Brad Stevens Shares His Early Evaluation of Joe Mazzulla

Brad Stevens evaluates the first 32 games of Joe Mazzulla's NBA head coaching career and explains what he's encouraged by during the Celtics' recent rut.

Despite the turmoil the Celtics had to deal with entering the 2022-23 campaign, with Joe Mazzulla replacing Ime Udoka shortly before training camp and not having Robert Williams in the lineup for the first 19 games, Boston jumped out to the NBA's best record, winning 21 of its first 25 tilts.

The Celtics' hot start earned Mazzulla Coach of the Month honors for a combination of October and November.

However, Boston's currently hit a rough patch, dropping five of its last six games, including three-straight at home.

At shootaround ahead of Friday night's matchup against the Timberwolves, speaking for the first time this season, Brad Stevens shared his early assessment of Mazzulla's performance while navigating the ups and downs the Celtics have already dealt with 32 games into the campaign.

"Every 20 games that you coach in the NBA, you’re just getting better and better and better. Just even like looking at where we started from the start of training camp, the leadership, the organization, the way that everybody embraced him, he embraced everyone else. He’s very open to people. To the different ideas that they have. Maybe too open, right, sometimes? Cause there’s a million of them coming at him at once. 

"But he’s been great, and his staff’s been great. That’s something that probably doesn’t get talked about enough. I think that was a unique thing for everybody, and the staff just came in and did their job to add to winning. That’s what we have to do. Everybody in this building has a role; we all have to play it as well as we can to give ourselves a chance to win."

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While offering his evaluation of Mazzulla's performance, Stevens, now in his second year as the Celtics' president of basketball operations, cited the benefit of his new vantage point. In his new role, it's easier to avoid getting caught up in day-to-day or game-to-game developments, keeping proper perspective on the bigger picture.

"I think that one of the things that you have the benefit of in the seat I'm in now is getting a much more macro view of everything," expressed Stevens. 

"I just think that when you're in it, every play sits with you. Every moment of a game sits with you. The losses sit with you in a big way. You rehash all of those singular moments. And to be able to then look at a film objectively and kind of take the emotion out of it, it's tough. That's why coaching in any league or any level is hard but coaching in NBA with 82 games and inevitable ups and downs is a really challenging job. So, I want [Mazzulla] to know, I want our staff to know that I get it. I've lived it. 

"When you have a three-game blip like we have right now where we haven't played very well or a two-week deal where we haven't played very well, I've seen a lot of good to great teams do that. And so the key is how do you respond to that? And how do you, as a staff, maintain the right approach as you're trying to make small tweaks and fix it."

During Boston's recent rut, teams are playing passing lanes more aggressively, leaving their center at the rim, and switching with greater frequency, impacting the ball movement, attempts at the basket and shot quality.

One reason Stevens has confidence the Celtics will grow from the challenges they're facing is that the team's chemistry isn't suffering from their struggles.

"We haven’t hung one of those banners, but we’ve had a lot of close teams and a lot of good teams," said Stevens.

"This one has as much camaraderie and togetherness as any I’ve been around, certainly at the professional level. I think they really like each other; I think it’s a really good character group. I see a lot of, when guys have a tough game, guys have a tough day, there’s just a lot of support within this building for them, and I like that. 

"We’re all going through a little bit of a blip. Some of us individually have had our struggles recently on the court. But there’s nothing but belief in each other. I think that our best players do a really good job of making sure everybody feels that way and feels appreciated, and that’s a good thing."

Further Reading

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