
Around December last season. I really, really like the mentality he has, both in terms of the obsession and the vulnerability/honesty, and as someone with a stats degree, I understood his vision for basketball almost right away. I was mostly waiting to see if they team would listen, and they were a fucking wagon by the ASB in ’23
I’ll be honest, I think this guy is going to lead the Celtics to multiple championships. I’m a believer now.
It was pretty obvious from the jump he knew what he was doing strategy wise, but I was a littler nervous how he’d respond to pressure and how much buy in he had from the players.
Two things in the Miami series last year made me get over that –
First was us going down 0-3 and him realizing Miami’s defense was keyed into trapping Jaylen brown, coming up with the strategy to use brown as a decoy, and then getting brown to 100% buy into that strategy and basically take himself out of the offense and say things like “I know I’m not going to be a scorer this series.” Genius and gutsy adjustment but bigger deal that he got his star to understand the strategy and sacrifice like that with a supermax contract potentially on the line.
Second was after game 7 when Tatum gave a mostly unprompted minute long answer defending Mazzulla and saying how good a job he did in an impossible situation.
Once it was clear he had those two behind him then everything else was always going to fall into place.
This season when he got his guys for a great staff. And early on he showed that he’s learned a lot and looked more comfortable and not out of his element. He’s had a few mistakes but he’s shown he’s a great motivator, he takes great timeouts mainly, and he can scheme masterfully. Thought he was too stubborn to adjust but he’s come all the way to coaching circles around JKidd
When I met him at Citizens Bank Park and I said “go win us banner 18” and he said “we will”
After game 5 of the 2024 Finals.
He proved me wrong and this is my official apology post lol.